Ball Ammunition
- Thread starter igotta40
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"It kind of grinds my gears hearing people calling ammo "ball". It just sounds so stupid. I prefer to just call it what it is... FMJ/round nose/solid... ect."
The US Navy calls their subs, "boats": their pilots, "aviators": their torpedoes, "fish". Bulkheads, passage-ways, and "ball-ammo" as well, are perfectly acceptable and correct terminology. No need to feel so stupid!
The US Navy calls their subs, "boats": their pilots, "aviators": their torpedoes, "fish". Bulkheads, passage-ways, and "ball-ammo" as well, are perfectly acceptable and correct terminology. No need to feel so stupid!
Arizona_Mike
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I hear you! We are all on the exact same path leading to the same destination.
Mike
moxie
Member
It might sound stupid to you, javjacob, but if you read some of the posts above and look at some of the pics, you will find that the term "ball" is used by the military to describe FMJ ammo, and makes it easy to distinguish it from other types such as tracer or incendiary, etc.
This has been the paradigm in the military, all of the services, since well before WWII and continues today. There is a world outside your little gearbox.
This has been the paradigm in the military, all of the services, since well before WWII and continues today. There is a world outside your little gearbox.
moxie
Member
Fits just fine. Just one of the zillion in the military jargon.
Sam Cade
Member
"Ball" doesn't denote a perfect sphere.
Most bullets are an elongated ovid shape, "Ball" is a valid descriptor.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ball
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
During WWII there were 12,209,238 people in uniform.
Today the number is 2.28 million.
And every one of them know what ball ammo is.
'Lets just change the name' would be a very Major undertaking.
And even if they did change it?
The troops would still call ball ammo ball ammo.
rc
Today the number is 2.28 million.
And every one of them know what ball ammo is.
'Lets just change the name' would be a very Major undertaking.
And even if they did change it?
The troops would still call ball ammo ball ammo.
rc
It does to me b/c there is no such animal. It's an FMJ over lead. I've never heard of "case hardening" lead anyway - it's physically impossible due to its low melting point.Sam Cade
Member
See also american "football"
caribou
Member
My grandpa Frank served through out the war on the Fast Cruiser USS Tuskaloosa in WWII, as a crane operator for plucking and rmounting the catapult spotter aircraft, and as a gunners mate in the #2 turret at his station as crew to one of the 8 inch rifles........and thats what he called 'em, "Rifles'.....
I wonder if they issued "ball" for them, or even the 16 inch guns of the battle ships....??
I wonder if they issued "ball" for them, or even the 16 inch guns of the battle ships....??
Sam Cade
Member
I wonder if they issued "ball" for them, or even the 16 inch guns of the battle ships....??
Probably not. Explosive cannon projectiles are "Shells".
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