Wood Bullets

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

WALKERs210

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2009
Messages
1,342
Location
Heart of Dixie - Alabama
After seeing on some TV show or something that was very brief showing a wood Stake that was meant to be shot into a VAMPIRE. No I don't have any vampires around other than the IRS, but I did remember back in the late 70's I watched a man that owns a gun shop removing balsa rounds from some odd caliber European rifle. He said the balsa would allow the rifle to chamber properly and when fired the balsa turned into dust. He was then reloading with the proper size lead round. Anyway back to what I was wondering about, I pulled out my lathe and using handles from cheap throw away paint brushes I started turning different styles of shot in the 50cal range just to have something to do. I doubt that they would have any accuracy to speak of but at least there would be no problem with LEADING the barrel up. I have turned a few that will seat in Sabots that I have just sitting here. :uhoh:
 
Junkman your 100% correct, but at least this keeps me off the streets. I even saw one write up of making these hollow and loading them up with powder, with a cap in the tip. It said that on impact the cap would pop and then the charge would go. Not a big bang but sounds like it would be something to see (at a distance).
 
Military issue Rifle Cartridges loaded with Wood Bullets were common in the second half of the 19th and maybe early 20th Century a little ways, for when Soldiers might require to forrage for small Game.

Not sure of the Wood Species usually used, but probably Maple or maybe Elm.
 
if i recall correctly.....i seem to remember hearing something that wood baton rounds were popular in riot control....i believe the intent was to shoot them at the ground and they would "skip" up and hit the shins.....however there were to many instances of them skipping a little to high and hitting the face.
 
I think it was the Swedes, or maybe the Danes, who used a type 6.5x55 "blank" training cartridge that shot a wooden bullet. They had a special blank adapter that attached to the end of the barrel that would shred the bullet to harmless saw dust. I supose the wood bullet was there just to keep the gun powder from falling out of the cartridge case.
 
I was 4 years old when WWII started and 8 years old when it ended; so most of my "first hand" knowledge comes from eavesdropping on adult conversations about the war. I can distinctly remember my parents discussing news reports that the Germans were shooting wooden bullets at our troops. When my parents talked about our boys being "shot full of splinters", my child's mind thought the Germans had discovered some sort of secret weapon.

I don't remember ever hearing anything about wooden bullets in connection with the Japanese. Perhaps, that was because most of my family's discussions centered around European actions where my uncle was serving at the time.
 
From the 1874 Gras rifle on to the Mas 1936 rifle, the French Army issued wooden bullets for the purpose of training at shorter distances and for a fraction of the cost of the real bullets. The main idea was to build in-barracks safe, cheap and easy to maintain shooting ranges thus allowing for a considerable time actually spent shooting instead of walking to the real shooting range (traditionally quite far away from town) and back. blanks bullets of that period consisted of paper bullets which shredded to paper dust upon firing
 
The WWII "shooting us with wooden bullets" thing was a myth, or at worst, a propaganda thing to instill rage against Germany and Japan.

The Japanese and other country's did load blank training ammo with wooden bullets, so they would feed from the magazine normally, and have very limited lethal range of just a few yards.

I have a 6.5 Jap cartridge in my collection with a hollow wooden "bullet" and a very small charge of blank powder.

rc
 
rcmodel,

I suspect it was propaganda. There were a lot of things going on to keep the rage fueled at home. Door mats/floor mats with images of enemy leaders were pretty common. All the propaganda efforts worked pretty well in those days since there was no Snopes.com to check things out.

I do remember that my parents were incensed that the Germans would resort to such low down, dirty tricks to fight the war. :)
 
I do know that the Germans toward the end of the war were using wooden bullets in machine gun belts by mixing or alternating with real bullets to conserve what was left of their metallic resources. this allowed the MG to cycle and gave the sound as well. I understand those Spandaus were a fearful sounding gun so they still got the psychological effect without the cost.
 
I have a really old .32 S&W Secret Service Special that was my great-grandfathers that he was "issued" in the 1930s, I believe, to be part of his community's vigilance committee and they issued it to him with reloaded wooden projectile bullets in which I still have 5 or 6 of with the pistol & the brass knucks that came with it all too. They might be loaded light enough that they stay together at very close range. In a close contact situation, I'd think they would splinter & make one hell of a nasty wound. Probably wouldn't be fatal but a small amount of time. Just thought I'd share my story with you all.
 
