Thread: NZFS ammunition article by Lynn Harris

Hi all,

Found this article which I thought best to reproduce here, original was scanned from an NZ Cartridge Collectors (found here: https://forum.cartridgecollectors.or...hester/5468/11) hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



It is well-known by most. New Zealanders that since 1990, our Government has pursued a policy of employing teams of professional hunters to reduce the wild populations of introduced animals such as deer, feral goats, pigs, chamois and tahr. This activity probably sounds totally bizarre to our overseas members but you are assured that it did take place, although not without considerable opposition from sportsmen, and frequent political dispute.

To give some historical perspective to the events which I am about to describe, I should record that in 1956 the responsibility for the control of introduced animals" became vested in the Now Zealand Forest Service, the function having previously been the duty of the Deer Control Section of the Department of Internal Affairs. The change in administration introduced new strategies, greater resources, biological research, and more finance. But, the front-line was still the skilled foot hunter who, with pack and rifle, spent most of the year in almost total isolation in the rugged mountain country.


While at its peak of activities the core of professional hunters seldom exceeded 120 in total (often as few as 80), they accounted for a considerable number of animals. Records show that from 1930 slightly more than 1 million deer fell to Government bullets. Add to this a similar quantity of feral goats, pigs, chamois, tahr, wallabies and the like, and it doesn't require a mathematician to Calculate the lofty outlay in ammunition involved. To this unknown quantity we can also add the "bounty ammunition", a scheme by which sport hunters could claim three rounds of .303 for every pair of ears submitted to a collection point. Suffice it to say, millions of rounds of .303 ammunition were involved and most of it came from surplus military sources, both foreign and within New Zealand.

In 1959 I joined the Forest Service and for about 20 years was responsible for the requisition of ammunition and rifles, in addition to instructing Ranger staff and hunter trainees in some of the skills required. Not long after I assumed my role, it became clear that no longer could we rely on the local military as our sole source of ammunition.

Consequently, in 1961 the Forest Service arranged the purchase of 1 million rounds of 303 ball ammunition from the Direction Generale De L'Oriontee of the Ministere De La Defense, Belgium, for a price of £2-10-0 (85) per 1000. This ammunition turned out to be of FN 1919/50 production and caused hunters some concern when the 20-round boxes were found to be labelled "For BREN MG". It was thought that we had inadvertently received a hot machine gun load which might be too much for our old No.4 rifles to handle.

On making inquiries in Belgium I received proof data which showed that the only thing special shout the cartridge was its 174 grain bout-tail bullet in lieu of the normal Mark VII flat base. The cartridge was loaded with 43 grains of Cooppal flake powder and produced an average 72110 sec (2385 fps) instrumental velocily at a mean pressure not exceeding 2918 kg/cm' (41500 ft. lbs.). It proved to be the most accurate long range military ball .303 cartridge I have ever used, due mainly to the superbly designed projectile. I understand that it became much favoured by big-bore match shooters.


The FN ammunition was used both for the bounty and our own operational needs and stocks diminished rapidly. In February 1983 it was found necessary to order but this time the New Zealand Army was prepared to release 3 million rounds of surplus CAC stock. From this bulk supply we also drew operational ammunition which was converted to hollow nose by Barclay Engineering of Lower Hutt @ £1 ($8) per 1,000. By the end of 1966 we were down to a six month supply and again tho Army was asked to release a further 3 million rounds for delivery to our bulk magazine at the RNZAF Base, Otakea, by mid 1967. They declined, saying that their future requirements were uncertain and that we should look elsewhere.

On 31 March 1967 the Government decided to cease the bounty scheme, which had the immediate effect of reducing the Forest Service .303 requirement by about 2/3. Messrs Parker Hale of England offered 1 million rounds of late RL production £12 ($24) per 1,000 but it was decided at Government level that because of the reduced requirements, the demand could and should be met by local manufacturers. In response to enquiries, the Colonial Ammunition Company offered to meet our needs for operational ammunition (150,000 per year) £32-5-0 per 1,000 ($64.50). In addition, the company advised that they could offer "medium-priced" 303 ammunition for only as long as the supply of surplus military components lasted From approximately mil 1968 their .303 would be manufactured from imported commercial components and the cost would be comparable to other high power sporting ammunition.


