quote:

Originally posted by divil:
The ignition reliability of the rounds being fired looked excellent and that would have surprised me if the ammo was older surplus.

Yeah, the reliability of much of the surplus .303 in particular is extra dodgy, due to the use of cordite instead of gunpowder as the propellant in a large percentage of the .303 ammo production.

Cordite degrades more readily with time and adverse storage conditions that gunpowder. So you're more likely to have duds and hangfires with surplus cordite rounds, compared to surplus gunpowder rounds of the same vintage.