Unit One

CHAPTER THREE
Ammunition
What is an Ammunition? (Legal Definition)

As provided in Sec. 877 of the RAC, ammunition

means a loaded shell for rifles, muskets, carbines,
shotguns, revolvers, and pistols from which a ball,
bullet, shot, shell, or another missile may be fired
by means of gunpowder or other explosives.
What is an Ammunition? (Technical)
It refers to a group of cartridges or to a single unit or single cartridge,
a complete unfired unit consisting of bullet, cartridge case,
gunpowder and primer.

Origin of the word Ammunition?

Latin word “CHARTA”
Paper (first form of cartridges are made of paper
Four Types of Self-exploding Cartridges:
1. Needle-fire
The needle-fire system was adopted by the
Prussian armed forces in 1842 and proved to be
extremely effective in the Danish war of 1864 and
further conflict in 1866 and 1870.
2. Pin-fire
The cartridge had a pin projecting from the side of
its base loading. In this system, the hammer struck
the projecting pin pushing it into the cartridge
interior to strike an internal percussion cap.
However, gas leakage at high pressure reduced this
system mainly to a relatively low intensity
3. Rim-fire
The basic principles of the RIM-FIRE are inherent in
much of Houiller’s work (a French gun inventor) and in the
light cartridge produced in France during the early 1830s by
Flobert for pistols of low caliber.
Rim-fire cartridges are those in which the primer
material is contained within a “flange” formed around the
periphery of the cartridge at the head.
 The flange is narrow “bulge” around the case, forming
a hollow rim into which the primer charge is placed.
 The first successful rim-fire cartridge was that produced
in 1857 by Smith and Wesson.
The rim was considered a great advancement in the
development of metallic cartridges because:
a) the rim that projected outward from the body of
the case at the rear served to prevent the round
from slipping too deeply into the firing chamber by
coming to rest against the base of the chamber.
b) This served as an admirable “anvil” against which
the primer-laden rim could be struck by the
hammer to ensure the reliability of the detonation
sequence.
4. Center-fire
The center-fire cartridges are those in which the
primer charge is located in a special receptacle at
the center of the cartridge head.
The first effective center-fire round was produced in
France in 1857 by Pottet.
 The primer mechanism is set into a circular depression
in the head of the cartridge case connected by a flash
tube to the powder charge.
The center-fire type appealed to the military in particular
as it offered the possibility of rimless ammunition that
could also be re-filled.
Four Parts of a Cartridge
1. BULLET
A bullet is a metallic or non-metallic projectile
that is propelled towards the target by the gases
coming from the burning of the gunpowder.
Origin of the word BULLET?
French word “Boulette ”
This means a small ball
Bullet Ballistics Coefficient (BC)
The bullet’s flight toward the target is influenced by a
variety of factors.
The reason for this is when the bullet is released from
the barrel of the gun it is suddenly released from the rigid
constraining action of the barrel walls and is immediately
acted upon by the forces of air resistance that will attempt
to destabilize it further.
 Bullet

Cyclone like
wind Air Resistance
 The bullet will only have its long axis perfectly in line
with the bore by chance at this point due to the
disturbing effects caused by its sudden release.
Any condition of “yaw” will allow the cyclone-like wind,
which opposes the bullet to act against its sides, thus
acting to slow it down and increasing its angle of “yaw”
further.
 Upward component
Resultant air
upsetting force
forces
(crosswind)

Drag

C
p
C
g Direction
of flight

Downward pull
due to force of
gravity
 Assuming that the bullet’s construction is sound and
that the correct rate of rotational spin has been impaired
upon it, then the bullet’s flight will follow a normal
trajectory within conventional conditions of use.
Insufficient spin upon the bullet will lead to unstable
flight, eventually resulting in the bullet tumbling end over
end with the loss of all hope of accuracy.
A. Classification of Bullet
1) According to Mechanical Construction
• Lead Bullet – are made out of lead to which
antimony and /or tin have been added to increase
the hardness of the alloy.
• Jacketed Bullet – have lead or steel core covered by an
outside jacket of gilding metal (copper and zinc), gilding
metal-glad steel, cupro-nickel (copper and nickel), or
aluminum.
2. According to Head Form
a. AP - Armor Piercing
Metal Jacket

Lead
Hardened Steel Core
b. FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) - standard
hardball bullet
Metal Jacket

Lead (Main
bullet type, and only one
accepted for "official"
warfare by international
agreements)
c. JSP - Jacketed Soft Point

Lead Core

Metal Jacket
Semi-jacketed bullet with
exposed lead at bullets'
nose. Has bigger stopping
power than FMJ
d. Jacketed Hollow Point
Expansive Hole

Lead

Metal jacket
e. WadCutter – these bullets
resemble a cylinder of
lead bullet, have a base
that may be either
beveled or hollow. These
are designed primarily for
target use.
f. Semi-wad Cutter - this
configuration is that of a
truncated cone with a
flat tip and sharp
shoulder of bore
diameter at the base of
the cone.
g. Round nose Bullet –
this type of bullet
has a semi-blunt,
conical shape, and
flat or beveled base.
h. Hydras - commercial JHP bullet with central
rod to achieve better expansion on impact

Expansive Hole
Steel Core
Lead

Metal Jacket
3. Five Principal Types of Bullet
1) Ball Bullet – consists of a bullet with a lead or mild
steel core covered by a full metal jacket.
2) Armor Piercing Bullet – have hardened steel core
and are fired against vehicles and other armored
targets in general.
3) Tracer Bullet – consists of full metal jacket, lead
core in forward position, and tracer composition in
the base.
d) Incendiary Bullet – contains an incendiary
composition that set fire on impact.
e) Explosive Bullet – contains a high charge explosive.
However, their use is usually limited to 20mm and
above ammunition.
4. Bullet Bases
One of the most important accuracy requirements is a
perfect barrel muzzle configuration.
If more gas blow out one side of a bullet base than another,
that specific bullet will be blasted slightly off course.
As a result, it is imperative that the bullet base be perfectly
true, round and flat before the bullet is fired and remain
that way until the bullet reaches the target.
Bullet base usually fall under the following types:
a. Boat-tail or Bevel base – is widely used because of its
ability to feed easily through automatic loading
machines. However, for some unknown reason, this
type of bullet base is not conducive to accuracy.
b. Hollow-base – this type of bullet
will generally produce better
accuracy. This concepts goes
back to the theory that if the
bullet base is hollow for a
considerable distance of the
bullet body, pressures of hot
gases will force the bullet base
to expand.
c. Flat base – this bullet base are
perhaps the best all-around
bullets. They appear to have
fewer problems than either the
other two types. On the other
hand, the flat base must be true,
clean and absolutely perfect all
the way around.