Thread: Bullets

Can anyone explain the kiwi obsession with calling bullets 'projectiles' exclusively? You never see bullets for sale in NZ it's always marketed as 'projectiles'.

Sure, bullets are projectiles but so are artillery shells and cannon balls. More losely defined a projectile is any object hurtled through the atmosphere. A bullet can only be one thing and that's a bullet. The non shooting public call cartridges 'bullets' because they don't know any better. That's to be expected.

I've never seen or bought a box of bullets with 'projectile' written on it.

It's 3:30 a.m. and I can't get to sleep and I've been trying to figure this out.

If that's all that's keeping you awake at night then your doing okay

The English refer to them as 'heads'.. i refer to them as projectiles. A bullet to me is a loaded round. Differing country's terms, like a lot of Americans would "kill a deer" but i would"shoot a deer". Guess it comes from where your originate or the environment you learn in?

I always thought it was the uneducated or ignorant who called a cartridge a bullet, now I'm totally PC I know that it's ok just to be different and there are no absolutes any more. Of course I grew up with the absolutes that a bullet which is a projectile, together with powder and primer all brought together with a case also known as brass and for a shotgun a hull, make a cartridge..a cartridge only ever being the total of all the above components and which also may be known as a "round". But hey, what do I know?

And cartridge comes from the French as well. Cartouche was the type of paper used to make convenient packages of powder and ball for muzzle loaders, which were much more convenient than fiddling around with powder flask, ball and wadding.

And not to forget "rounds", which I believe is more military terminology.

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Originally Posted by keengunNic

The English refer to them as 'heads'.. i refer to them as projectiles. A bullet to me is a loaded round. Differing country's terms, like a lot of Americans would "kill a deer" but i would"shoot a deer". Guess it comes from where your originate or the environment you learn in?

No we don't.

Interesting topic. Initially though it was an UK vs USA english thing, but no.

Most of the yank websites call projectiles "bullets"

And it seems the UK sites call them "bullets" or "bullet heads"

Originally Posted by marky123

No we don't.

I didnt realise my opinion was going to cause you to disagree with my opinion which is only my opinion and personal experience.

There was a thread of UK Varminting a while back on this very topic. There is a small but largely uneducated proportion that call them heads but the vast majority agreed it should be bullets or projectiles.

Then there’s ‘bullet pullers’, can’t recall those devices being called a projectile puller.

Got to keep all your bullets in a clip though…

Originally Posted by Gerardo

And not to forget "rounds", which I believe is more military terminology.

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Aren't patched 'rounds' what you shoot out of your muzzleloader?

Originally Posted by Smallfoot

Aren't patched 'rounds' what you shoot out of your muzzleloader?

Nah, I only ever shot patched boolits out of my muzzle loaders

(Boolits, a projectile that is hand cast by a person whereas a bullet is a machine-made projectile made by a commercial company for mass consumption.)

Lapua market their projectiles as "bullets" likewise Berger's reloading manual is called "Berger Bullets".
I have always called them projectiles but strangely since a kid have always referred to 22 ammo as bullets.

'Bullet' is the correct terminology for the projectile from a small arms cartridge (ie: any calibre below 20mm). Larger calibre projectiles are called 'shells' because they frequently contain internal pyrotechnic charges and fuses. A 'cartridge' is the complete assembled round consisting of the 'case', 'primer', 'charge' and projectile (bullet or shell depending on calibre). Calling a cartridge a 'bullet' is just common ignorance as found among the non-shooting public. I have had a lot of fun creating confusion in court cases when dealing with legal eagles who ask questions about bullets when they mean cartridges or ammunition. Whilst the use of 'projectile' is strictly correct in meaning, 'bullet' is the proper term.