Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, I’ll have my trip written up by the end of the week. Lots of stuff going on. Air Force related I’ll be deploying soon, and I’m STILL trying to PCS out of here. Working swing shift. Found some very nice condition 303 British rounds at Marksman today, made by Radway-Green in 1943.
This ammunition is special in that it was loaded with Cordite. Brown, translucent rods instead of gray powder. Neat stuff, smells very unique when you burn it. I had not seen it before today. I knew what it was, I had heard about it plenty of times.
While it is brought up frequently in stories of battles from both World Wars, I mostly know it from the many African hunting stories from the dawn of the last century that have mentioned mentioned it. While it may not be a preeminent topic, sometimes only mentioned in passing, almost all accounts include it’s distinct smell. One story it was after delivering a killing shot to an elephant, with a cartridge some today consider barely adequate for small deer, by a professional ivory hunter who has probably killed more elephant than any other person, WDM “Karamojo” Bell. Another, a wealthy Englishman on a guided hunt, baiting a leopard into a tree, using a vaguely described medium bore rifle, most likely chambered in 375 H&H Mag .
I could always picture it in my mind; having just taken a shot the hunter chambers a new round, a wisp of smoke curls from the open action, carrying the distinct, instantly recognizable smell to his nostrils as he moves in on the quarry, following the tracker, Professional Hunter or guide next to him, unsure wether the beast was felled or will be waiting to pounce and rip him to pieces with massive claws and sharp teeth.
Now don’t think I’m trying to glamorize hunting a species to extinction. I’m not. What I am trying to do is convey to you the way I feel, the sense of the allure, the romance, the almost irresistible seduction of those stories of old. Tales from a time when men were men, people knew the ideal and the real were not, and could not be, the same, and if you fucked with America Teddy Roosevelt would kick your ass.
However, despite all this, the hours I have spent reading, the money I have spent on a rifle I do not need, and the bruise on my shoulder from shooting it, I had never actually SMELLED burnt Cordite for myself. I knew about what it should smell like. I’ve smelled plenty of burned gunpowder, and truth be told, find the smell quite excellent with the exception of certain powders, and everything I have read lead me to believe Cordite was similar. So what did I do when I found this ammunition? I pulled it down and burned some.
Seeing as I currently lack a Lee-Enfield rifle, or any rifle chambered in 303 British, I had to improvise. I took several rods, held them in pliers, and burned them over my sink. The smell is similar to gunpowder burnt in a similar fashion. I am unsure if it will smell different had I shot it, so I am very tempted to pick up something to shoot it in to find out. It is indescribable; sweet yet bitter, electrifying and calming.
Now I wish I could load up a few 375 H&H Magnums with this stuff for my Ruger.
