A spitzer bullet (from , "point shot") is a

munitions Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of ...

term, primarily regarding fully-powered and intermediate small-arms ammunition, describing

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

s featuring an aerodynamically pointed nose shape, called a spire point, sometimes combined with a tapered base, called a boat tail (then a spitzer boat-tail bullet), in order to reduce drag and obtain a lower drag coefficient, resulting in an aerodynamically superior torpedo shaped projectile, which decelerates less rapidly and has improved external ballistic behaviour, at the expense of some potential weight and

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the form of energy that it possesses due to its motion. In classical mechanics, the kinetic energy of a non-rotating object of mass ''m'' traveling at a speed ''v'' is \fracmv^2.Resnick, Rober ...

relative to blunter ogive/round/flat-nose flat-base projectiles. The type which was developed for military purposes in the late 19th and early 20th century and was a major design improvement compared to earlier rounder or flatter-tipped bullets in terms of range and accuracy. Its introduction, along with long-range volley sights for service rifles, changed military doctrines. Area targets at ranges up to could be subject to rifle fire. With improvements in machine guns at the turn of the 20th century, the addition of clinometers meant that fixed machine gun squads could deliver

plunging fire Plunging fire is a form of indirect fire, where gunfire is fired at a trajectory to make it fall on its target from above. It is normal at the high trajectories used to attain long range, and can be used deliberately to attack a target not susce ...

indirect fire Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting ...

at more than . The indirect firing method exploits the maximal

effective range Effective range is a term with several definitions depending upon context. Distance Effective range may describe a distance between two points where one point is subject to an energy release at the other point. The source, receiver, and conditio ...

, that is defined by the maximum range of a small-arms projectile while still maintaining the minimum kinetic energy required to put unprotected personnel out of action, which is generally believed to be 15 kilogram-meters (147 J / 108 ft⋅lbf). Spitzer bullets greatly increased the lethality of the battlefields of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Before, during and after World War I, militaries adopted even more aerodynamically refined spitzer projectiles by combining a pointed nose with a slightly tapered base at the rear, a so called ''boat tail'', which further reduced drag in flight. These projectiles were known as ''spitzer boat-tail bullets'' which increased the terminal maximum ranges of fully-powered rifle cartridges to between .

Etymology

The name "spitzer" is an anglicized form of the German word ''Spitzgeschoss'', literally meaning "point shot".

History

Design requirements

From the mid to late 19th century, European military research had started to examine how to maximise available small arms

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately t ...

through improved projectile design. Stronger metal casings were being used to contain cartridge propellants, making small arms more powerful but not any more accurate. Designers knew that bullets with a lower drag coefficient (C_d) would decelerate less rapidly and therefore travel further. A lower drag coefficient also flattens the projectile's

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete tra ...

, making it more stable in flight and less susceptible to lateral drift caused by crosswinds. By retaining a higher impact velocity, bullets with high

ballistic coefficient In ballistics, the ballistic coefficient (BC, ''C'') of a body is a measure of its ability to overcome air resistance in flight. It is inversely proportional to the negative acceleration: a high number indicates a low negative acceleration—the ...

s would retain more

and be lethal at greater ranges. It was these requirements that drove military thinking in the years prior to the First World War.

France – 1898–1932

''Balle D'' – 1898

The spitzer bullet design was first introduced in 1898 as the ''Balle D'' by the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

. The ''Balle D'' bullet was designed by Captain Georges Raymond Desaleux, in order to improve the ballistic performance of the existing French

8×50mmR Lebel The 8×50mmR Lebel (8mm Lebel) (designated as the 8 × 51 R Lebel by the C.I.P.) rifle Cartridge (firearms), cartridge was the first smokeless powder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Formed by ...

service cartridge of 1886. The original 1886 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel cartridge was an innovative service cartridge design, since it was the first military cartridge to use single-base smokeless,

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

based, (

Poudre B Poudre B was the first practical smokeless gunpowder created in 1884. It was perfected between 1882 and 1884 at "Laboratoire Central des Poudres et Salpêtres" in Paris, France. Originally called "Poudre V" from the name of the inventor, Paul V ...

