barnbwt
member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2011
- Messages
- 7,340
I heard tales of these from WWI stories as an attempt at better penetration of thin armor plating by anti-tank riflemen. The bullet (I'm unsure what the construction was of anti-tank bullets in those days. FMJ? ) was seated pointed side in and fired with an increased charge. The theory was that a wider meplat transfers its energy to the target (in the form of shearing a hole) more efficiently than a pointed bullet which delivers a softer impulse to the target as it deforms from the initial point contact.
Rather than ask whether it really works (it's been done to death) I wanted to ask if anyone's tried it. I've become interested in 223 case-head sub-caliber wildcats of late, and my idea was seating a reversed 30 Tokarev FMJ round nose bullet backward.
The case would be an elongated 7.62x25 case with the flat bullet seated flush with the (short) neck. The OAL would match the current x25 OAL. My thinking is the shoulder could be pushed forward by the amount the bullet currently protrudes (quite a large portion of the length of the 7.62x25, btw) and that having the taper, rather than the flat base, inside the case, would not displace as much powder volume.
You'd get another 10-20% of powder volume with no change in envelope (I think). So long as the round remains well above sonic velocities, the stability of the round should not be an issue (the weight is up front so it's actually more stable), and if that speed can be held for a couple hundred yards (which the extra powder should help ensure) the poorer ballistic shape shouldn't drastically effect accuracy either.
Because of the neck-taper of the round, it might still feed as easily as a hollowpoint if the mouth were crimped onto the round even slightly. I suppose that necking the round down further to .25 or even .224 would feed even better, so long as the neck can be kept short. True wad cutters or simple bullets made from brass rod (in rifles only ;D) could be used as well.
We're all aware of the benefits of heavy wad cutter loads from revolvers; why not obtain them for auto loaders?
TCB
Rather than ask whether it really works (it's been done to death) I wanted to ask if anyone's tried it. I've become interested in 223 case-head sub-caliber wildcats of late, and my idea was seating a reversed 30 Tokarev FMJ round nose bullet backward.
The case would be an elongated 7.62x25 case with the flat bullet seated flush with the (short) neck. The OAL would match the current x25 OAL. My thinking is the shoulder could be pushed forward by the amount the bullet currently protrudes (quite a large portion of the length of the 7.62x25, btw) and that having the taper, rather than the flat base, inside the case, would not displace as much powder volume.
You'd get another 10-20% of powder volume with no change in envelope (I think). So long as the round remains well above sonic velocities, the stability of the round should not be an issue (the weight is up front so it's actually more stable), and if that speed can be held for a couple hundred yards (which the extra powder should help ensure) the poorer ballistic shape shouldn't drastically effect accuracy either.
Because of the neck-taper of the round, it might still feed as easily as a hollowpoint if the mouth were crimped onto the round even slightly. I suppose that necking the round down further to .25 or even .224 would feed even better, so long as the neck can be kept short. True wad cutters or simple bullets made from brass rod (in rifles only ;D) could be used as well.
We're all aware of the benefits of heavy wad cutter loads from revolvers; why not obtain them for auto loaders?
TCB