Why is military ammo called: "BALL"?

[RDCL]

I've always wondered this. Wether it is pistol ammo (45 ACP or 9mm)....or rifle & machine gun......clearly we know the bullet itself is never round like a sphere-shaped musket ball. Even though the term might indicate a a FMJ.....the term don't make sense to me.

I'm a bit embarressed in asking.....what MIGHT be a stupid question....but could someone educate me?

Thanks....Russ

 

[Kleanbore]

Try this. In the earliest days one either fired ball or shot. With the advent of the self-contained cartridge one had to differentiate between regular ammo with bullets (still called ball as a holdover) and tracer, incendiary, and blank.

Using the term to define FMF is common but probably not proper.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=267934

 

[Cosmoline]

If as is commonly supposed the term is a holdover from before the Civil War, then why weren't the early cartridge arms fed "Ball" ammunition. The term appears on some early .45-70 Government boxes, not on others. This one says ".50 Calibre Ball" on the box, but it's not a standardized title, just a reference to caliber:

http://www.oldammo.com/may04.htm

With US military ammo, you only start to see it take on a more standardized form during WWI, possibly to ensure no confusion among the allies and in response to the new dictates of the Hague convention. It would be interesting to line up the cartridge labels from the 1860's through WWII to see how the term developed.

 

[Hatterasguy]

Muzzle loaders used to fire ball or shot. The term "ball" just stayed in use.

Although I'm not an expert thats just what I heard.

 

[Slamfire]

Muzzle loaders used to fire ball or shot. The term "ball" just stayed in use.

Some muskets shot buck and ball.

2nd Corp US used buck and ball at Gettsyburg and topped their monument with a granite representation. I guess so no one would forget.

 

[Runningman]

As far as I know, the name Ball ammo is mostly used by the military to differentiate between different types of projectiles. Such as Tracer, Ball, armor piercing, Incendiary, armor piercing incendiary, armor piercing incendiary tracer, ect.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

As best that I've been able to determine, the U.S. military small arms vernacular "Ball" appears to refer to a lead core bullet.

 

[BCCL]

In military ammo, is "ball" short for "hardball"?

 

[Tommygunn]

I have thought "ball" ammo is FMJ. I inherited my father's M-1 Carbine he brought back from Korea, for which he had a fair collection of WW2 surplus .30 Carbine ammo he always called "ball" ammo. It's FMJ stuff -- or what we would usually call that. You can go to the gunstore and buy the equivelent today although it will be marked "FMJ" to distinguish it from SP or "soft point" or "hollow point."

Some of the posts tracing the term back to BP days may be correct; I am unsure how the term originated so I can't vouch for it.

 

[Mk VII]

In the Napoleonic era it would have been a spherical ball.

It was in this trying situation, exposed to a galling fire of blank cartridges, and harassed by the operations of the military, a fresh body of whom had begun to fall in on the opposite side, that Mr. Pickwick displayed that perfect coolness and self-possession, which are the indispensable accompaniments of a great mind. He seized Mr. Winkle by the arm, and placing himself between that gentleman and Mr. Snodgrass, earnestly besought them to remember that beyond the possibility of being rendered deaf by the noise, there was no immediate danger to be apprehended from the firing.

'But—but—suppose some of the men should happen to have ball cartridges by mistake,' remonstrated Mr. Winkle, pallid at the supposition he was himself conjuring up. 'I heard something whistle through the air now—so sharp; close to my ear.' 'We had better throw ourselves on our faces, hadn't we?' said Mr. Snodgrass. Pickwick Papers (1836)

The word carried on being used, even when the conoidal Minié bullet appeared.

 

[Average Joe]

Its the name for male ammo.

 

[Coolbreeze8804]

>Ball Ammo<
"Once" almost exclusively a military term, it is now frequently used in a civilian context as well: It means "A bullet that is solid or non-expanding in nature.

But I like the Average Joe's definition better... ;-)

 

[SSN Vet]

I thought is just meant ammo that was fun to shoot...

but then again... that would encompass just about everything

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The original usage is British, adopted by the Americans.

"Subadar Prag Tawari, bidding them load with ball
Led a dozen rifles up under the village wall."
-- Rudyard Kipling

 

[test drive]

allso in the army its common to hear a hard surface road refered to as"hardball" as in.... take the hardball back to the base.. as aposed to a trail or dirt road.

 

[JColdIron]

even when the conoidal Minié bullet appeared

AKA minie ball! Always wondered about that.

 

[ol' scratch]

I always thought it was the shape of the powder (ball powder, stick powder, etc.). This lesson was informative.

 

[ol' scratch]

Its the name for male ammo.

I actually think that is called 'testis' powder

 

[W.E.G.]

We just did this.

See http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=513025&highlight=ball

 

[stchman]

I have heard this term many times, I thought it might be an older term for FMJ ammo. I have some older 7.62x54R "ball" ammo and it is nothing but FMJ.

 

[wishin]

Named after Col. Ima Hvna Ball.