British Revolver Bullets?

[LuckyB]

Further to my post on those large lead slugs I found several of these on the same beach near an old WW1/WW2 Naval base. At first glance I thought they were standard .380” service revolver bullets but when I measured them they were 8.6-8.7mm dia (0.34”) and weighed 10g (155gns). Most appear to be Cupro Nickel metal jacketed but some have a more copper appearance, and although most have a corroded base some do have a visible crows foot mark cast in the lead. So definitely official British military, but I’m scratching my head from what. Am I just missing something obvious?

34 side.jpg

34 base.jpg

[MilitaryMetalMagnut]

All I can think of, for a round of the size and date is a .310 Cadet (Used for cadet training).

Best regards,

Simon

[GeorgeMK]

LuckyB can I borrow your photos ? and I will see what I can find out.

There was certainly a .340 revolver cartridge (introduced in the late Victorian era) in both short and long versions (also used in some rook rifles), but the only pictures of them I have seen have externally lubed lead bullets. I suspect your bullets date nearer to WW1.
I’m not aware of the military having used this caliber, so the bullets are a bit of a mystery at the moment.

The experimental BSA .34 pistol used a different profile bullet, so we can rule that out.

Do you know where the firing point was? Maybe a case could be found.

[LuckyB]

Borrow away, thanks for the input anyway, looks like it is still a head scratcher. I suspect the firing point has been long built on so i doubt ill find any cases. There were various .577 and .450 bullets there along with other oddball lead revolver/pistol bullets so ww1 or earlier is the most likely time period but the jackected nature perhaps points to a bit later.

[fred]

Are you reasonably sure that their current size is is what they started out as?

[Koala]

seen broad arrow on bullets before. As far as I remember they were manufactured at one of the Royal Ordinance Factories and pre 1940 ?

[GeorgeMK]

Are you reasonably sure that their current size is is what they started out as?

LuckyB, do they all still have the jackets on them?

Opinions gleaned thus far are that they are .380 bullets that have suffered from corrosion.

[MilitaryMetalMagnut]

Are you reasonably sure that their current size is is what they started out as?

LuckyB, do they all still have the jackets on them?

Opinions gleaned thus far are that they are .380 bullets that have suffered from corrosion.

At 155gr, it’s 45gr lighter than the .380/200 MkI revolver rounds, which was 200gr (13g). Studying this round further since my last comment, I wonder if it’s a mid/late/post WW2 MkII .380, which weighed 178gr (giving a little bit of leeway for the deterioration).

https://sites.google.com/site/britmilam ... -inch-ball

Sure is a head scratcher.



Best regards,

Simon

[LuckyB]

Thanks again for the input but I’m sure they are not .380 bullets that have suffered from general corrosion, to answer the various questions.

They definitely still have their metal jackets, the couple of copper jacketed ones came out bright copper coloured although they quickly dull once the air got to them, the majority are presumably cupro nickel and have a reasonable silver appearance which darkened over a couple of days. When you look at the base of them you clearly see the difference between the jacket and the core.

I would agree with you that on first looks they appear to be Mk2 .380”, the profile is very similar, they have 2 rings and they come in both copper and cupro nickel jackets. However I’ve found more than 20 of these that are in reasonably “good” intact condition and few other which are mangled after hitting something. The good ones are consistently the same weight and diameter, there is very little variation in individual bullets and across the group (0.2grams/3grains) which I would expect to see if general corrosion was the explanation. Also I don’t see signs of level of corrosion required to reduce the diameter and weight significantly, yes they are lightly pitted but the features (rings, arrow stamps) are still quite sharp.

However without any other explanation I guess the deteriorated Mk2 bullet theory is the only credible one but I’m still not convinced! Anyway thanks for your help. %&*=