FMJ bullets . Cuttin the tip off??

08 December 2003, 16:12

GSP7

I read a post of a guy that says He cuts the tips of FMJ bullets to make his own hollow tips. I heard that is damgerous that if the base has exposed lead the bullet could lodge in the barrel.
True?

08 December 2003, 16:16

ricciardelli

Let's just say that I think that whatever he is using to cut-off the tips of FMJ bullets is a hell of a lot sharper than he is!

08 December 2003, 17:11

bartsche

A number of people I have known have ground off the tips of mil. fmj bullets.Luckily only one had a missfortune and this is hear say.The lead left the barrel but the jacket stayed. The next shot really caused some barrel damage. It seems to me I remember seeing that copper ring in the barrel. [Roll Eyes]

Some that I've known pull the fmj and turn them around and shoot them ass end first.This doesn't seem to be a great thing to do but I never knew anyone to get hurt doing it. YET! [Eek!]

roger

08 December 2003, 19:07

covey16

GSP7
Think about what happens to an fmj bullet when you cut the tip off.You create a copper tube with an unbonded lead core.
The physics are fairly obvious.
Please don't try this at home.
Covey

[ 12-08-2003, 10:08: Message edited by: covey16 ]

08 December 2003, 20:55

Atkinson

Most of you weren't around when WW11 was in full swing and everything was rationed and some things could not be had and ammo was very hard to come by...We got a good deal of military 30-06 ammo and cut or ground the noses off...We shot an awfull lot of them without incident, several thousand I would guess...maby more.

It was a crapshoot shooting deer with them, they would sometimes blow huge holes in and out, they explode inside and many time they would slick through and not open at all, then you had a long drawn out tracking job on hand...

I have heard they even tumbled but I never knew of one to do that...

09 December 2003, 01:41

geekay

Immediate post WWII and for several years 100s of thousands of roos were taken with FMJ 303s ground back, some even drilled. Most roos were taken down with kidney shots then so there was less likely to be dammage to the skins.

09 December 2003, 02:50

<eldeguello>

quote:
He cuts the tips of FMJ bullets to make his own hollow tips. I heard that is damgerous that if the base has exposed lead the bullet could lodge in the barrel.

Many hundreds of thousands of rounds of military FMJ ball ammo has been fired after being altered like you mention, in order to produce an "expanding" bullet. Most of the time, the whole bullet left the barrel. However, there are quite a few instances where the JACKET didn't, and the next shot wrecked the gun! This does not seem to happen with boat-tailed bullets like the G.I. 172-grain National Match bullet, or the boattail design used in 7.62X51mm NATO ammo, because the powder gases act not only upon the lead exposed at the base, but also upon the sides of the boatailed portion of the jacket as well.

It is an extremely poor idea, not only from the standpoint of possible damage to the gun, but also from the fact that no two altered bullets will perform the same on a game animal, nor on the target range either! Buy expanding bullets/ammo, if you want them to expand!!

[ 12-08-2003, 18:00: Message edited by: eldeguello ]