Using Cordite From Dud Rounds

SKIP · Feb 20, 2017

I am expecting some Pakistan POF (Possibly of Firing) in .303 British. This is known as crap ammo with delayed ignition and many duds.
Would it be safe to pull the bullet and cordite and reload both in boxer primed brass? I have no intention to retain the paper wade over the cordite.

EKing · Feb 20, 2017

Wouldn't the cordite be the main culprit for the delayed ignition and duds?
If the Pakistani ammo has a sealant around the primers and bullet/case mouth, then it might be worth a try.

GodOfVice · Feb 20, 2017

EKing said:
Wouldn't the cordite be the main culprit for the delayed ignition and duds?
If the Pakistani ammo has a sealant around the primers and bullet/case mouth, then it might be worth a try.

Not necessary the primers themselves may be bad. As far as using the cordite over again I wouldn't, powder is cheap... make a firecracker.

The bullets would be worth more to me than the powder.

j8064 · Feb 20, 2017

I would either pull the bullets, use the cordite for fertilizer, decap and make the (likely corrosive) primers inert.
Or, I would try to get one firing from the rounds, clean my rifle and determine if I have reloadable cases...
:fingerscrossed:

Magnumite · Feb 21, 2017

They are most likely Berdan primed. It would be interesting to find out.

SKIP · Feb 21, 2017

Magnumite said:
They are most likely Berdan primed. It would be interesting to find out.

They are.

ken792 · Feb 21, 2017

Getting the Cordite into the cases might be a problem too. I believe the Cordite was put into the case before the neck was formed.

John from MD · Feb 21, 2017

The problem with Brit .303 ammo is that the primers were junk. As for reloading the cordite, I can see you have not taken any out of a round. It is tightly packed into the case and there is no way in hell you will pack it back in like that. I suggest that you pull the bullets and use them in the Russian MN 91's. When you pull them, make sure you push the bullet back into the case first to break the tar that they seal the case with.

Back in the '80's, I bought about 30 cases of that stuff on belts just for the belts and feed boxes. I think I paid Century about $20 a case. It took me years to pull the bullets. :sad20:

Art3 · Feb 21, 2017

I thought cordite was bad for barrels anyway, wasn't it?

John from MD · Feb 21, 2017

Cordite burned hot and eroded barrel throats. It is well documented if you want to look it up.

That said, I shot thousands of round of the stuff back in the day and did not worry about throat erosion. Of course I was only shooting small lots at a time and not trying to break any speed records. I also cleaned using hot water after every session.

SKIP · Feb 25, 2017

I put down 40 rounds this morning without a hitch. Head stamp was from 1964 thru 66. A few hang fires. My last ten rounds hit my 8" steel at 100 yards. Cleaned the heck out of it upon return home.

Using Cordite From Dud Rounds

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