Modern expansive cartridges
Rifled weapons and their disadvantages
The appearance in the 19th century of a huge number of types of rifled small arms became a period of mass experiments, the purpose of which was to improve ammunition that could, if not destroy, then certainly disable a soldier of the enemy army with one shot.
In smooth-bore weapons, lead bullets showed excellent results, which, when they hit the target, flattened out, causing terrible damage to the enemy. But the appearance of rifling in the barrel, increasing the range and accuracy of the shot, changed everything. Lead bullets deformed and fell off the rifling, and the accuracy of hitting targets fell sharply.
The way out was the production of shell-type cartridges. In them, the lead core was protected by a dense copper, brass, cupronickel or steel coating, which tightly clung to the rifling of the barrel and gave the bullet excellent ballistic characteristics. They accurately hit targets from a long distance, but the wounds they inflicted were not dire enough. And the soldiers who were wounded even several times could continue to conduct hostilities.
Modern shell cartridges of various types
Cladding Problems
The first to draw attention to the shortcomings of shell bullets were the British, who waged colonial wars on almost all continents inhabited by people. They were especially impressed by the endurance of African natives and Maori warriors, who, even with several holes in their chests, continued to attack the enemy, falling only after accurate hits in the head or heart.
The first sign of discontent was shown in 1895 by British soldiers who fought in the Indian Khanate of Chitral, located on the border with Afghanistan. They said that the ammunition given to them was ineffective, since the wounded Afghans did not fall after the first hit.
Reloading the rifles took quite a long time, and the advancing natives categorically did not want to die, from which the soldiers concluded that Her Majesty's government decided to save money by providing them with low-quality cartridges.
Captain Neville Bertie-Clay suggested a way out. He proposed to produce slightly modified bullets for the.303 British cartridge, which was used as ammunition for the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield rifles.
The officer simply removed about 1 mm of copper alloy from the tip of the standard bullet. The lead core was bare, and the effect of hitting targets exceeded even the most daring expectations.
The first batch of new cartridges was produced at an arms factory in the Indian city of Calcutta. It was located in the suburb of Dum-Dum, which gave the name to the most terrible small arms of that time.
Flying death
Tests of new cartridges took place in a combat situation and demonstrated their incredible effectiveness. When hitting the target, the bullet stopped even the strongest man on the run. The wounded man was literally thrown backward, and in most cases he could no longer stand up at all. Pieces of flesh flew from his body to the sides, which is why the bullets began to be called explosive. But they did not burst into pieces inside the body, as many still think.
Through wound of the jaw by a "dum-dum" bullet
During the Anglo-Boer Wars, a number of photographs appeared in the press showing victims of the dum-dum bullets. With a relatively small inlet, the outlet was a huge lacerated wound, and after being wounded in an arm or leg, the limb had only to be amputated.
The British only had to hit the native who attacked them once to make him completely incapacitated, inflicting complex bone fractures, rupture of internal organs and numerous soft tissue injuries. The overwhelming majority of the victims of the dum-dum bullet died within half an hour, unable to cope with the wounds and painful shock.
Stop the process of self-destruction of humanity
At the end of the 19th century, explosive bullets, like the machine guns that appeared, became the most terrible weapon of that time, which brought humanity to the brink of physical destruction. Some military experts compare machine guns and explosive bullets to modern nuclear weapons, which are almost impossible to defend against.
Even the British government realized how the future world war could end, in the reality of which no one doubted even then. Together with 14 other leading countries of the world, the Hague Convention on the Prohibition of the Production and Use of Explosive Bullets was signed in 1899.
Dum-dum explosive bullets sold in every gun store
Over the course of several years, most other countries of the world have joined this convention (do not forget that at that time huge territories were colonial possessions, and the total number of independent states was not very large).
Machine guns, which perfectly fired cartridges with an integral bullet shell, but jammed with explosive ammunition, decided not to prohibit it. And they said their terrible word on the fields of the First World War, literally "mowing" the advancing chains. It is even difficult to imagine how many people would have died in this war if the opposing sides had also used explosive bullets.
