Bullet id

plonker

Well-Known Member
Evening all,a friend walking his dog down at the beautifull "Barry Island" (Gavin and Stacey) found this bullet washed up on the beach.Im assuming its a 303 fmj,has a crimp mark left on the bullet and what appears to be rifling marks down the length.Wonder what it's history is?
all the best
dave
 
Very interesting indeed. As a suggestion, possibly an aircraft in the '30's or '40's going out on a sortie and checking their guns as they head out over open sea.
 
Very interesting indeed. As a suggestion, possibly an aircraft in the '30's or '40's going out on a sortie and checking their guns as they head out over open sea.

I would agree with the above,mainly because there is no deformation of the bullet nose , if it had been fired into anything other than water the nose would be deformed, good interesting find
 
With the vernier on, it looks more like an 8mm (7.92) mauser type bullet to me. (MG17 & MG81 machine guns fitted to many German aircraft in the 1930's/40's) Used standard 7.92mm ammunition.
May not be deformed due to low velocity impact..i.e. spent bullet with no bullet impact on target. I've seen many .303 & 7.62 fmj bullets fired and not deformed on military sand backstop ranges...picking them out when I was a kid, some looked as good as new at times. ATB
 
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.303 bullets usually measure around .311, so it could be one of these with a bit of erosion.
Marcher
 
With the vernier on, it looks more like an 8mm (7.92) mauser type bullet to me. (MG17 & MG81 machine guns fitted to many German aircraft in the 1930's/40's) Used standard 7.92mm ammunition.
May not be deformed due to low velocity impact..i.e. spent bullet with no bullet impact on target. ATB

That sounds more plausible as Pembroke Docks were actively targetted during the war so probably took a few 7.92's from distance on approach.
 
8mm (7.92) would have been .322" so the original suggestion of .303" and allowing for errosion would fit better to my way of thinking. I am slightly surprised that it is not boat tailed making me think that perhaps this is an older .303" round that perhaps originated from one of several old mainly military ranges that were once dotted along the coastline in this area rather than being a round fired by one of our fighters chasing raiding luftwaffe aircraft over the Bristol channel. Pretty much all the ports in the Bristol channel were bombed at one time or another by the luftwaffe but as Eddi suggested Pembroke docks and the associated oil terminals and RAF Pembroke were targeted more than any other.

P.S. RAF Pembroke Dock had according to some the largest concentration of RAF aircraft of any "airfield" in the U.K. In actual fact it wasn't a field at all as all the aircraft were seaplanes and it was where many of the Sunderland flying boats were based that covered the Atlantic conveys.
 
With the vernier on, it looks more like an 8mm (7.92) mauser type bullet to me. (MG17 & MG81 machine guns fitted to many German aircraft in the 1930's/40's) Used standard 7.92mm ammunition.
May not be deformed due to low velocity impact..i.e. spent bullet with no bullet impact on target. I've seen many .303 & 7.62 fmj bullets fired and not deformed on military sand backstop ranges...picking them out when I was a kid, some looked as good as new at times. ATB[/QUOTE


I like the sound of it coming from a German plane letting loose some rounds as it flew from wales under a barrage of gunfire,but unfortunately I don't think that's the case.



8mm (7.92) would have been .322" so the original suggestion of .303" and allowing for errosion would fit better to my way of thinking. I am slightly surprised that it is not boat tailed making me think that perhaps this is an older .303" round that perhaps originated from one of several old mainly military ranges that were once dotted along the coastline in this area rather than being a round fired by one of our fighters chasing raiding luftwaffe aircraft over the Bristol channel. Pretty much all the ports in the Bristol channel were bombed at one time or another by the luftwaffe but as Eddi suggested Pembroke docks and the associated oil terminals and RAF Pembroke were targeted more than any other.

P.S. RAF Pembroke Dock had according to some the largest concentration of RAF aircraft of any "airfield" in the U.K. In actual fact it wasn't a field at all as all the aircraft were seaplanes and it was where many of the Sunderland flying boats were based that covered the Atlantic conveys.[/QUOT


I think this is the most plausible,does it make me a bad dad if I tell my son my own made up story:fib:
Thanks again all,
dave
 
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