The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

**Mike Irwin** · August 13, 2002, 07:53 PM

One big problem with a lot of the older .303 rifles is that over their service life the softer barrel steel in the chambers would be erroded pretty badly by the cordite propellent.

Cordite, because it contains a fair amount of nitroglycerine, burns with a very hot flame, which combined with the softer barrel steels of the last two centuries wasn't such a great combination.

When the British switched to Cordite in the 1890s, they found that the shallow-rifling Lee-Metford rifles were being eaten alive in only a few thousand rounds. The rifling for the first several inches of barrel would just cease to exist, and accuracy would just cease to exist in most cases.

August 13, 2002, 07:53 PM	#10
Mike Irwin Staff Join Date: April 13, 2000 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 41,390	One big problem with a lot of the older .303 rifles is that over their service life the softer barrel steel in the chambers would be erroded pretty badly by the cordite propellent. Cordite, because it contains a fair amount of nitroglycerine, burns with a very hot flame, which combined with the softer barrel steels of the last two centuries wasn't such a great combination. When the British switched to Cordite in the 1890s, they found that the shallow-rifling Lee-Metford rifles were being eaten alive in only a few thousand rounds. The rifling for the first several inches of barrel would just cease to exist, and accuracy would just cease to exist in most cases. __________________ "The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.