Thread: Bullets

Somebody needs to post a pic of ‘anatomy of a pew’!

Originally Posted by keengunNic

The English refer to them as 'heads'..

The poms are a funny bunch. But you already knew that.

The term "head" or "bullet head" will cause a certain segment of the UK shooting fraternity to practically soil themselves in unbridled opprobrium.

They can get really nasty about it, and I am being dead serious.
@caberslash? Chime in here mate.

As far as they are concerned, "head" is a term used for a projectile by pikeys, chavs, the mentally deranged and poorly educated foreigners. They will go on and on and on and on and on... Providing various diagrams to demonstrate how the head is the base of the cartridge (cartridge head). And that the bit that flies through the air is the projectile. Someone called Miki got banned from one of the British forums for arguing about this so incessantly we were concerned he might have a breakdown. He'd start 3 threads a week on the matter, and you think I'm joking.

However...

Most online retailers in the UK refer to bullets/projectiles as heads or bullet heads. A fact that I delighted in telling Miki.

I couldn't give a toss either way, and it's not going to keep me awake tonight @10-Ring!

Originally Posted by gundoc

'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.

Oh well, looks like I'm an ignorant non shooting public for calling 22 ammo "bullets" but unfortunately a habit of close to 70 years ain't going to change.

How about we agree on calling them "Lead sleeping pills".

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

How about we agree on calling them "Lead sleeping pills".

I’ve heard them called ‘little leaden messengers of death’ back in the day.

@sneeze prefers the terminology "pills" I am pretty sure.

Common, ignorant, use is to call a loaded cartridge a "bullet."

To avoid confusion I buy projectiles which I (eventually) seat on top of a case which has primer and propellant.

I had a Firearms Licence Vetter ask me why I had boxes of "bullets" on top of one of my gunsafes.
Technically she was correct as they were/are 80 gr A-Max .223 projectiles.
What she thought was that I had loaded ammunition outside of a locked box or gunsafe.

Originally Posted by mimms2

And to shoot a deer without killing it isn't very humane...

My kids always ask if I "caught" anything when I get back from hunting. I have mental images of chasing down a stag and wrestling it to the ground.

Re. the OP, I do have a problem with the occasional use in America (and thankfully less occasional on here) of calling them "freedom seeds". Please do not do that in my presence, or you will get a tongue-lashing.

I don't have time for this,I'm off down the range.
With my pistol guns...

Originally Posted by mopheadrob

...

Re. the OP, I do have a problem with the occasional use in America (and thankfully less occasional on here) of calling them "freedom seeds". Please do not do that in my presence, or you will get a tongue-lashing.

I promise you that I will never call a bullet a freedom seed.

For me in the general term a bullet means the case and everything or can also mean just the projectile. For example, 1.Load a bullet into the chamber. 2. The bullet hit the target.

@mimms2. Ha ha yes indeed. I was deliberately demonstrating the difference between the projectile and the whole cartridge whilst calling it the same thing.

Greetings All,
Many many years ago, as a trainee draughtsman we used cartridge paper to line the surface of our red wood drawing boards. This was a hand made paper that was made a sheet at a time. We wet it and laid it on the surface of the board and glued the edge down with gummed brown paper tape. Once dry it gave you a smooth surface to tape or pin your drawing sheets down to. Within a few years we moved on to synthetic sheets you stuck down with double sided tape. Have read about paper patched (or jacketed) projectiles but never connected the two until I read one of the above posts. Just shows how old you get you can still learn something from time to time.
Regards Grandpamac.

I hope everyone calling a baby deer a fawn instead of a calf doesn’t cause you too much grief at night. If I use the word bullet with a non reloader or shooter then they assume the entire cartridge. If I use the word projectile then people know exactly what i’m talking about. I haven’t read the whole thread so probably an answer to how the language got to that point.