VELET Exploding Bullets - There's Nothing New:

Explosive Bursting shells were invented for artillery use way back in history in the 14th century - so it was a natural that they would be tried in more compact cannon as soon as technology permitted. Small arms were used with explosive bullets in warfare until The Hague Conference (1929) banned their deployment - but surprisingly The Geneva Convention seems to not have addressed this issue.

Shell Burst - These are Legal To Use ?

- Just about anyone with an average IQ and an interest in hand-loading will know that primers are set-off by a sharp blow - as are the softer copper percussion caps used in black powder shooting

It certainly doesn't take an Einstein or a Marconi to work out that you might drill a hole into the nose of a bullet and insert some powder and a cap or primer. Whether you might then be dumb enough to put them into a gun and fire them is another issue.

(- I once had an interesting conversation with a supermarket check-out operator after I had explained that half of her customers had below average intelligence.. "THAT"S NOT RIGHT!")

Some time in the 1970s an American outfit was commercially selling VELET and an earlier VELEX version of  'fragmenting' bullet in .380 ACP, .38 Special, 357 Magnum, 9mm Para., and .45"ACP.

Of course California immediately banned them and indeed they may have been subject to Federal restrictions.

As I see it .. if there is a target so despicable as to need not only making 'Dead' but that it requires to be 'Double-Dead' - you might consider exploding bullets which would be the opposite of any 'Armour Piercing Rounds' - because they would not penetrate much at all - having exploded on impact.

Imagine red eyed voracious 'Venture-Caps from Outer Space' with orange hair intent on devouring roasted (or broiled?) every 'hard working middle-class mortgage-holder '. - These 'Demtumps' have laser eyes that infect all they see with genital warts.

- Their fangs are venomous, their claws are gangrenous, they have smelly green cheese between their toes - and the skin-flakes shed from under their wigs infect pussycats with Toxoplasmosis (Google it eh).

- Such evil space invaders might be considered as fit for exploding-bullet target practice.

- Somebody at VELET thought so anyway - as they must have spent hours drilling holes in copper jacketed bullets to insert some black powder - later changed to Pyrodox - then capping/priming it all before sealing the nose cavity with a red laquer (nail varnish?). They didn't succeed.

All part of life's rich tapestry eh - or perhaps they were just trying to make a buck at around one dollar for each cartridge - big money back then..

Modern RIP Ammo

Currently there is plenty of choice in expanding or fragmenting bullet technology without falling back on the use of fused explosives - although I have read in overseas publications that the key to effectiveness against red-eyed space-monsters may perhaps lay with bullet placement and decent penetration.

Marty K.