The Solitary War of the Sniper

This is the biography of British Army Sergeant Harry Furness.  It contains much of his own writings to the author, Martin Pegler over a 20 year period. 

So, there is evidence after all that one of the unwritten tasks of the British sniper in WWII Europe was to scrounge for accurate ammunition! The promise to send forward the best and most accurate Mk 7 ball ammunition to the snipers was not followed through. He also discussed barrel life and replacement by unit armourers. Barrel life for the No. 4 T was considered to be no more than 1000 rounds! 

Rumor had it that scrounging the Red  Label (aircraft machine gun) in preference to "regular" Green Label ammunition was an ongoing project.

No idea if its actually true. It was just more reliable to reduce jams, but may have acquired a mystique.

He said that “standard .303-inch service rounds did not provide extreme-range accuracy, … At sniping school, we were promised that rear supplies would send the sniping sections special batches of tested ammunition of a Match standard suitable for competitive shooting for instance.  In practice, this did not happen…it was very important to try and find ammo from the best makers.”

Winchester was favored and some batches of British Mk 7 that tested good were sought for.  He also said Mk VIIIz ammunition intended for machine guns was used, but supplies were not plentiful.  I would expect that with the higher muzzle velocity and streamlined bullet, the snipers would have to establish zero’s, at least every 100 yards, as the scope range index markings would be off by a fair bit, especially beyond 400-500 yds, but he did not go into this. 

I suspect Furness is referring to regular Winchester made Mk VIIz ball. I might have some of that, definitely have some fired cases from WWII WRA headstamp.  

Here is what he wrote:

From Tony Edwards & Richard Tordoff’s web site on British Small Arms ammunition, the design of the Mk VIII bullet was changed in 1942 from the rebated boattail to a regular smooth transition taper, so I’d expect by 1944, it was the later bullet being issued in Europe.  He gives the muzzle velocity as 2550 fps, pressure as 20-21 tsi. Doesn’t say what barrel length the velocity is based on, but I’d guess it would be the Vickers MG with 28 inch barrel (which would give perhaps 50 fps more than the 25 inch rifle barrels).   He also says that Pamphlet 11 permits the use of Mk VIIIz in rifle and Bren guns when less flash is required i.e. at night. That may be another reason snipers used this stuff as they often took their shots in dawn or dusk conditions. 

It's unfortunate that some very extensively experienced men refuse to accept that which they hadn't seen during their time in the military.

Derek