Obviously, a rethink of our ammunition requirements and future supply needed fresh examination. If we were going to be forced into buying locally produced 303 sporting ammunition, at a price comparable with other recognised brands and calibres, then perhaps the time was ripe to give up the .303 cartridge as the operational big-bore calibre and go to something more efficient. Such a move would also enable us to move away from the vintage No.4 rifles (future supplies of which could not be assured), and permit hunters to use purpose-built commercial rifles in a better calibre. Many, especially North Island hunters, were already using the .222 with great success and we imported about 100,000 rounds of that calibre every year or so. Because it was not manufactured in New Zealand, the current import restrictions did not apply.

There was considerable pressure to consider the .308 cartridge as the new operational big-bore calibre. The arguments in its favour sounded convincing to those persons who knew little about rifles and cartridge performance. The New Zealand Army was using it, albeit as the 7.62mm, and millions of dollars had been spent in equipping CAC with the latest machinery to produce the cartridge. In addition, the company was already producing a number of sporting versions at a price about the same as we would pay for .303. However, the Forest Service had already been using CAC .308 ammunition in limited operations and found its performance and consistency sadly lacking. I was able to prove that it lacked reliable killing power and gave only mediocre accuracy in a variety of sporting rifles. This position was strongly supported by Rangers and hunters in the field, although all acknowledged that there remained a limited requirement for the .308 calibre in semi-automatic rifles where these could be used effectively. The wheels of progress turn slowly in Government and discussions, trials, negotiations and more discussions seemed to drag on forever. However, in May 1967 I received approval to solicit comments from all districts on the proposal that we adopt the 270 cartridge as the future calibre. By January 1968 I was able to submit a formal recommendation to my Director that he approve the proposal, which he did.

During discussions with CAC they had intimated that .243 calibre would be in production by February 1968, closely followed by .270 June 1968 at the latest. Accordingly, when the formal tender for 250,000.270 cartridges went out on 17 September 1968, I did not anticipate any undue delay in the commencement of the contract. However, it seems that CAC's projections were a little ambitious and they were not in a position to start production. Fortunately, I had included in the tender a requirement that samples would be required for evaluation before signing the contract. This served to spur CAC's efforts. They rapidly designed 150 and 150 grain projectiles (copies of Speer, for which they were agents) and few in some Kynoch cases for load development while they set about the task of tooling to produce brass of their own. Two hundred rounds of experimental CAC loads using their own 150 grain bullets and Kynoch cases were submitted to the Forest Service for evaluation. One hundred rounds were sent to Canterbury for testing of their long range effectiveness in the Southern Alps and the remaining 100 rounds were used by myself in extensive accuracy trials at the military range near Wellington. The cartridges performed superbly in a variety of rifles, including Sako, Brno and Remington, and were equal to or surpassed brands of imported cartridges used as a control. Of these 200 historic experimental loads with their confusing Kynoch headstamp, only a handful remain today.


One of the conditions of the .270 tender was that the cartridges should have a special headstamp that would enable them to be identified as Government ammunition. This was, in part, to make it difficult for Forest Service hunters to trade or sell such cartridges to sports goods dealers, a widespread practice in the days of huge quantities of .303 military ammunition. Another reason, not admitted at the time, was that I had a secret desire to produce a cartridge with a unique headstamp! Supplies of the specially headstamped Forest Service .270, 125,000 of each bullet weight, began to arrive from the factory in April 1969 and immediately went into service. It is a credit to the now defunct CAC that the load performed extremely well but, as history now records, it was never destined to be a large quantity product. Although a number of small "top- up" orders for the cartridge continued over the following decade or so, the advent of commercial helicopter hunting spelled the end of intensive Forest Service foot hunting and the expenditure of huge quantities of ammunition.

It is interesting to note that token supplies of the special .270 survived in a few remote outposts well into the 1990s and that two variations of box labeling seem to exist one pasted, one printed, as shown in the accompanying pictures. Now that widespread operations by Government hunters are a thing of the past, one may safely assume that the 270 NZFS headstamp is a unique product which can only increase in 'collectibility as the years roll on by. Another special" NZFS cartridge of even greater rarity is the low power 110 gr .308 which was developed to limit penetration and reduce ricochets likely to strike helicopters in tight canyons and gorges on special goat and chamois operations. Regretfully, it has the regular CAC 308 h/s but is distinctive because of its stubby, short, blunt-nosed bullet which was never loaded commercially. Small quantities were made and used in the 1970s, but that's another story.