) gunpowder as developed by Paul Vieille in 1884. The original 1886 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel was loaded with a cupro-nickel-jacketed lead-cored flat-nosed wadcutter-style ''Balle M'' bullet designed by lieutenant colonel

Nicolas Lebel Colonel Nicolas Lebel (18 August 1838 – 6 May 1891), after whom the French military's Lebel rifle was named. Biography Nicolas Lebel was born in Saint-Mihiel (Meuse) near Verdun. Interested by the prospects of a military career he enrolled in ...

achieving a muzzle velocity of . The new 1898 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel cartridge loaded with Desaleux's new lighter ''Balle D''

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

mono-metal spitzer bullet achieved a

of , providing a somewhat flatter

and a greatly improved maximum effective range. Besides having a pointed nose section the ''Balle D'' was also the first military rifle projectile that had a ''boat tail'' – a streamlined tapered base – to further minimize air resistance in flight. ;Downrange performance The 1898 pattern 8×50mmR Lebel ''Balle D'' spitzer nose profile combined with the boat tail resulted in a

(G1 BC) of 0.568 to 0.581 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable). Fired at muzzle velocity the ''Balle D'' bullet retained

supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

velocity up to and past (V₈₀₀ ≈

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

1.13) under ICAO Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level (

air density The density of air or atmospheric density, denoted '' ρ'', is the mass per unit volume of Earth's atmosphere at a given point and time. Air density, like air pressure, decreases with increasing altitude. It also changes with variations in atmosph ...

ρ = 1.225 kg/m³) and had a maximum terminal range of approximately . Even by 21st century standards, typical effective supersonic range is regarded as normal for a standard military rifle round (see Maximum effective rifle range). The downrange performance tables above show the superior velocity retention of the ''Balle D'' compared with its ''Balle M'' predecessor
Note: The air density ρ used to correlate these tables is unknown.

''Balle N'' – 1932

In 1932, 8×50mmR Lebel ''Balle N'' ammunition was introduced, which featured a lead-cored, cupro-nickel-over-steel-jacketed, pointed boat-tail bullet weighing 15.0 g (232 grains). It had been designed to improve the long-range performance of the issued Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine guns.

German Empire – 1898–1918

In Germany the Gewehr-Prüfungskommission (G.P.K.) (Rifle Testing Commission) was responsible for improving the accuracy and performance of the 1888 pattern military M/88 ammunition and Germany's weapons chambered for M/88 ("round head shot") ammunition like the

Gewehr 1888 The Gewehr 88 (commonly called the Model 1888 commission rifle) was a late 19th-century German bolt-action rifle, adopted in 1888. The invention of smokeless powder in the late 19th century immediately rendered all of the large-bore black powder ...

. During a late 19th and early 20th century improvement program tasked with remedying the M/88's propellant compression and excessive barrel (grooves) wear problems, the German ordnance authority began to prefer spitzer bullets by 1898.

''Geschoß S.'' – 1902–1904

A new aerodynamic bullet, the or , credited to the independent ballistician Arthur Gleinich, was tested in 1902 and officially adopted on 3 April 1903. After several shape revisions it entered mass production in 1904. The ''Spitzgeschoß'' nose was externally pointed like the French design and its shape was

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ed, but the full metal jacket ''Spitzgeschoß'' differed internally. The Gewehr-Prüfungskommission program resulted in the ''S Patrone'' or 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, which was loaded with a relatively lightweight spitzer bullet with a slightly increased diameter of that had a

(G1 BC) of approximately 0.321 to 0.337 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable), along with a dimensionally redesigned chambering and bore (designated as "S-bore") and new double-base (based on nitrocellulose and

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG) (alternative spelling nitroglycerine), also known as trinitroglycerol (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless or pale yellow, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by ...

)

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

loading, which delivered a greatly improved muzzle velocity of from a barrel. The ''S Patrone'' was adopted by the German Army and Navy in 1903 and had a maximum terminal range of approximately . The combination of increased muzzle velocity and improved bullet aerodynamics provided a much flatter bullet trajectory, which increased the probability of hitting an individual target at most typical combat distances.

''Geschoß s.S'' – 1914

At the onset of World War I, Germany developed an aerodynamically further refined bullet, the ("heavy spitzer") or ). This

full metal jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel '' The Short-Timers''. It stars ...

spitzer boat-tail projectile had a ballistic coefficient (G1 BC) of 0.557 to 0.593 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable) and was loaded in the ''s.S. Patrone''. At muzzle velocity the ''s.S. Patrone'' had a maximum terminal range of approximately and retained

velocity up to and past (V₁₀₀₀ ≈

1.07) under ICAO Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level (

ρ = 1.225 kg/m³). From its 1914 introduction the ''s.S. Patrone'' was mainly issued for aerial combat and as of 1918 in the later stages of World War I to infantry machine gunners. Fifteen years after World War I the ''S Patrone'' was phased out and the ''s.S. Patrone'' became the standard issue ball ammunition for the German military.

United States – 1906

In 1906, United States ordnance authorities arranged to purchase the production license for the ''Spitzgeschoß'' bullet design from Gleinich. Now referred to as a 'spitzer' design, the new flat base projectile that had a

(G1 BC) of approximately 0.405 with a cupro-nickel alloy jacket was incorporated into the M1906 .30-06 Springfield cartridge adopted by U.S. armed forces in 1906. The ball, M1906 rounds had a muzzle velocity of and had a maximum terminal range of approximately and can be identified by their silver-colored bullets. The cupro-nickel alloy was found to foul the bore quickly.

