Head Stamp Help

crisisbill

Hello,
I was given a plastic bag with around 100 rounds of ammo in an unknown caliber to me.



The head stamp is is follows:
P.M.P. 67
.38 2Z
I have had this stuff in my shop for a while now and while cleaning things up looking for things to get rid of I found them again

rufe-snow

I have seen similar "Z" markings on Limey ammo in the past. From your pictures it looks like their version of the .38 S & W cartridge. This was used in various Enfield, Webley & S & W revolvers chambered for this cartridge.

heavyiron

Hi,

I think what you have here is the 38 Smith&Wesson aka 38 Colt New Police cartridge. The OAL for one of these cartridges is about 1.20 inches.

The photograph is deceiving since it looks to be loaded with the 200 grain bullet.

The PMP headstamp stands for Pretoria Metal Pressings Ltd. and is from Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. The South Africans adopted the British ballistic nomenclature. The 2Z designates the type of load which in this case means the gunpowder is a graphite-glazed, single-base nitrocellulose propellant. The 2 is a Mark (model) number for the bullet which designates a "ball" round. The British military loading is called a 380/200.

These cartridges have been used all over the British commonwealth and the world for that matter. The British adopted the round right before WWII. The British Webley&Scott was chambered for this round. The British found this cartridge loaded with a 200 grain bullet was just as much of a manstopper as the older 455 military cartridge and so they changed over to the lighter 38 load.

Hope this helps.

Heavyiron

crisisbill

Thanks guys, like I said they have been sitting in my shop for years now.
Guess I'll set them aside for a future give away.