Canada

The earliest known date for Canadian produced .303 inch ammunition is 1894, found on packets of Mark I rolled case blackpowder blanks. The first headstamped rounds were Ball Mark IV and these essentially followed British practice and utilised a three position headstamp incorporating a broad arrow to denote government ownership.

Following Canada’s incorporation as a Dominion, the government ownership mark changed from a British style broad arrow to a “C” enclosing a smaller broad arrow. This character was incorporated into most Canadian headstamps thereafter.

Canadian Government ownership mark

When dates were introduced into the headstamp in 1908 most Canadian producers adopted a style whereby the full date was split between the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions but a variety of styles was used during the World War I period. From the 1930’s onwards Canada reverted to a style similar to that being used in Britain, although in World War II several variant headstamp arrangements appeared.

From 1943 Defence Industries used a common headstamp for both ball and tracer ammunition that showed only the manufacturer, year and “Z” nitrocellulose code. Tracer was identified by a red bullet tip.(Fig.84)

¹ The "C" in these headstamps incorporated the Canadian government ownership mark shown above.