Mike Irwin
Staff
Oops, the .32 S&W is also probably a shot cartridge.
Fact or Fiction? Did the Germans use Wood Core Bullets in WWII?
- Thread starter Jamie Young
- Start date
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Mike, a buddy of mine sez he can hear powder in the Krag. 
Art
Art
WilderBill
New member
The reason Model 96 Mausers have a threaded barrel is so the splinters from the woodin bullet banks would not be a hazard.
There was a small cage that screwed on to catch or a least shatter to wooden bullets.
Betcha all thought it was for silencer or flash hidder or something more exciting.
There was a small cage that screwed on to catch or a least shatter to wooden bullets.
Betcha all thought it was for silencer or flash hidder or something more exciting.
Hi, Wilder and guys,
I know what it is for; I have the attachment.
FYI, I once tried making and shooting some wooden bullets. I made them out of dowel rod to the approximate shape of a 150 grain .30 bullet, and loaded them into .30-'06 cases with a light load of (I think) 3031 and a tight crimp. They sounded like a popgun and mostly never made it to a 10 yard target. They just blew up, though some marked the target. I found one tonight and it weighs 12 grains, which would put it pretty low on the muzzle energy scale. I don't think they even took the rifling.
I think we can put those stories of thousands of GI's being wounded by wooden bullets in the trash can along with the ones about the Japanese 6.5 being no more powerful than a .22 short, the Japanese using our ammo in their rifles, Germans converting MG.34's to US .30 in the field under fire so they could use captured ammo, and the "ping" of an M1 clip being followed by the helpless GI being bayonetted in his foxhole.
Believe me, folks, in WWII, the rumor mill was very active, and many vets still believe the stories and have passed them on.
Jim
I know what it is for; I have the attachment.
FYI, I once tried making and shooting some wooden bullets. I made them out of dowel rod to the approximate shape of a 150 grain .30 bullet, and loaded them into .30-'06 cases with a light load of (I think) 3031 and a tight crimp. They sounded like a popgun and mostly never made it to a 10 yard target. They just blew up, though some marked the target. I found one tonight and it weighs 12 grains, which would put it pretty low on the muzzle energy scale. I don't think they even took the rifling.
I think we can put those stories of thousands of GI's being wounded by wooden bullets in the trash can along with the ones about the Japanese 6.5 being no more powerful than a .22 short, the Japanese using our ammo in their rifles, Germans converting MG.34's to US .30 in the field under fire so they could use captured ammo, and the "ping" of an M1 clip being followed by the helpless GI being bayonetted in his foxhole.
Believe me, folks, in WWII, the rumor mill was very active, and many vets still believe the stories and have passed them on.
Jim
Ruben Nasser
New member
IMHO Jim K is (as usual ) 100% right!
For an interesting short article on this topic go to "ammo with wooden bullets" at:
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/QA15.html
) 100% right! For an interesting short article on this topic go to "ammo with wooden bullets" at:
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/QA15.html
Mike Irwin
Staff
"I read recently that the Germans started putting a wood-bullet blank every fourth round or so on belts of machine gun ammo in an
effort to lower ammunition consumption on that notoriously fast-firing weapon later in the war."
I don't buy that, either.
These wood-bulleted blanks were generally incapable of cycling a machine gun's action without a special adapter, which restricted bore diameter to a pinhole, being fitted to raise chamber pressure to a point where the action would cycle.
If you fit the adapter and attempt to fire regular ammunition, the bullet will destroy the adapter and the resulting high chamber pressure, probably on the order of 3 to 5 times normal, will either severely damage or destroy the gun.
effort to lower ammunition consumption on that notoriously fast-firing weapon later in the war."
I don't buy that, either.
These wood-bulleted blanks were generally incapable of cycling a machine gun's action without a special adapter, which restricted bore diameter to a pinhole, being fitted to raise chamber pressure to a point where the action would cycle.
If you fit the adapter and attempt to fire regular ammunition, the bullet will destroy the adapter and the resulting high chamber pressure, probably on the order of 3 to 5 times normal, will either severely damage or destroy the gun.
Jamie Young
New member
The story I heard was "The Germans Used Wood In the Bullets". And they used them "Towards the end of the war".
Mike Irwin
Staff
"used wood IN the bullets..."
Ok, that is just ever so slightly more viable, but I've never heard of it.
Other nations used various other materials in their bullets over the years in combination with more traditional materials.
Normally it was purely for ballistic advantage.
For example, Italian 7.35 mm bullets had an aluminum filler in the nose to lighten it.
Some Marks of British .303 ammo had a fiber filler in the nose.
In both cases, the idea was to make the nose even lighter, which in turn would make the bullet even LESS stable upon hitting the target.
Now, Huon DOES mention a variation in bullet construction for the 7.92x57 bullets...
"A lack of strategic materials led to the introduction, in 1930, of a ball cartridge with an iron-cored projectile, called "S.m.E," but commonly called semi-armor-piercing."
Huon goes on to mention the other obvious bullet variants -- steel and tungsten carbide inserts for armor piercing capabilities, and various types of chemical compounds, but absolutely NO mention of any bullets being either completely or partially cored with wood.
Given that Germany had VAST supplies of mild iron and steel at the end of the war, and was making bullet jackets and cartridge cases out of these materials, I don't see very much liklihood of them having used wood cores when they could have cored the bullets with iron a la the S.m.E projectile.
Ok, that is just ever so slightly more viable, but I've never heard of it.
Other nations used various other materials in their bullets over the years in combination with more traditional materials.
Normally it was purely for ballistic advantage.
For example, Italian 7.35 mm bullets had an aluminum filler in the nose to lighten it.
Some Marks of British .303 ammo had a fiber filler in the nose.
In both cases, the idea was to make the nose even lighter, which in turn would make the bullet even LESS stable upon hitting the target.
Now, Huon DOES mention a variation in bullet construction for the 7.92x57 bullets...
"A lack of strategic materials led to the introduction, in 1930, of a ball cartridge with an iron-cored projectile, called "S.m.E," but commonly called semi-armor-piercing."
Huon goes on to mention the other obvious bullet variants -- steel and tungsten carbide inserts for armor piercing capabilities, and various types of chemical compounds, but absolutely NO mention of any bullets being either completely or partially cored with wood.
Given that Germany had VAST supplies of mild iron and steel at the end of the war, and was making bullet jackets and cartridge cases out of these materials, I don't see very much liklihood of them having used wood cores when they could have cored the bullets with iron a la the S.m.E projectile.