projectiles-heads-tips-huh?

I'm just wondering if there is some regional vernacular at play here when I hear references to buying "heads" or discussions of "tips" (far less common) when referring to BULLETS.

I'm a bullet guy from the mountain West, and anything else sounds goofy. So where do the words head and tip get used? Are there any other substitute words in the language, and what regions are they from?

I too think that "heads" sounds goofy. Tips sounds only slightly less goofy. Obviously, the head of the case is at the opposite end of what these people are referring to as the "head".

I have also heard slug, pill, and projo. It may indeed be a geographical variation, as I only heard "head" misused this way on the internet. Then again, it may be a temporal thing. Some slang terms just come and go, and can some times leave old timers wondering what some one else is talking about.

In any case, count me as a bullet guy from western Kentucky.

Any time some one asks for 'heads' I just roll my eyes and ask if they really want 'bullets' if they aks for tips I give them Nosler ballistic Tips, if they ask for bullets I ask them what there loading for and then usually end up BSing for 1/2 hour or so.

:cuss: Heads...:banghead:

The first usage I recall of "heads" for bullets was in The Handgunner, Ltd., a British publication. Maybe the Internet is spreading the term. I think "tips" is just from newcomers trying to sound serious.

Pet Peeve: People who are quick to tell you the difference between clips and magazines; and then go on to load their magazines with bullets.

Now that I think about it, I believe the first time that I heard the term heads was from a British source, also.

The internet lets fads spread more quickly. In this case, I hope it lets one die more quickly.:)

Oh, I first heard "heads" more than 10 years ago...might have been a guy from the east coast.

Tips was a bit more common when the anti-gunners/anti-coppers were railing about the PDs getting semiauto 9mms and loading them with deadly "hollow-tip" ammo. Our local cops were quick to say to the local schoolkids that their guns & ammo were only to "stop" the bad guys and they didn't care whether it would go so far as to kill anyone.

I've used "pills" a few times, but believe it only occurs in the gunrag press. Hey, we need Dean Speir's input on this one!

Sounds like in Oregon, tips and heads terms are heard but considered goofy.

To me the head is the base of the cartridge.
Never heard of tips or heads used for Bullets

Heard bullets used for cartridges alot, but ????

It's almost always someone who isn't familiar with the terminology and refers to "cartridges" as "bullets" and to "bullets" as "heads". With such usage, they can't specify the actual bullet in a description. I've never heard an actual reloader use that terminology, usually just shooters who aren't familiar with ammo terminology.

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I have also heard slug, pill, and projo
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"Slug" is an old slang term, when "ball" was common, and the bullet in question wasn't a ball.

"Pill" refers to various things -- a "blue pill" is a proof load (supposedly because the primer had blue sealant in the anulus.)

"Projo" is an artillery term. Artillerymen have called their projectiles "projos" for many years.

Anybody who asks me for tips, I tell 'em to read their manual and plant their corn early.

Funny, I've never heard the terms "heads" or "tips." Maybe it's because I don't hang out in low-rent places on the internet...:D

Except for the Brit connection, whose practitioners should definitely know better, maybe it's a case of total terminoplogy confusion. If someone thinks the entire cartridge is a "bullet," then they need something to distinguish the part that flies downrange...

Jaywalker

My 8-year-old knows the difference between "bullet" and "cartridge"; I had to teach her.

Know what I mean?

I know what you mean! I had to teach my parents the same thing.

I never did get them to understand about shrapnel.

I nominate shrapnel as the most mis-used ballistic term ever!

Even more so than saying clip when you mean magazine.:D

Heads are what sailors use for bodily waste functions.

Tips are what you leave on the table for the waitress.

Projectiles are anything moving.

BULLETS are what you load into cartridges.

Cartridges are what you load into rifles and handguns.

Shells are used in artillery pieces and shotguns.

(I think the term "tip" when used instead of bullet is quite common ampong reloaders in the NYC area. I've heard numerous reloaders from NYC refer to bullets as "tips.")

I've heard it the most coming out of New Jersey (although mostly Northern NJ). The most populus state in the nation is sadly the place who has the most people who
1) know everything.......
2) know nothing........
3) know nothing but think they know everything.......

'ey, Carmine, pass me dat box o' tips so's I can load some clips to whack "Jimmy Two Shirts"


Manitou