ARmy Rumour SErvice

**ugly** · 11-06-2012, 09:13

We did get a purchase form HXP (Hellenic Explosives Factory) in Greece to keep the cadets in Ball between the mid 70's and late 80's. unnecessary as it turned out. RG had well over a million rounds of ball stored that only emerged in the late 90's.

**ugly** · 11-06-2012, 09:14

Also earlier discontinued/obsolete ammo was often recycled so you find Mk7 drill rounds made up from early RL Mk6 cases. An interesting world collecting ammunition!

**Moonhead** · 11-06-2012, 10:01

Originally Posted by HE117

Are you sure of your dates old chap?

There was no .303 bulleted blank in service from the mid 70s onwards, in fact it was pretty rare even in the 60s...

Shredder barrels had yellow tips not white - white barrels were DP and could/should not have been fired even with blank. All the in-service .303 Brens had been withdrawn, even from the Cadets by (I think) the mid 70s, there were certainly none on the official books by 1990.

You have either:

1. Got your dates seriously wrong.
2. Someone in the cadets had an illegal .303 BREN and a stash of (equally illegal) bulleted blank which is possible, but unlikely..
3. You were working with the Irish Army Cadets (again unlikely at Longmore...)
4. You were looking at an L4 LMG, which fired standard 7.62 blank (not bulleted) with a BF barrel.
5. You are drunk.
6. You are indulging in an extreme bout of bovine scatology..

Charitably can I suggest 4, however you may wish to correct me..?

I left the cadets in 1980 after the summer camp at Otturburn, we fired .303 bulleted in Brens. I cant remeber the colour of the barrel but it was painted, not the red of DP weapons though. We had fired bulleted blank on previous summer camps in the late 70s and several of us nearlly got sent home for setting up a firing squad using crimped blank and executing a somewhat unwilling victim. Oh what scamps we were

**Flaggie** · 11-06-2012, 10:13

Didn't have bulleted blank in my cadet unit, sadly, but we were certainly still firing ball (on the ranges, I hasten to add) out of our venerable .303 Brens when I left in 1978.

On the subject of plastic cases for blank: remember seeing empty plastic cases (green, I think) on a trg area in Germany and being told the German army used them.

**chocolate_frog** · 11-06-2012, 10:18

Originally Posted by ugly

An interesting world collecting ammunition!

I'll take your word for it :D

**chocolate_frog** · 11-06-2012, 10:19

Originally Posted by Flaggie

On the subject of plastic cases for blank: remember seeing empty plastic cases (green, I think) on a trg area in Germany and being told the German army used them.

They do, and so do the yanks. a few others do too. In somecases you can get plastic ball rounds too, but these are used for specific training only.

And simunition... paintball rounds.

**HE117** · 11-06-2012, 10:29

Originally Posted by Moonhead

I left the cadets in 1980 after the summer camp at Otturburn, we fired .303 bulleted in Brens. I cant remeber the colour of the barrel but it was painted, not the red of DP weapons though. We had fired bulleted blank on previous summer camps in the late 70s and several of us nearlly got sent home for setting up a firing squad using crimped blank and executing a somewhat unwilling victim. Oh what scamps we were

Did you mean Ball or Bulleted Blank?

I can assure you that by 1980 .303 Bulleted Blank was well obsolete, and that nobody should have been using it, particularly cadets.. If this did happen, it must have been from an illegal stash..

Red paint on a weapon means "Non Standard Calibre" btw, not DP! Early batches of L4 Bren LMG had a red stripe as they were 7.62, not .303!

**chocolate_frog** · 11-06-2012, 10:35

Originally Posted by HE117

Red paint on a weapon means "Non Standard Calibre" btw, not DP! Early batches of L4 Bren LMG had a red stripe as they were 7.62, not .303!

How does that work with the DPs then? They still take drill rounds, but hte barrel is stuffed and a few other mods.

Does the white mean anything (DPs have white top covers and cheek pieces).

**wells598** · 11-06-2012, 10:41

Originally Posted by HE117

Are you sure of your dates old chap?

There was no .303 bulleted blank in service from the mid 70s onwards, in fact it was pretty rare even in the 60s...

Shredder barrels had yellow tips not white - white barrels were DP and could/should not have been fired even with blank. All the in-service .303 Brens had been withdrawn, even from the Cadets by (I think) the mid 70s, there were certainly none on the official books by 1990.

You have either:

1. Got your dates seriously wrong.
2. Someone in the cadets had an illegal .303 BREN and a stash of (equally illegal) bulleted blank which is possible, but unlikely..
3. You were working with the Irish Army Cadets (again unlikely at Longmore...)
4. You were looking at an L4 LMG, which fired standard 7.62 blank (not bulleted) with a BF barrel.
5. You are drunk.
6. You are indulging in an extreme bout of bovine scatology..

Charitably can I suggest 4, however you may wish to correct me..?

I was a cadet from about 87-89 and can remember using a bren with bulleted blanks and a splitter barrel. It was quite strange cause at one camp we were using the bren and the cadet issue sa80 (L9

was a kind of old meets new thing.