TYPES OF BULLETS AND ITS

COMPOSITION
 Bullet
 Bullet is projectile propelled by a firearm, sling or air
gun. Bullet do not normally contain explosive but
damage the intended target by impact and
penetration.
 Bullets are made up of a variety of materials. Lead or
lead alloy is the tradition bullet core material.
 There are many other materials that are used in bullet
like Aluminum , Bismuth, bronze, copper, plastic,
Rubber, Steel, Teen and, Tungsten.
A modern cartridge consists of the following:
1. the bullet itself, which serves as the
projectile;

2. the case, which holds all parts together;

3. the propellant, for example gunpowder or

cordite;

4. the rim, part of the casing used for loading;

5. the primer, which ignites the propellant.

 CLASSIFICATION OF BULLET
 Bullets are classified into number of ways as to their
shape and they are divided roughly into the spherical
and conical.

 The later further divided on the basis of tip shape,

ogive shapes and heel shapes.

 Due to this we can easily identify the bullets.

 These are of:

 On the basis of jacket
1. Non- jacketed Bullet 2. Jacketed Bullet
 On the basis of tip shapes
1. Soft point Bullet 2. Hollow point Bullet
 On the basis of ogive shapes
1. Round Nose Bullet 2. Flat Nose Bullet
3. Semi Wad cutter Bullet 4. Spitzer Bullet

 On the basis of heel shapes

1. Flat Base Bullet 2. Boat Tailed Bullet
3. Stream lined Bullet
 Other Types
1. Tracer Bullet
2. Incendiary Bullet
3. Armour piercing Bullet
4. Copper plated Bullet
5. Spherical Projectiles
6. Paradox Projectiles
7. Rotary Projectiles
8. Aluminium tip Bullet
9. Dum Dum Bullet
10. Duplex Bullet
11. Non lead Bullet
 LEAD BULLET
 Made up of entirely of lead.
 They are often accompanied by a gas check
to prevent bullet vaporization and to assist
in the bullet traction on the rifling of a
barrel.
 Dependent on the alloy hardness used, lead
bullets tend to penetrate further &expand
deep inside of their target.
 Used extensively in older cartridge
composition.
 JACKATED BULLET
It was found that lead bullets did not function
properly at this velocities. They got deformed.
Accuracy was adversely affected. To remedy this, the
bullets were covered with a jacket.
The commonest material for the jacket is copper .
Copper alloys and steels are also used as jacket
materials.
Cont…
On the bases of jacketing these are two types-
1) Baseless jacketed Bullet
2) Base jacketed Bullet
On the basis of material of jacketing, these are 4
types-
1) Paper-patched Bullet
2) Wire-patched Bullet
3) Metal cased Bullet
4) Electroplated Bullet
5) Gas-Check Bullet
BASELESS JACKETED BULLETS
 Bullets that have a metal coating
around the majority of bullet. This
does not include the base of the
bullet, which still has exposed lead.

 Do not expand and tend to

penetrate very deeply, causing a
straight through wound channel.

 Perfectfor target shooting and

plinking due to their lower price
levels.
 BASE JACKETED BULLET
 Totally encapsulated in a brass or steel
alloy jacket.

 Tend to penetrate very deeply with little

to no expansion.

 Perfect for target shooting and plinking

due to their lower price levels.
 PAPER-PATCHED BULLET
 Simple material for the jacket was
paper.

 They were good but they left pieces of

paper in the barrel, which gave
trouble in subsequent firing.

 The barrels had to be cleaned

frequently.
 WIRE-PATCH BULLET
 A lead bullet encased tightly in a wire
made of copper or some other material
makes a wire-patch bullet.

 During flight the wire unbound itself.

Both range and aim were adversely
affected.
METAL CASED BULLET

 Lead bullets suffered at

highly velocities, were
almost fully overcome
when they were covered
by metal jackets.

 Copper, mild steel, cupro-

nickel alloy and gilding
metal are commonly used.
ELECTROPLATED
BULLET
 To prevent excessive
deformation, lead bullets
were electroplated with
copper.

 They increased fouling of

the barrel without
reducing deformation of
the bullets substantially
ultimately the method was
given up.
 GAS CHECK BULLET
 Gas checks are most commonly found in the
form of a thin cup or disc made of copper,
zinc, aluminum or some suitable alloy such
as brass.
 there will be a rebated area to allow the cup
to fit the base, or a small projection to allow
attachment of the check.
 provides a thin layer of harder but still
malleable metal on the base of the bullet
that obturates to provide a seal and prevent
the propellant gas leakage that causes gas
cutting, and help the bullet grip the rifling
The check is swaged onto the bullet.
 Used in obsolete military rifles
SOFT POINT BULLET
 Constructed of lead and usually
encapsulated with a copper or steel alloy
jacket, with the exception of the tip of
the bullet
 Designed for controlled expansion and
high weight retention.
 When the bullet strikes the target, it
mushrooms into an umbrella like
formation and caused wound much
larger in diameter than the bullet itself.
 Used for hunting.
HOLLOW POINT BULLET
 The tip is hollow, the lead core does not
fill the cone of the nose of the jacket.

