When the sheriff was shooting it out with the bank robbers and cowboys were defending themselves from marauding indians in the 1870's, with their 38-55's and 45-70's and such, were they shooting jacketed soft points or just plain lead? Someone told me that there was no common use for jacketed bullets until smokeless powders got popular? True?
When did jacketed bullets first become widely available?
- Thread starter wolfee
- Start date
True!
gramps
gramps
pete44ru
Hunter
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FYI, jacketed bullets have actually been in use since at least 1882, and were first used as standard ammunition in 1886 for the French Mod 1886 Lebel rifle, several years prior to the introduction of smokeless powders..
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FYI, jacketed bullets have actually been in use since at least 1882, and were first used as standard ammunition in 1886 for the French Mod 1886 Lebel rifle, several years prior to the introduction of smokeless powders..
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Bob Wright
Hawkeye
The old Sharps cartridges utilized jacketed bullets, but the jackets were paper.
The earliest jacketed handgun bullets that I know of were the soft point bullets for the earliest autoloaders. In his famous treatise Sixguns By Keith Elmer Keith denounced jacketed handgun bullets very soundly.
The high velocity loadings of the .38-40 and .44-40 were loaded with jacketed soft point bullets, these appearing maybe around the turn of the last Century, 1900 or so. When the .44 Magnum was introduced in 1955 it opened up a whole new era for jacketed handgun bullets. Some of the earliest bullets by the late Jim Harvey were half jacketed bullets, really sort of an enlongated gas check. Speer produced these for awhile, using pure lead cores swaged into a SWC profile. Then came the jacketed bullets with the ogives with which we are familiar today.
Bob Wright
(Boy, do I tend to get long winded!)
The earliest jacketed handgun bullets that I know of were the soft point bullets for the earliest autoloaders. In his famous treatise Sixguns By Keith Elmer Keith denounced jacketed handgun bullets very soundly.
The high velocity loadings of the .38-40 and .44-40 were loaded with jacketed soft point bullets, these appearing maybe around the turn of the last Century, 1900 or so. When the .44 Magnum was introduced in 1955 it opened up a whole new era for jacketed handgun bullets. Some of the earliest bullets by the late Jim Harvey were half jacketed bullets, really sort of an enlongated gas check. Speer produced these for awhile, using pure lead cores swaged into a SWC profile. Then came the jacketed bullets with the ogives with which we are familiar today.
Bob Wright
(Boy, do I tend to get long winded!)
Busterswoodshop
Hunter
pete44ru said:
The 1886 Label in the 8X50mm was a smokeless powder cartridge.
It was the first gun to use smokeless powder.
Thumbcocker
Blackhawk
Passing fad.
blackhawknj
Buckeye
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2010
- Messages
- 1,945
Define "widely available". Government issue vs. commercially produced. FMJ vs. hollow points ?
Bob Wright
Hawkeye
blackhawknj said:
"Widely available" means that something, in this case ammunition, can be had at local distributors/dealers or merchants in most communities of a nation. This as opposed to having only a few sources that must be ordered from a distant city or depot.
"Government issue" indicates items made explicitly for military use. At times ammunition was loaded only at Government operated arsenals and made to conform to military specifications. Currently military ammunition is loaded under government contracts.
Commercially produced ammunition (or components) is that which is sold retail through civilian outlets.
FMJ (also FMC = Full metal cased) refers to bullets in which the lead is completely enclosed by the bullet jacket.
Hollow point bullets may or may not have a jacket. The nose of the bullet has a cavity of some sort which, when impacting animate tissue expands to slow penetration and open up a larger blood channel. The amount of metal removed by the hollow point also reduces the bullet's weight.
Bob Wright
Ray Newman
Blackhawk
The 303 British, adopted in 1889, was first loaded with black powder and a jacketed bullet. The smokeless load also with a jacketed bullet was adopted a few years after.
