Exploding Bullets - whatever happened to these...

[Willie Sutton]

I can't think of any 20 year old reloader (back when I was a 20 year old reloader) who did not at one time stick a primer backwards into a .45 hollow point and drip candle wax on it to make an exploding bullet... no clue if they really went off though.....

This along with cutting off .30-06 brass and fooling with a variety of dies to make long cylinder-length shotshell cartridges for .45 ACP M1917 revolvers, making wax bullets, and 100 other things "unique and new" that were/are really just the stuff that any person with an active brain and way too much free time will dream up.

Ahh... the boldness and stupidity of youth.


Willie


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[cannonfire]

Are these types of bullets even legal any more?

Spotting round for artillery have been around for many years and are made to detonate on the surface(they do not penetrate) of what ever they hit with a bright flash to tell gunner to fire the main gun or not

A couple of things:
1. The spotting round are illumination rounds that we put an impact fuse on instead of a time fuse (that's how it pops in the sky without hitting anything) so it detonates when it hits the ground.

2. Illuminatation rounds are base ejecting meaning the back of the round pops of releasing the phosphorus (I believe is what is in illum rounds) so the only penetration into the ground is what happens when a 100lb bullet falls from 1000m

3. There is no main gun in an artillery unit. We use the illum to mark targets for aircrafts to drop their bombs on the target. Why not just hit it with artillery? It could be an underground bunker in which case takes a lot more than one bunker buster to destroy


Didn't mean to be knitt picky or sound rude. I just saw an opportunity to share knowledge and contribute when I can

 

[Willie Sutton]

Think that the term "spotting round" is being misunderstood by the prior poster.

See "106mm recoilless rifle" with it's coaxial .50 caliber spotting rifle attached, and then rethink spotting rounds. This is the classic case: You ping with the .50 until you have your range and then "whammo" with the 106. Watching and then firing jeep mounted 106's at Fort Dix as a kid was one of the highlights of Boy Scouting, let me tell you that. Loud? Uhh... yes.

Tanks have had similar capabilities, see "ranging gun" as used on the British Centurion tank.

LASER rangefinding has fairly made this technique obsolete though.


None of this is "Artillery" per se. It's a direct fire technique.

"Spotting" is not "Illumination". Totally different things.

Willie

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[Hansam]

I remember purchasing incendiary 7.62NATO mil-surp rounds for my .308 a few years ago at a gun show. The guy had cases upon cases of them and they went for around $2.50 a round. He also had them for 9mm, .45acp, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R and 5.56NATO. I bought a bunch in .7.62NATO and shot steel with them. They went off pretty reliably and at dusk put up a nice little fireworks show downrange.

What they guy selling them told me was that they were actually meant as anti-material rounds. Shoot and hope the small explosion sets off a fire or larger explosion within the fuel system. He also mentioned that they would NOT explode upon hitting flesh or wet nap, ONLY hard surfaces.

I haven't looked since then but I bet they're available.

 

[cannonfire]

That makes a lot more sense. I read artillery and spotting round? I work with artillery and I thought he meant marking the target (which is sometimes called spotting). The only other thing I thought of was an HE round that the Forward Observers give spotting so the battery knows where the round landed.

And an illumination mission and marking mission are two separate things, but the round is the same
I got excited when I heard artillery..... Sighhhh

Sorry for hijacking

 

[BPowderkeg]

aarondhgraham
It's the mercury vapor/fumes that will get to you.

Click here please.

thank you sir, i clicked and found this:

Symptoms typically include sensory impairment (vision, hearing, speech), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination.

between my "mildly severe" closed head injury and C2-C6 neck surgery (bone spurs growing into my spinal cord, those bones were removed and a Titanium set of "railroad tracks" inserted with 11 S.S. screws) i already have those symptoms, plus a few more, due to spinal cord damage, i have no feeling in my thumbs and first two fingers in both hands, trying to pick up a primer is a major job.

my use of Mercury to remove lead from barrels was many years ago when i was doing some gun smithing. the Mercury is now and has been in a beeswax sealed glass container.

 

[Nathan]

About two years ago, I caught a guy shooting these on my range. I informed him of two things:
If I ever caught him shooting something that gave off those kinds of sparks again, he'd be booted.
If he was ever misguided enough to use them in a self-defense shooting, the prosecutor would have a field day.

I don't know if they'll hurt the gun, but they do kick up some fireworks when they hit the backstop.

Good job. Did these create any danger to you or the other patrons, or we're you just playing tough guy for the day? I think with a properly design backstop, normal range gear, etc that the laws of physics say this was a non-issue.

 

[Technosavant]

Good job. Did these create any danger to you or the other patrons, or we're you just playing tough guy for the day? I think with a properly design backstop, normal range gear, etc that the laws of physics say this was a non-issue.

