Spare .303 ammo in metal bin

[derk derin]

Does anybody know if the metal ammunition bin that’s stowed in the angled tray on the right side of the Mk 1 Universal carrier held spare .303 British ammunition in the cartons or were they in bandoleers?
I have cartons of blank .303 packed in 48 loose rounds but they don’t seem to fit very well in any position. Would the live rounds in cartons be 1/4 inch shorter so they fit better? If that’s the case then it looks like 7 cartons would fit in the metal bin. Bandoleers don’t seem likely as I’m sure the spare ammunition was intended to be used with the Bren loading tool to fill Bren mags so a bandoleer doesn’t seem practical.
Thanks,Derk

[derk derin]

I just tried fitting a box of wartime dated 48 round loose .303 British ammunition into the metal bin but it is the same size as the carton the dummy rounds came in so still don’t fit!
I then tried the 32 round carton of .303 British ammunition and it fits nice and 7 cartons fit in the bin.
Now the 32 round cartons of .303 I have are post war dated 1955. Were there wartime production 32 round cartons that were used or am I back to square one?
If so then the bin would have held 224 loose rounds of .303 British ammunition.
Any references in the history books to confirm this?
Thanks,Derk