bullet terminology

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michael1000

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Back in the day, there was a term used to describe the bullets fired by police, or gangsters, calling them "dum-dums."
Is that what we now call hollow points, or was it something else? It's been a long time since i've even heard the phrase, but I do want to know.
 
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The use of "Dum-Dum" bullets by the British in the Boer War was what brought on the Hague Convention, where the use of expanding bullets in combat was prohibited. That applied only to signatories of the compact. The US never signed it but generally recognizes it.
 
My understanding is that a Dum Dum is a modified bullet, whereas a hollow point is factory manufactured.

The links give some support to my understanding, but I think anti gun leftists *******ized and corrupted the term for political points.
 
I remember photos of deformed and messed with bullets from MG belts in WWI. Do the most damage you can, it was war.
 
DWalt said:
The use of "Dum-Dum" bullets by the British in the Boer War was what brought on the Hague Convention, where the use of expanding bullets in combat was prohibited. That applied only to signatories of the compact. The US never signed it but generally recognizes it.
Click to expand...


US Army brought back Hollow Point ammunition in 2010, in .45 a pound for Military Police Units, and General Usage in 2016/17…


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The term originally referred to expanding bullets manufactured at the British arsenal near Dum Dum, India for the 303 cartridge. Back in the day any expanding bullet came to be called a "Dum Dum. The ignorant print media referred to expanding bullets, especially hollow points as "illegal" or "outlawed" by the "Geneva" or the "Hague" convention.
 
texmex said:
The term originally referred to expanding bullets manufactured at the British arsenal near Dum Dum, India for the 303 cartridge. Back in the day any expanding bullet came to be called a "Dum Dum. The ignorant print media referred to expanding bullets, especially hollow points as "illegal" or "outlawed" by the "Geneva" or the "Hague" convention.
Click to expand...


Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your viewpoint on the subject regarding both and/or either the ‘Geneva” and “Hague” Conventions, the United States has more or less adopted a Pick and Choose stance on what parts of either conventions their willing to accept and/or disallow…


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As I remember it ...dum-dum was an uneducated persons term for the correct term of hollow point .
They probably had no clue Dum Dum was/is a city in India where a British Arsenal was located ... it was there that Capt. Neville Bertie-Clay developed an expanding "special" bullet for the 303 British Enfield that got them in hot water for being too lethal .
Gary
 
Back in the 60's, we kids would take a knife and put a "X" on the tip of our .22 round nose bullets........
since the hollow points cost a lot more for those of us that pinched pennies for ammo.
Shorts and longs were our ammo of choice. My pockets were not deep enough for the long rifle ammo, for my single shot rifle.
 
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Secundius said:
US Army brought back Hollow Point ammunition in 2010, in .45 a pound for Military Police Units, and General Usage in 2016/17…


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Click to expand...

The 7.62mm M118LR round has been used by US snipers since the late 1990s. And it uses the Sierra "Match King" JHP bullet. But the military has always contended that it uses a HP bullet for improved accuracy at long ranges, not for causing increased suffering. And there is also the new M1153 9mm round with an expanding bullet. I am unaware of any .45 ACP military ammunition which uses a hollow point bullet. Must be something for special ops use. What is its designation?
 
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DWalt said:
The 7.62mm M118LR round has been used by US snipers since the late 1990s. And it uses the Sierra "Match King" JHP bullet. But the military has always contended that it uses a HP bullet for improved accuracy at long ranges, not for causing increased suffering. And there is also the new M1153 9mm round with an expanding bullet. I am unaware of any .45 ACP military ammunition which uses a hollow point bullet. Must be something for special ops use. What is its designation?
Click to expand...

I don't recall the exact date of the article or even if they even mentioned a specific designated ammo type, only that it was mentioned in the Army Times in 2015! That the JHP were reintroduced into the US Army in 2010, for the US Army's Military Police. As for general usage in the US Army, it was mentioned in USNI News in 2017...
 
There wouldn't have been much military "General Use" of the M1911A1 .45 pistol for at least the last 20 years as it was replaced in the mid-1980s by the Beretta M9 pistol in 9mm. The M1911-type .45 pistols have continued in limited use for various special ops applications, but I believe that most SO units have now switched to various 9mm pistols, mainly Glock 19s.
 
DWalt said:
There wouldn't have been much military "General Use" of the M1911A1 .45 pistol for at least the last 20 years as it was replaced in the mid-1980s by the Beretta M9 pistol in 9mm. The M1911-type .45 pistols have continued in limited use for various special ops applications, but I believe that most SO units have now switched to various 9mm pistols, mainly Glock 19s.
Click to expand...

The Navy was using M1911A1's from the "War Stores" for their Naval Station Auxiliary Security Forces. I ordered 50 for the Naval Station and got in what looked like NIB M1911A1's. They had all been rebuilt and reparked at NWS Crane, Ind.
 
In my youth the old folks called double ended wadcutters dum dums. Common in .38 Special target loads.
 
gwpercle said:
... Dum Dum was/is a city in India where a British Arsenal was located ...
Click to expand...

They don't build em like they used to. That arsenal building built by the British still stands.

Another interesting Dum-Dum arsenal factoid was that some ammo produced there and issued to native troops was a major source of resentment which inflamed tensions leading to the 1857 rebellion.
The paper wrapped ammo for their 1853 Enfield pattern muskets, which was ripped open using the shooters teeth before loading, was rumoured to be pre-lubricated with animal fat tallow made of rendered beef and pork. This was an obvious problem to both Hindu and Muslim conscripts, which helped push them to mutiny.
Later ammo issued unlubricated didn't ease the situation.

fab5c7293cdd947852318f6d5fdfa8a2.jpg


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gee, folks, I always enjoy a history lesson. One well-worded question gets me a ton of information. I love the internet!!
 
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