Sometimes people need to be told "no" even if they can't themselves understand why.

Sparks can start fires, both at indoor and outdoor ranges. Even properly designed ones. Outdoor ranges can have dry brush around and forest fires are bad. Indoor ranges can have all kinds of things (unburned powder, assorted carbon, lubricants from the target shuttles, etc.) that can catch fire. Indoor fires are VERY bad.

 

[dogrunner]

I clearly recall Dixie Arms owner Turner Kirkland detailing just how to make exploding muzzleloader bullets in one of his older catalogs. That posting was in the still printed loads section, but disappeared long ago, perhaps 30 plus years. Essentially he described pulling a .22 short round, packing a nose cavity (presumably a .58 caliber conical) with triple f black and then seating said .22 on top.

Never tried it, but it was claimed to make quite satisfying explosions on rocks and trees.

 

[aarondhgraham]

My personal exploding round,,,

A box of the old large white tip strike anywhere kitchen matches,,,
One .22 caliber pellet gun.

Step 1: Pump up the pellet gun.
Step 2: Drop the match down the muzzle of your pellet gun.
Step 3: Shoot the match towards any hard object, such as the brick exterior of your house.
Step 4: Run like the devil himself was after you when your Mom comes out to investigate the noise.

This was especially fun at night.

Aarond

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[Mello2u]

Skans

Exploding Bullets - whatever happened to these...

Has anyone ever fired one of these? Results? Just a gimmick or do they really explode on impact? What was under that primer? Legal? (I'm betting "not")

Any information would be appreciated.

I bought some Exploder .38 special ammo a few decades back. I fired into soft mud of a river bank. If I remember correctly, it made a crater in the mud about 6" deep and about 12" wide. Some of the mud blew back on me standing about 15 feet back.

 

[Redhawk5.5+P+]

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[egor20]

Willie Sutton

See "106mm recoilless rifle" with it's coaxial .50 caliber spotting rifle attached, and then rethink spotting rounds.

One of the patrol boats I ran in Gulf back in 91 had an 81mm mortar with a .50 cal for spotting. The problem was, until I had a British Marine teach us, no one had any idea what to do with it.

OOps

 

[Paul B.]

"i have used mercury to clean heavily leaded revolver barrels, so it would be very impractical unless used within hours of inserting a drop of mercury."

I did that for years myself. As far as putting mercury into a hollow point lead bullet, Me thinks it would leak out in 5 minutes or less. Mercury does not dissolve lead, it amalgamates with it.
Back in the early 1960s when .357 mag. ammo used those soft swaged lead bullet, it didn't take too many round to where the gun looked like a rough smoothbore. About 90 percent of the time, plugging the barrel and filling it with mercury and letting it stand for about 5 minutes, then draining it and running a tight patch down the bore would leave the barrel shining like a new dime. Don't ever let mercury fall on any of your gold jewelry. it really messes it up.
As far as putting a .22 blank, or a primer into a hollow point, while fun is a really bad idea. Those unfriendly guys at the BATFE frown on making what they term, explosive devices" and those bullets qualify as explosive devices. I wouldn't even admit to trying at some time in history as fun thing. Federal felonies can't be forgiven and there goes your gun, probably to be melted down.
Now it is a federal crime to mis that Tannerite stuff and take it to the range. You can take it to the range and mix it up there, but not at home and then go. Them guys are just plain killjoys all rounds.
Paul B.

 

[Edward429451]

Last I heard you could mix up to 1/4 oz before it becomes illegal so no hollow point is going to hold that much.

I made a mercury boolit once way back in the day. I used a little blob of mercury into a Silvertip and capped it with a blob of JB Weld which I filed into a nice roundnose shape with a fingernail file. I never did shoot it, but it did not fall apart in 5 minutes. That thing hung around for years and years before I lost track of it. I know it may have been mushy inside and thats why I didnt want to shoot it. I thought the JB may come loose while feeding.

 

[Skans]

On mercury filled bullets - couldn't you just dip it in polyurethane before adding mercury? It mercury and lead would never come in contact with each other.

 

[edfrompa]

Whatever happened to these?

We used tracer rounds back in 60s, Every other round was a tracer round. They did work pretty well.

 

[Redhawk5.5+P+]

www.Hitechammotogo.com

 

[thallub]

The bullet used in the .50 caliber spotting round is dangerous. A Saudi i know deliberately dropped one on a piece of armor plate. The projectile detonated; badly burning his leg and setting his trouser leg on fire.

 

[Mello2u]

Found a photo of one of the Exploder .38 spl rounds.

Cost many decades ago was $12.95 for 15 rounds.
The bullet does not appear to be lead. It is less dense. It does not oxidize as lead does.