.303 inch Drill Marks VII to 10
Despite the D Mark VI* remaining in service with the Royal Navy, a new drill round was introduced specifically for Naval service.
Drill Mark VII
"Cartridge S.A. Drill .303 inch D Mark VII" was approved for Naval service in July 1932 and shown in LoC Paragraph A.7168 dated November 1932. Use was later extended to Land and Air service and declared obsolete for these in 1964.
The case was brass without cap, anvil or fireholes, although this was later relaxed and cases simply had an empty cap chamber. The
case was chrome plated and had three vertical flutes painted red. The headstamp included the code "D VII" ("D 7" after 1944) and sometimes the letter "N".
The bullet had an aluminium core with an envelope of either cupro-nickel, gilding metal or cupro-nickel clad steel. It weighed 76 grains.
An alternative version was approved in 1944 that had a white metal case and instead of the three flutes had four small holes just above the rim. This approval was removed in 1946 and the original fluted version continued in service.
Left: Original D Mark VII headstamped "R/|\L DVII N"
Right: 1944 version with holes instead of flutes.
Drill D Mark VIII
Just as in the First World War, the rapid expansion of the army required a vast number of new drill rounds. Unfortunately, the lessons of the previous war were not remembered and the same problems occurred. The first of these emergency drill rounds was the D Mark VIII.
"Cartridge S.A. Drill .303 inch D Mark VIII" was approved to design DD/L/11803 in October 1941 and shown in LoC Paragraph
B.6273 dated June 1942.
The case was either a reject ball case with anvil and fireholes but no cap and the original headstamp, or a newly made case without headstamp. The case was left in the plain brass state and had either three long thin unpainted flutes or two pairs of holes at right angles to each other. Rounds can also be found with both flutes and holes.
The "bullet" and distance piece were formed of one piece of wood which rested on the base of the case and was stained red. The case was either indented in to the wood or coned in.
Right: Holed and fluted variants of the Drill D Mark VIII
Drill D Mark IX
Just as the pointed wood bullet of the Drill Mark IV had proved fragile in 1910 so the same happened with the drill Mark VIII and a new version with jacketed bullet was introduced.
"Cartridge S.A. Drill .303 inch D Mark IX" was approved in November 1943 and shown in LoC Paragraph b.9623 dated August 1944.
The case was palin brass with anvil and fireholes but no cap. Both reject ball cases with the original headstamp and new made cases without headstamp were used. as with the Drill Mark VIII, either flutes or holes were approved for the case, although sometimes both were applied.
The "bullet" and distance piece were formed from a single piece of wood and the bullet part covered with an envelope of either cupro-nickel or cupro-nickel clad steel.
Both the Drill Mark VIII and IX remained in service well after the end of the war, but as they were regarded as emergency types a new more robust drill cartridge was required.
Above left: Drill Mark IX with holed case, right with both flutes and holes.
Drill D Mark 10
"Cartridge S.A.Drill .303 inch D Mark 10" was approved in September 1954 and shown in LoC Paragraph C.6325 in November 1954. Despite this, manufacture had started in 1950.
It used a brass service case chrome plated, with no cap, anvil or fireholes, although later production often had an anvil, sometimes set down, and fireholes. the headstamp included the code "D 10". The case had three flutes which were painted red, as was the cap chamber. In 1961 the chrome plating was changed from a bright to a satin finish.
The bullet was a normal Mark VII supported on a wood distance piece and was secured in the case by neck crimp.
Right: Drill D Mark 10
Left: Wrapper for Drill D Mark 10
Drill for Cadets
By the mid 1970s stocks of .303 inch ammunition were becoming exhausted so in 1973 ROF Radway Green made a special run of Ball Mark 7z specially for the cadet force. At the same time some of these were converted to drill rounds.
They retained the ball headstamp of "RG 73 7Z" but were satin chromed and had an anvil and fireholes but no cap. There were no flutes or holes drilled in the case and they resembled an Inspectors U Mark 5 Dummy.
In 1983 further drill rounds were purchased from Bombrini Parodi Delfino in Italy. These originally had a plain brass case fitted with an empty bullet envelope with a white tip. They were also fitted with a pierced primer cap. The headstamp of these rounds was "BPD 952". On arrival in the UK a contractor added three flutes to the case to conform to British practice.