Russian Empire – 1908

In 1908, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

adopted a new 7.62×54mmR service round variant loaded with the "L" Лёгкая Пуля (''Lyogkhaya pulya'', "Light Bullet") spitzer bullet that had a

(G1 BC) of approximately 0.338. The 7.62×54mmR M1908 Type L cartridge had a muzzle velocity of .

United Kingdom – 1910

In 1910, the United Kingdom officially adopted the .303 British Mark VII cartridge variant loaded with an flat base spitzer bullet that had a

(G1 BC) of approximately 0.467. The .303 British Mark VII cartridge had a muzzle velocity of and a maximum terminal range of approximately .

Switzerland – 1911

In 1911, Switzerland adopted the 7.5×55mm GP 11 cartridge loaded with a spitzer full metal jacket bullet. Besides a pointed nose, the GP 11 bullet also had a boat tail to further lower the drag coefficient (C_d). The GP 11 projectile had a

(G1 BC) of 0.505 to 0.514 (ballistic coefficients are somewhat debatable) and had a maximum terminal range of approximately under Swiss chosen atmospheric conditions (altitude = , air pressure = Hg, temperature = ) equaling ICAO Standard Atmosphere conditions at (

ρ = 1.150 kg/m³). At muzzle velocity the standard GP 11 ball spitzer bullet retained

velocity up to (V₈₀₀ ≈

1.1) under ICAO Standard Atmosphere conditions at sea level (

ρ = 1.225 kg/m³). The GP 11 bullet set off the militaries of countries like Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom at the onset of and after World War I to develop and field similar full metal jacket boat tail spitzer bullets to improve the maximum effective range and long range performance of the full metal jacket flat based spitzer bullet designs they used. The useful maximum effective range is defined by the maximum range of a small-arms projectile while still maintaining the minimum kinetic energy required to put unprotected personnel out of action, which is generally believed to be 15 kilogram-meters (147 J / 108 ft⋅lbf).

Kingdom of Spain – 1913

In 1913, the ordnance authorities of the

Kingdom of Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

issued a redesigned

7×57mm Mauser The 7×57mm Mauser (designated as the 7 mm Mauser or 7×57mm by the SAAMI and 7 × 57 by the C.I.P.) is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company in ...

cartridge (''7mm Cartucho para Mauser Tipo S''). It was loaded with a spitzer bullet fired at a muzzle velocity of with muzzle energy from a long barrel. It had a maximum terminal range of .

Sweden – 1932–1941

8 mm projektil m/32 – 1932

In 1932, Sweden introduced the

8×63mm patron m/32 The 8×63mm patron m/32 was a bottlenecked centrefire cartridge with a slightly () rebated rim for Swedish heavy and medium machine guns. It was used from 1932 to the finalisation of the re-chambering process of these machine guns to 7.62×5 ...

loaded with spitzer bullets with a boat tail fired at a muzzle velocity of bullets. The 8×63mm patron m/32 ammunition was not developed as general service ammunition but for anti-aircraft and

and had an effective range of approximately on which the impact energy was 20 kilogram-meters (196 J / 145 ft⋅lbf), and a maximum terminal range of approximately when fired from a Kulspruta m/36 machine gun.

6,5 mm projektil m/41 – 1941

Sweden and Norway loaded their 6.5×55mm m/94 service ammunition with a long round-nosed B-projectile (, "blunt/ogive bullet") fired at a muzzle velocity of up to the early phase of World War II and Norwegian occupation by German in 1940. From 1941 onwards Sweden, which remained neutral during World War II, adopted m/41 service ammunition loaded with a ''spitzer boat-tail'' D-projectile (, "point/torpedo bullet") fired at a muzzle velocity of ."6.5x55 Ammunition".
/ref>

Plastic-tipped bullet

In the 21st century, plastic-tipped bullets are a type of

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

bullet meant to confer the aerodynamic advantage of the spitzer bullet (for example, see very-low-drag bullet) and the

stopping power Stopping power is the supposed ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a ...

of a hollow-point bullet, by equipping the hollow-point cavity and tip with a plastic ballistic tip (compare

ballistic cap Armour-piercing, capped, ballistic capped (APCBC) is a type of configuration for armour-piercing ammunition introduced in the 1930s to improve the armour-piercing capabilities of both Naval gun, naval and anti-tank guns. The configuration consi ...

). This plastic tip stays rigid during trajectory, giving the hollow-point similar aerodynamic properties to a spitzer projectile, but is crushed upon impact, allowing the hollow-point to petal out as per design.

References

External links

* {{Handloading Bullets