WyoCowboy thanks for your input, started this off more or less with tongue in cheek but after a few post I do see that indeed they were put to use for various applications. See you can learn something new everyday if your willing to put aside all your "I KNOW IT ALL" mentality.
 
I remember an article in a gun magazine, maybe Guns & Ammo, from many years ago talking about an experimental .45 automatic pistol that achieved high velocities by using copper-clad wooden slugs. I want to say it was made by Savage, but it's been a long time since I read it.

EDIT: Found it, it was the .45 Danish Schouboe automatic. The US government tested the ammo in the Model 1911 Colt, where an aluminum jacketed 63gr. wood bullet hit a muzzle velocity of 1650 fps, but the standard 230 gr lead bullet proved to be more accurate, so research in lightweight .45 projectiles was dropped.

http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/Schouboe/schouboe.html
 
Last edited:
My father served in WWII in New Guinea and the Phillipines. He could be pressured by me and my brother to tell us how he got his Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts. The Japanese used blank rounds with wooden bullets shaped to feed from the magazine like live rounds. When Japanese units were desperate enough to stage a suicidal Banzai attack, very often they were low on live ammo and would use bayonets and wooden bullet blanks in close quarters combat. At close range the wounds could be bad.

Wooden bullets have the same wind resistence as a metal bullet, but are much lighter, and shed velocity very quickly. I suspect they were intended as use with grenade launchers, or for signalling or ceremonial purposes.
 
Regarding wood bullets, they were training rounds. If they were used in combat, it was because nothing better was available.
 
I have some.....somewheres

In the eighties I bought a case of 762x39 training ammo with wooden bullets. The bullets were painted blue. I got them from SOG. I will take a look around and see if I can find where I stashed them and then post a picture. I think they were made by Lapua, more of a blank, as they weren't very powerful.
 
Those wooden bullets used by both the Germans and the Japanese (and other nations) were/are simply blanks. The wood bullets are hollow so the powder pressure gets inside them and they blow up on exit from the muzzle. They are loaded with a light charge of blank powder and won't function a normal machinegun. There is no reason for some special muzzle device to "splinter" them, but apparently the Swedes were either extra cautious or they used blanks at much shorter distance than we did.

A wood bullet, even a solid one, would be almost useless, since it would be far too light to travel far or to inflict a serious wound. The stories that the Germans or Japanese used wooden bullets so X-ray machines couldn't find them and GIs would die of infection are just that, stories. Those and other myths were not really official propaganda, just attempts by GIs to explain what they didn't understand, like the "suicide pistol" and other myths.

For a number of reasons, including racism, Americans tended to disparage the Japanese more than the Germans. We still hear that Japanese Zero fighters would blow up if hit by a single bullet, and that the 6.5 Japanese rifle was no more powerful than a .22 Long Rifle. (And of course that they were too stupid to organize the attack on Pearl Harbor; some folks yet today believe that was done by the German Luftwaffe, flying from secret bases in California!)

Jim
 
Pedersoli's Indoor Shooting Experience

Pedersoli recently introduced a new line of indoor shooting products for muzzle loaders. They consist of specially formulated balls that are light enough to be accurately propelled by a 209 primer. There's special nipple adaptors that allow the use of 209 primers with conventional muzzle loaders. And for cowboy action shooters, there's specialty brass that's designed to be easily finger loaded with 209 primers and their proprietary round balls for shooting revolvers indoors.
These can all be seen in a Pedersoli video featured on their website and on Youtube titled "Indoor Shooting Experience".

The revolver components are shown at the end of the video.
Hot diggity dog! ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qZBVkmTpiQ

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/?item=news&news=indoor-shooting-experience&lang=en

http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

G
  • Locked
50 cal bp muz loader sabot used in trapdoor
Replies
8
Views
844
Pete D.
Pete D.
C
  • Locked
Sabot design help please
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
BCRider
BCRider
V
  • Locked
Wood Stock for CVA Bobcat?
Replies
0
Views
1K
Voodoochile
V
H
  • Locked
My Mossberg shotgun stock broke like balsa wood!
Replies
23
Views
3K
MikeIsaj
M
W
  • Locked
Right size Sabot's for 45cal shell
Replies
4
Views
414
arcticap
arcticap
Back
Top