Mushrooming or Expanding Jacketed Bullets - A Different Way?:

I've been thinking again !

"Mushrooming" is planned bullet distortion .. Almost any bullet subjected to enough force will distort or set up. I remember firing pellets from my Webley Mk. III air rifle at an electric iron placed in a cardboard box as a teenager (some time ago) .. boy did they distort -  they just shattered into bits 😊.

I have an idea about maybe there might be a different way to make an expanding bullet .. then I saw this photo image that shows interesting distortions .. look at the forth slug from the left - it's not just the bullet nose expanding:

- What my thought was - that maybe if a bullet was structurally weakened between it's front & rear parts - perhaps by 'through cuts' or incisions in the gilding metal (a type of brass 95% copper + 5% zinc) - it could possibly be made to expand greatly under impact in that mid-section.

The degree of expansion might be made 'adjustable' by the length of the cuts .. but with this ballistics technology you are always juggling with the variables of shape, velocity, strength, & weight.

Going               Going                Gone

Please excuse my crappy photography and sketching

- just 'dreaming' I guess - but you never know until you've tried it eh .. Kiwi Ingenuity.

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Here's another fascinating thought that I just came across on-line - It seems likely that if a lead cored bullet is driven fast enough .. it's lead core can melt from the friction heat at velocities of around 4,000 ft. per sec.  ??

- Another "wee gem" that I just picked-up is that it was one Colonel Eduard Rubin, a Swiss gentleman - who invented the Full Metal Jacketed Bullet in 1882. - His name rang a bell for me regarding the Schmidt-Rubin rifle eh.

Anyway - here's a link to an excellent & interesting piece about bullet design. Link:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/bullets_beginners.htm

- Well I found it interesting anyway.

& Here's a Link to some fascinating "Slow Motion" video of bullet impacts & penetration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfDoQwIAaXg

Marty K.
A late P.S. Hey Guys .. read the Comment below as it seems that idea has been used before. - You just don't know what you don't know. 😄