.303 British Mk VII Ammunition (R↑L 1941)
Royal Laboratory, Woolwich Arsenal - I.S.A.A. inspected 32-round Mk VII box of British .303 service ammunition.
Images
Specifications
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom / British Army |
| Manufacturer | Royal Laboratory, Woolwich Arsenal, Kent, United Kingdom |
| Model | .303 British Ball Mk VII |
| Year | 1941 |
| Caliber / Type | .303 British service rifle and machine gun cartridge (Mk VII ball) |
| Configuration | 32-round cardboard carton of brass cased, Berdan primed cartridges with approximately 174 grain Mk VII spitzer bullets and composite cores. |
| Serial Number | Not serialized |
| Markings | Box printed for .303 inch Ball Mk VII with Broad Arrow and textual details; paper sealing strip with Broad Arrow over I.S.A.A.; cartridge headstamp R↑L 1941 VII around the case head with purple primer annulus. |
Historical Summary
The .303 British cartridge had been the standard rifle and machine gun round of the British Empire since the 1890s. By the Second World War the Mk VII spitzer load was the familiar service cartridge for soldiers from Britain, the Commonwealth and the wider Empire, feeding Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifles, Bren guns, Vickers guns and aircraft mounted Brownings.
The R↑L headstamp identifies the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich Arsenal, a long running government facility for ammunition development and manufacture. Woolwich had produced .303 ammunition since the black powder era and continued to turn out Mk VII ball into the early years of the war before newer Royal Ordnance Factories took over most of the volume production. Cartridges dated 1941 with an R↑L headstamp sit near the end of Woolwich .303 manufacture and capture an older government line still running at a high tempo during wartime.
The I.S.A.A. marking printed under the Broad Arrow on the sealing tape stands for the Inspectorate of Small Arms Ammunition based at Woolwich. Their stamp confirms that the lot passed inspection and ties this box directly to official British service issue, rather than later commercial repackaging.
Collector Notes
.303 Mk VII cartridges with clear R↑L 1941 headstamps are popular with collectors who want a representative example of British made wartime .303 to pair with a Lee Enfield rifle. Loose rounds remain fairly common, but complete cartons with legible labels, intact sealing strips and a full set of matching cartridges are much harder to find.
When evaluating examples like this, collectors look at the sharpness of the printing, how much of the original tape and edges remain, the color and condition of the primer annulus and any signs of corrosion at the case neck or around the primer. A box that still shows good corners, clear text and a readable I.S.A.A. stamp sits toward the upper end of typical condition for an issue carton that survived wartime use and postwar surplus handling.
As with all vintage ammunition in the Relics & Rifles collection, this box is preserved as a historical artifact rather than shooting stock. Keeping the box and its cartridges together preserves context that would be lost if the rounds were separated into loose examples.
Provenance
- Acquired on the civilian collector market as surplus British .303 ammunition; specific unit history is not known.
- Retains original wartime label wear and patina with no restoration beyond light surface dusting for photography and documentation.
- Preserved in the Relics & Rifles reference collection as a non firing specimen.