Identify some WWII bullets?

[Geppetto22]

Hello, I recently returned from a metal detecting trip to Norwich, England. Amongst the ancient items we were finding, we often would recover some of these WWII bullets. I was hoping some one might know something about them. The top one is hollow and has three small round ports that are evenly spaced around the tip. The lower is solid. Thanks for any help. Paul

[SergeantMajorGray]

Might be .303 British the top one might be a training round.

[hink441]

The lower one is a .50 cal projectile.

 

Chris

[Allan H.]

I believe that both are .50 caliber machine gun bullets. The bottom one looks like M2 Ball ammo and the top looks like it could be tracer. IS the inside of the head hollow?

 

Allan

[SergeantMajorGray]

Maybe I should have noticed the ruler.

[DannyBMW]

The top round is a British 55 cal for the Boyes AT rifle

[themick]

This thread interests me, though normally spend bullets don't. I don't know squat about British ordinance, so I'll ask this question: Could both of these rounds have been fired from WWII British aircraft, especially fighters? If so, I wonder if they could be "dropped" rounds fired at German aircraft attacking British territory. We've all seen the aircraft camera footage of dogfights where the majority of rounds miss, and you can often see them hitting the ground, while firing at German aircraft. There has to be literally millions of these rounds in the soil of the home island. If these are rounds which were commonly fired from British aircraft, then I'd think there's a good chance they were a product of an air battle. Just speculation, of course.

 

Steve

[Geppetto22]

Steve, I was wondering the same thing. We also occasionally found empty cartridges and also bullets with a collar of brass from the cartridge still around the ball.....these we assume are rounds that were dropped or discarded intact, but over the years the powder, moisture and repeated impacts with farming equipment cause the cartridge to mostly disintegrate. Paul

[DeuceGI]

I'm thinking not since there are no obvious rifling marks on the rounds. May just be the fuzzy pictures. Recovered intact .50 projectiles I've had bore distinct marks from having gone through a barrel. Interesting theory nonetheless since all those millions of spent rounds had to wind up somewhere.

Tim

 

" ask this question: Could both of these rounds have been fired from WWII British aircraft, especially fighters? If so, I wonder if they could be "dropped" rounds fired at German aircraft attacking British territory."

 

Steve

 

[France-Germany-Korea]

If memory serves, the Brits didn't use our .50 BMG much. It's likely .55 Boys. The top is a fluted training round. If the site you found it on was an armor training ground, however, it could very well be .50 BMG.

[themick]

Good point, Deuce. Geppetto -- are there rifling marks on the rounds?

 

Steve

[sgtdorango]

If they were fired rounds wouldnt there be some distortion from impact of hitting the ground kind of like the civil war fired rounds you see, but of course not as soft as CW?....mike

[Geppetto22]

Looking closer, I cant see any definitive rifling marks on either of these. They have a spotty, crusty layer of corrosion... but I think if the rifling would be easy to see then I could spot the lines. The fields we were detecting were farmland in the areas slightly north of USAAF air station 468. Bury St. Edmonds, home of the 94th Bomb Group (heavy). Three groups of B-17s flew from there. I have no idea if the land was used for camps, training or storage back then. It, of course, is more entertaining to think that they were fired rounds that fell from the sky during some sort of air action, but who knows for sure. Thanks for everyone's information and opinions. Paul