 The bullet is excellent for aim accuracy

and good for expansion.

 When a hollow-point hunting bullet

strikes a soft target, the pressure
created in the pit forces the material
(usually lead) around the inside edge to
expand outwards. This process is
commonly referred to as mushrooming.
 FLAT BASE BULLET
 The cylindrical section to the rear of
the bullet is the shank. The shank
can have a flat base .
 The flat base is heavier and provides
greater penetration, but the boat tail
provides greater accuracy over
distance.
 The base of the shank can also have a
base plate of harder metal to prevent
deformation of the bullet during
firing
 BOAT-TAILED BULLET
 It was found that the resistance could be
reduced if the base side of the bullet was
tapered. The boat-tailing helped the
flow of air over the bullet and reduce the
friction and air resistance.
 The boat-tailing of the bullets increased
the aim and the range of the projectiles.
 Found that the slant of about 9degree of
the boat-tailed was adequate.
 STREAM-LINED BULLET
 Tapering on both the nose and base
sides ended in pencil points.
 The nose side point helped smooth
penetration of the air and the base-side
point provided a smooth surface for the
air flow over the bullet.
 The sabot travels along with the
projectile in the barrel and helps to keep
it in the position in the grooves.
 ROUND NOSE BULLET
 Bullet that has a rounded tip.

 Have better aerodynamics than flat point

bullets.

 A reasonable trade-off for medium

velocity and medium-weight cartridges.

 Made of lead are referred to as "Lead

Round Nose" bullets.
 FLAT NOSE BULLET
 Also known as wadcutter bullet.

 Flat at the point.

 Expand more than a round nose when it

strikes a substance.

 Used in most of the repeating rifles with

tubular magazine.
SEMI-WAD CUTTER BULLET
 Semi-Wadcutter bullets are generally
characterized by a cone-shaped tip with
a flat nose. They can either be all
exposed lead or have a jacket covering
the bullet.

 They should be deep penetrators with

little to no expansion.

 Semi-wadcutter bullets are cheap to

shoot and are used extensively for
practice and competition.
 SPITZER BULLET
 bullet that has a pointed tip. "Spitzer" is
the German word for "pointed.“

 Spitzer bullets do not expand as well as

round nose bullets or flat point bullets.

 Used in rifles where the velocity is high

enough that this is not a concern.
 TRACER BULLET
 Trace their trajectories, the path of
flight. Some start tracing the path after
traversing a distance of about 100
meters.
 The trace is visible in the form of a
streak of bright red flame given by a
special composition(Barium peroxide
and Magnesium powder) placed in the
base of the bullet made hollow for the
purpose.
 Available for machine guns, rifles and
pistols.
 INCENDIARY BULLET
 Made with an explosive or flammable
mixture in the tip that is designed to
ignite on contact with a target.
 The intent is to ignite fuel or
ammunition in the target area, thereby
adding to the destructive power of the
bullet itself.
 Needs extreme care in handling.
 ARMOUR PIERCING BULLET
 Consists of a hard tungsten-chrome
steel core point at one end.

 Enclosed in a mild steel jacket which has

some space between the core and the
jacket. Space is filled with a special filter
alloy.

 Create enough heat to soften the target

material to allow the core to enter into
the target.
 COPPER PLATED BULLET
 Bullets coated with copper

 Avoid having to lubricate the bullet

 Covered with wax on that portion of the

bullet which projects outside of the case
this lubricant is more or less of a
nuisance.

 Prevent the spreading and melting of

bullet.
ALLUMINIUM TIPPED BULLET
 Have alluminium in the tip of the jacket.
 Light weight metal for the tip improves
the aim and range of the projectile.
 British Mark VII bullet had an
aluminium tip.
 DUM DUM BULLET
 Given the name because they were
manufactured at dum-dum. It is place
near Calcutta in India.

 The soldiers rubbed the tips and

softened them.

 On striking the target , these bullets

with softened nose broke in to many
pieces and caused extensive injuries.
 NON-LEAD BULLET
 Made up of metal or metal brass such as
steel, copper.
 Also called Balle D.
 Little to no fragmentation.
 Better penetration and a longer wound
channel means greater killing power.
 Much less toxicity for humans and
wildlife.
 Equal or greater accuracy .
 DUPLEX BULLET
 Consists of two projectiles loaded in one
cartridge.
 The forward missile is recessed at its
base, allowing the second projectile to fit
snugly into the forward bullet.
 Causes a difference in the trajectories of
two bullets. So the two projectiles enter
the target at different points.
 SPHERICAL PROJECTILE
 Made from hardened lead alloy.

 Used as single projectiles, as balls, or in

large numbers, in buckshot or pallet
charges.

 Used in shotguns, musket, pest guns

and other short range firearms.
 PARADOX PROJECTILE
 Specially made bullet, intended to be
fired from a paradox shotgun.

 Shotguns have two shallow grooves,

when paradox bullet passing through
the grooves portion of the barrel, gets
rotated which like bullets continues to
spin outside in the air.
Thank
you……