TOPIC:

Neville, seeing the round from the next brugher's grave, I wonder if that type of round is another explanation for the rounds you found on the remains of Gerhardus Jozua van Niekerk. Your rounds don't seem to have a military crimp like Mk II rounds. Could it be that they were soft nosed sporting rounds, and the exposed lead tips had altogether oxidised and disappeared, perhaps in an acidic environment of the decomposing remains? I note the hacksaw cuts, if that's what they are, look very neat and uniform, and go back an excessively long way. To expose the lead tip, only a sliver needs cutting off. If a substantial length is cut from a Mk II jacketed round, it leaves a cylinder of lead unsupported by jacket at either end. So there is a tendency for the lead to squirt out of the jacket on firing, leaving the jacket lodged in the bore with catastropic effects when the next round is fired. This was a genuine concern, and for this reason, hollow point or lead tipped rounds will have a jacket going all the way under the heel of the bullet.
In addition, changing the mass of the bullet but this much will make the point of impact wildly inaccurate compared to the point of aim, which seems very un-Boer to me.
As an aside, when the British wanted to convert Mk II to expanding ammunition in the Sudan in 1898, they did so merely by filing off the tips. They converted 3 million Mk II rounds to expanding ammunition for use on the Sudanese, by assigning the troops to filing duty each evening (see attached image).

Neville
Regarding the x3 .303" rounds with "neatly hacksawed" projectiles, I would make the following comment:
Apart from the prospect of being transfixed upon the bayonet of a vengeful Tommy, anyone mutilating rounds in that fashion would run the very real risk of, upon firing, the projectile's lead core being blown right through its jacket; leaving the aforementioned jacket stuck in the bore. Any subsequent firing would completely wreck the rifle and injure the firer as well. Serve him right.
Regards
IL.

Rob and IL,

Your observations do, indeed, suggest that the lead tips had corroded away and had not been hacksawed off. The poor state of the lead in Ron Bester's photograph would appear to back this up. I guess this scenario was not one that crossed the minds of any of those present during the exhumations.

Neville

Another "Tweedie" / "Jeffreys" bullet, this time brought home as a souvenir of the Battle of Bothaville (Doornkraal), 6 November 1900. Presumably pulled from a live cartridge as it has clearly never seen the inside of a rifle barrel.

In comparison to the other example I posted photos of, the slits are further up the bullet and the clipping of the nose is a little more pronounced.



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Rob, IL

Have you any idea why this bullet has a slight crease, as indicated below? I haven't seen this feature on a .303 round before.

Could it be a result of the projectile being held in the cartridge by neck pressure, rather than relying on "neck stabbing" along the line of the cannelure?



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Yes, I think it aligns with a gentle crimp at the case mouth.
Though the bullet does have a groove to allow a deep, military style, crimp (stabbing); as IL said above, sporting ammunition holds the bullet in the case by neck tension, often enhanced by a slight "roll crimp" at the case mouth.