Anyone knows some manual for British .303 ammunition?
I have some German sources (1941 and 1943) and did a internet search but the only rounds that I was able to find are AP, Incendiary and Explosive rounds, as well as a generic Tracer.
(Basically the same as Japanese 7.7mm ammo)
However I couldn’t find any reference to a .303 British AP-I bullet.
I feel like that maybe an Italian 7.7mm AP-I made it into the British ammunition selection by mistake since the beginning of War Thunder and then stayed since no one questioned it.
Likewise I couldn’t find any reference to an Incendiary-Tracer.
The stats for the British .303s are also basically copies of the French 7.5mm ammunition stats, or wise versa. (Pretty sure that 7.5mm French is actually hotter with +850m/s while .303 should actually be in the 720-820m/s range)
But maybe I’m wrong. So feel free to correct me, if you have some manual that talks about British .303 AP-I round.
Bomber Command Ammuition 0.303-in.
Between January 1942 and May 1944 the operational sequence for belting
0.303-in. ammunition was as follows:
7 A.P., 2 incend., 1 tracer (day or night)
On the 26th May 1944, provision was made to alter the current sequence, should the necessity arise, to enable a quick turn-round of aircraft for day/night operations, to be effectec:
Rear Top left: all 70% A.P., 30% Incend., no Tracer
Top right: 1st 500 rounds like above
Reminder 50% A.P., 20% Incend., 30% Tracer (Night)
Bottom left: All 60% A.P., 20% Incend., 20% Tracer (Night)
Bottom right: All like above
Not really a realiable source but it seems that RAF only ever used AP, Inc, and Tracer rounds for their .303 Machine Guns.
Fighter apperently used a belt mix of 2xAP with 1xInc round, similiar to the French 7.5mm Stealth belt in-game or the current British .303 Belt that instead use these “incorrect” AP-I rounds.
Seems like that Russia, Italy and Germany were the only countries which used .30cal AP-I rounds but they also didn’t use dedicated Incendiary rounds.
Thanks for bringing up the matter. Until today I didn´t know the rounds were basically rifle-rounds. Owning and shooting - obiously only FMJ - a post-war Enfield from 1954 I got personally interested at once :).
I have found what I believe to be a primary source in the UK.
(My understanding of English is not perfect, so I could be wrong)
There is a related description around page 82 and a diagram of the .303 bullet near the end of the book.
As far as we can see, there are four types that are thought to have been used for aviation purposes: ball, AP, tracer, and incendiary.
Note that the incendiary rounds are completely different in construction from the Japanese ones, so they should be considered different, even though they have similar effects.
This source includes the table shown above, which allows the bullet weight to be calculated backwards for APs and tracers.
The results of the calculations were as follows
AP 303 W Mk.I : 174gr (11.28g)
Tracer 303 G Mk.I : 158gr (10.24g)
Tracer 303 G Mk.II : 154gr (9.98g)
There was no information on incendiary rounds, so we need to find another source.