Shooting for the "cross" on the bullet
True, both the First and Second World Wars did not completely go without the use of explosive cartridges. Despite the official ban, many soldiers made them in an artisanal way.
During the lull before the battle, some servicemen of all armies, without exception, took files and sharpening stones in their hands. With their help, they grinded down the tips of their cartridges, or made X-shaped cuts on them.
Such a simple manipulation turned an ordinary bullet into an explosive one. It flattened when struck against the bone and opened up inside the victim in the form of a "flower of death". In battle, the use of such ammunition gave a serious advantage, but it was categorically impossible to be captured. In all armies there was an order to shoot on the spot any prisoner in whose pouch explosive cartridges or accessories for their manufacture would be found.
Explosive bullets of the USSR
The Soviet Union also did not completely abandon the idea of giving its servicemen explosive bullets. Several design bureaus worked on the creation of domestic "dum-dum". Even prototypes of DD and R-44 ammunition were presented.
The main obstacle to their further production was the short firing range (300 meters instead of the required 500 m), as well as the low ballistic characteristics of the bullet. In the opinion of the leadership, the enemy could calmly shoot Soviet soldiers from a long distance, which, naturally, did not suit anyone in the USSR.
Despite the ban, because of their stopping power, large-caliber explosive bullets are still used when hunting large animals. Before the widespread use of pump-action shotguns, special forces fighters used explosive bullets to destroy terrorists in crowded places, especially on airplanes.
True, the powder charge in these ammunition was reduced so that the bullet did not "pierce" the person through and through, and did not give dangerous ricochets.
Russian special forces still use Soviet SP-7 and SP-8 cartridges. They have a lightweight plastic core with six special notches applied to the front edge of the shell, allowing the bullet to unfold in the form of a “flower of death” with six petals.
Incendiary Explosive Ammunition
To get around the ban, designers from different countries began to develop ammunition, the bullets of which would really burst into small pieces when they hit the target.
An explosive charge was placed inside the bullet capsule, which detonated on contact with the target. In fact, a micro-explosion was heard in the victim's body, multiplying the damage to internal organs. They are much more dangerous than the notorious "dum-dum", but they have one very significant drawback, which the designers still have not been able to eliminate.
Even the smallest explosive charge found in modern explosive bullets can detonate at any time. This is especially dangerous in a military campaign. Servicemen can move in armored vehicles or dash, fall and crawl, and the detonation of even a small bullet can lead to serious injury, permanently incapacitating a soldier.
They are very expensive to manufacture, so they are most often used by snipers who hit a target with large-caliber rifles from a distance of several kilometers. The incendiary-explosive bullets of aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft air defense systems have a similar principle of action.
Off-center bullets
The Pentagon was the first to place an order for the purchase of a fundamentally new automatic cartridge 5, 56x45 mm, the bullet of which had an offset center of gravity. During flight, such a bullet demonstrates excellent ballistics, but upon contact with bones it sharply changes its direction. In fact, she begins to somersault, inflicting monstrous internal damage to the victim. It often breaks, leaving several fragments in the body.
The Soviet Union did not lag behind, presenting a small-pulse cartridge 5, 45x39 mm, which is suitable for firing from the AK-74 Kalashnikov assault rifle and its later modifications. Due to a small air cavity in the front, the center of gravity of the bullet is shifted back, forcing it to somersault when it hits the target.
Such cartridges have much less penetrating power than cartridges of 7.62 mm AK-47, but inflict much more serious wounds on the enemy, leaving his body at an angle of 30-40 degrees from the initial direction of the shot.
Modern fragmentation bullets
Today, the production of ultra-efficient small arms ammunition is gaining momentum. The Americans presented a variant of fragmentation-penetrating bullets, which do not open, but scatter into several (usually 8) fragments. At this, the bottom continues to move in the form of an independent striking unit and tearing everything in its path.
Such ammunition is proposed to be used in civilian weapons, primarily in pump-action shotguns. According to the American authorities, they make it possible to more reliably protect the lives of US residents from attacks by criminals and terrorists. But we know that any civilian weapon very easily turns into a military one. And the stock of expansive ammunition can be very useful not only for the soldiers of special forces, but also for the militants preparing to commit a major terrorist act …
