Cordite????

[Cowboyblaster]

Well I was given a very old gun recently from my uncle ex rcmp Sargent and being as its been fired I'd like to use it a bit . Though it's not been shot in 40 years I did fire a few of the shells through it that had come with it. Very cool old weapon. My question is this is condition still available or is there a modern equivalent.

 

[Grizzman47]

What is the rifle, and for what cartridge is it chambered?

Are you asking if Cordite is still available for purchase, with the intent of handloading it?

 

[skipglo]

I do believe he was!!

 

[Model19Man]

Cordite was used as one of the early forms of smokeless powder. The British used a lot of it in .303" rounds. They mostly tried to avoid it in WWII when they gave it to the Indians and Australians. I don't think you will find any available today but there might be some old ammo floating around that is loaded with Cordite. It's not very reliable when it gets old; a lot of it is known for hang fires if it goes off at all.

 

[hawg chaser]

Cordite was used in the 375 HH when it was first introduced. Now there's plenty of load data available for the HH cartridge with other powders, so there's very likely modern powders that will work. It would help to know what cartridge you're working with.

 

[ZG47]

Well I was given a very old gun recently from my uncle ex rcmp Sargent and being as its been fired I'd like to use it a bit . Though it's not been shot in 40 years I did fire a few of the shells through it that had come with it. Very cool old weapon. My question is this is condition still available or is there a modern equivalent.

If you want to replicate original pressure and velocity of a cordite load, general practice is to use Reloder 15 and multiply the original charge weight by 1.15. However, in practice, this is typically done purely when regulating a load for an old double rifle.

 

[shootist7]

303 Brit? Enfield? If so, plenty of safe info for loading it.

 

[Cowboyblaster]

What is the rifle, and for what cartridge is it chambered?

Are you asking if Cordite is still available for purchase, with the intent of handloading it?

Yes I see my auto spell kind of screwed up the question but yes that is what I was intending to ask

 

[Cowboyblaster]

Cordite was used in the 375 HH when it was first introduced. Now there's plenty of load data available for the HH cartridge with other powders, so there's very likely modern powders that will work. It would help to know what cartridge you're working with.

45 webley didn't really want to say in an open question because im in Canada eh. Hahaha

 

[Cowboyblaster]

What is the rifle, and for what cartridge is it chambered?

Are you asking if Cordite is still available for purchase, with the intent of handloading it?

Yes

 

[MagnumManiac]

Cordite was found in many early 1900's ammunition. 375H&H, 416 Rigby and all the Nitro cartridges used it.
It is simply smokeless powder but the strands were trimmed the same length of the neck/shoulder juncture and the case shoulder was formed after the powder was inserted.
Kynoch first abandoned it's use early on, as it was a problem loading the ammo with precise powder weights.
Anyway, it's long been out of production.
Just use modern data with available powders today.

Cheers.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Great question. I can't find H1000 or H4350. I can't imagine trying to locate Cordite at a decent price.

 

[shootist7]

Cordite is not a loose powder like the powders we use today. It resembles brown twine, comes in different diameters, and was cut to length to fit in whatever case they were loading. One of the reasons those old rifle cartridges were so long! While not commonplace, there are safe loadings available for what you have, as well as components. There's even Berdan primers available, but that's a whole nother process!

 

[Cowboyblaster]

Cordite was found in many early 1900's ammunition. 375H&H, 416 Rigby and all the Nitro cartridges used it.
It is simply smokeless powder but the strands were trimmed the same length of the neck/shoulder juncture and the case shoulder was formed after the powder was inserted.
Kynoch first abandoned it's use early on, as it was a problem loading the ammo with precise powder weights.
Anyway, it's long been out of production.
Just use modern data with available powders today.

Cheers.

Thank you