[motto]

Beware the tumbling bullet.

Continuing with the theme of bullet behaviour, one of the reasons given in the program for water providing protection from small arms fire is that the water caused the bullet to tumble thus dissipating energy more quickly. A tumbling bullet also makes for far more serious wounds if it strikes a human body so being immersed or partly submerged in water may very well work against you.

The .303 British rifle cartridge went through many changes in its development including hollow point versions often referred to as dum dum bullets. These were later outlawed by the Geneva Convention. The bullet designers went back to the drawing board and ultimately came up with the Mark 7 projectile which incorporates a cunning feature that even most of the users were unaware of. The core of the 174 grain fully copper jacketed bullet was not entirely lead filled, the first 5/16" or so was in fact aluminium or composite material much lighter than lead.

The effect of the plug of lighter material at the front of the bullet was to shift the centre of gravity slightly aft making the bullet less stable if it encountered resistance, ie it was demonstrably more prone to tumble when it struck something instead of continuing straight through leaving a neat round hole.

The Mk 7 Ball cartridge as it is correctly titled was the standard rifle round used by British and Commonwealth forces before during and after WW2. It was produced in the billions and had a nasty little secret.

David