Ammunition Box : .303 inch calibre

Ammunition box of screwed and nailed timber construction. It is designed to hold 1,600 .303 inch cartridges in cardboard cartons of twenty rounds each. The corners of the box are reinforced with steel strips and it has been finished in overall brown paint with some olive green patches applied. Yellow and white text is stencilled on the outside. The interior has been lined with tin plated steel sheet and this has been finished in red oxide primer. The wooden lid is wedge shaped with locating guide slots and slides into place when fitted to the top centre section of the box. A 'T' shaped steel handle and brass split pin secure the lid to the box. Remnants of resin, wax and cotton strip remain where the lid was originally sealed. Rope handles are fitted to each end. The box was refilled in November 1960 with Mark 9Z blank ammunition and the yellow stencilling was added at that time.

This box was constructed during the First World War period to hold .303 inch Mk VI or Mk VII ammunition. It evidently remained in Australian Army service for more than forty years, and in 1960 was refurbished and refilled with .303 inch Mark 9Z blank ammunition. The stencilled markings on the box reflect the 1960s refurbishment.