Where did these terms come from? Based on my reading they are quite old, but what is/are the respective route language(s), and does anyone know how the terms came to be?

Ogive is a very old term with its start in geometry and architecture as being a curved way to finish off a line. Generally it is a compound or changing rate of curvature. They can be constructed from circle radii, parabolas, ellipses or mathematical progressions to suit its need. Missiles and high speed aircraft use ogives to minimize drag, as well as bullets.

Meplat is easier. Many military and weapons terms come from the French, and meplat is French for 'flat'.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ogive comes from the French language,,descriptive of the high pointed but somewhat narrow arch styles of early architecture.
That much I remember from an Arts course,,don't know about anything else.

See the Wikipedia entries for both words:

Ogive - Wikipedia

Meplat - Wikipedia

There are at least two types of circular ogives, tangent and secant, depending upon how the curve intersects the cylindrical base. And the radius of the ogival curve can be large or small and is usually represented in calibers, e.g., a three-caliber ogive radius for a .308 diameter bullet would be 3 x.308" = .924". The greater the ogive radius, the longer the bullet nose, and generally the greater the ballistic coefficient. A true conical (or truncated conical) bullet nose has essentially an infinite ogive radius and is necessarily a secant ogive. A true spherical bullet nose is a tangent ogive with a radius of 1/2 caliber.

I'm dropping out of this class...

Perhaps this drawing will explain bullet ogives.

Attached Images

Ogive.jpg (106.2 KB, 58 views)

I know from experience that neither word is included in the official Scrabble dictionary.

....Gothic arches. Think inside a gothic cathedral and it's easy to picture.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I just read all the above posts, while very informative I still developed a headache.

We used to generate ogives on the drawing board back in the days that I used one. Cadd made it much easier. You couldn't get me to go back to the drawing board for ANYTHING.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Meplat....French , meaning flat .

Ogive ....French , meaning curved or tapered

I knew that French we speak in Louisiana would come in handy !

Gary

I'm not sure that the rounded nose of a spitzer can be called a meplat. Would it be a continuing of the side ogives until they meet at the top????

That is interesting, though, about the 0.10 cal of the military spitzer. I should have a diameter of 0.03? (nominally)? Which gives it a radius of 0.015???

Nerds like me find that to be cool beans.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

At least for US military cartridges, such as the 7.62 NATO, there is a definite meplat on the bullet tip, and it is specifically called out on the bullet drawing. In the case of the 7.62mm M60 bullet, it is specified as 0.06" maximum diameter. The .50 M2 Ball round's bullet drawing specifies a 0.120" maximum meplat diameter. The M855 bullet (5.56mm) meplat diameter specification is 0.040" maximum.

Some handgun ball rounds (such as 9mm and .45 ACP) and the .30 Carbine specify a hemispherical tip on bullets, with an ogive below.