Green tipped .45 ACP

[K.38]

A friend gave me a few green tipped .45 cal 230 grain bullets for a .45 ACP. Any ideas what these were for? They look identical to any other 230 fmj. Jacket may be slightly thinner but that is it. I tried a magnet but no steel in the bullet just lead and a copper jacket.

He said he got them from a friend who used to work for a gov contractor but didn't know which one.

 

[max]

I did a quick google search and there is apparently some Russian tracer that is green tipped. What is the headstamp?

 

[NKJ nut]

I still have a few of these pulled bullets and a handful of the loaded rounds. My understanding is that the ammo was loaded to higer pressure than standard. It's been around 20 years since I got this stuff and I don't remember the whole story. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. If the ammo isn't safe to shoot destroy it or pull it down. I kept it more as a curio than anything.

 

[K.38]

All I have is the bullets it isn't loaded ammo. The bullet looks just like a normal fmj. I was just wondering why the green tip.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Gatofeo]

Found this comment on the net. No one answered him.

" ... long ago I had a box of brass cased .45acp ammo from Brazil that looked like it was military. It had a green tip on the bullet but it was not tracer. I think it was intended for subgun use and a .45acp pistol would not set off the primers. Any ideas what this ammo was?"

Found this on Gunbroker:
"This tracer is a traditional Soviet green tip tracer and will start to trace bright green right out of the barrel and will continue to trace for 400 yards. It has a very bright green trace and can be seen day or night. This tracer is made to true Soviet military tracer specifications."

The above said, look at the base of your bullet. If it's lead, it's not a tracer. A tracer would have a hollow base filled with trace element. If it looks like there's a substance on the base, or it has a plug, it's likely a tracer.

I searched elsewhere, in cartridge collector sites, but couldn't find anything definitive. Hope this helps.

 

[K.38]

The base is just plain lead. I've asked a few local knowledgeable people and no one seems to know what they are.

 

[kewpie]

Strange ammunition

Many years ago, I had a friend who had 20 or 30 boxes of 45 acp he had taken in as part of a very large purchase of guns, etc. There were 20 or 25 rds to a box. The boxes were dark green cardboard, absolutely square, and the corners of the boxes were reinforced with perforated metal strips. The 'lids' folded back.

The bullets looked like normal hardball except that they were very dark brass (bronze?) colored.

At his range, I loaded my Commander magazine and proceeded to fire at a monstrous dead tree about 20 yards away. (It was safe - it was on his farm and I was shooting downhill into a tree-choked swale.) I noticed the 'tightness' of the report immediately. The fired case flew about 30 feet behind me and struck the windshield of my Corvair and then ricocheted about another 30 feet! I could feel the pistol's slide recoil, slam to a stop then slam closed as never before! Needless to say, I fired no more of those rounds and some time later a cartridge collector told me it sounded like I had fired sub-machine gun ammunition.

I want to say the writing on the inside of the boxes' lids was French. (I won't shoot much of anything I don't reload myself anymore