.303 inch Ball Cordite Marks I to V

Complaints had been received from troops in India that the new rifle and cartridge lacked the stopping power of the old .450 Martini-Henry, so in 1896 the arsenal at Dum Dum had developed a version of the Mark II bullet that left the lead core exposed at the tip. This was found to be very effective and was introduced for Indian service as the “Cartridge S.A. Ball .303 inch Cordite Mark II Special”, although British records refer to it as the Mark II*.

The Mark II* was not formally approved for British service, although it was manufactured at Woolwich and three million rounds were issued, probably for trials, in the 1898/99 Financial Year.

Mark II Special rounds were headstamped with either Kirkee (K) or Dum Dum (D) headstamps and the Indian ownership mark without any mark numeral. British trial rounds were loaded into early ball Cordite Mark I cases headstamped simply "R/|\L C".

Accepting the need for improved stopping power a great deal of experimental work was carried out at Woolwich with a variety of hollow nosed and soft point bullets.

The “Cartridge S.A. Ball .303 inch Cordite Mark III” was introduced in October 1897 to Design RL9762 and shown in LoC Paragraph 9762. It had a round nosed bullet with a cupro-nickel envelope and lead/antimony core. The nose had a hollow point, into which a cupro-nickel cup was inserted. The propellant charge was 31 grains of Cordite size 3 3/4 and muzzle velocity was 2,000 feet per second.

It was not successful and only one lot of 119,900 rounds was issued before it was withdrawn.

Left: Ball Cordite Mark III. The cupro-nickel cup can just be seen inserted into the nose of the bullet.

The Ball Cordite Mark III was replaced by the ”Cartridge S.A. Ball .303 inch Cordite Mark IV”, which was approved in February 1898 to Design RL9984 and shown in LoC Paragraph 9089 dated June 1898.

The bulet weighed 215 grains with a cupro-nickel envelope and differed from the Mark III in the form of the hollow point which did not have the additional cup inserted, and in the core which was pure lead. Instead of the cup a 0.1 inch (2.5mm) hole was punched in the nose of the envelope to a depth of .35 inches (9.0mm) and the small piece of envelope deposited at the bottom of the hole.

The propellant charge was 31 grains of Cordite size 3 3/4 and muzzle velocity was 2,000 feet per second.

Tha Ball Cordite Mark IV was widely manufactured in Great Britain by Royal Laboratory and the regular contractors as well as in Canada and New Zealand.

The headstamp included the manufacturer and the mark numeral "C IV"

Ball Cordite Mark V

The pure lead core of the Ball Mark IV proved to be a mistake, as instances occurred of the soft lead core being blown through the envelope, necessitating a change in design.

To overcome this problem the core was changed back to the usual 98/2% lead/antimony alloy and this became the “Cartridge S.A. Ball .303 inch Cordite Mark V”, approved in October 1899 to design RL10575 and shown in LoC Paragraph 9861 dated November 1899.

The addition of the lighter antimony to the core meant that the bullet was marginally longer than the Mark IV to maintain the weight at 215 grains but in other espects it was similar to the Ball Mark IV.

The Ball Mark V briefly became the issue operational round for British troops, but concerns about the legality of this and the previous Mark under the terms of the St.Petersburg Declaration and the Hague Convention led to manufacture being stopped after 1900 and the Mark II re-instated as the standard ball cartridge. The Ball Mark V made a brief re-appearance in the 1903/04 manufacturing year when nearly six million rounds were made for use in an expedition to Somaliland.