Heel Boolit?

[Nora]

I've seen the term "heel bullet" in a few places, but have no idea what it is. What is it, and what advantage is it suppose to have, if any?

Nora

[markinalpine]

A command to your dog named Bullet?

:kidding:

Mark, AKA the Smart A$$ Kid, :bigsmyl2:

[docone31]

JeffNz can tell you that with impunity!
He did a write up on a 380 Rook. An heeled boolitt.
.22s are heeled. At least the rimfires are.
I had never seen one in centerfire before.

[Green Frog]

The only heel bullet commonly in use in the US today is the one found in .22 rim fire rounds. A heel bullet may essentially be defined as being the same diameter as the shell case that holds it, so there is a short section at the rear that is reduced in diameter to fit into the case neck... this is the "heel." At one time, there were both .32 and .38 cartridges that used this system, and probably others, but they are long obsolete.

Froggie

[longbow]

I won't be able to elaboreate too much but a heeled boolit is like a .22 rimfire boolit.

It has a slightly smaller "heel" at the base where it is crimped into the cartridge. The body is. again, like a .22 boolit at groove diameter.

Not sure if there are any advantages, they are just a style of boolit that used to be quite common in both center fire and rimfire rounds of various calibers. A disadvantage would be that they are outside lubricated so limited amount of lube that can be gummy and pick up dirt.

An example is the .38 special which has it roots in a heeled boolit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Special

Along with the explanation as to why .38 cal. is not 0.375"/0.389". The same applies to some other cartridges as well.

Longbow

[Ricochet]

A few centerfire cartridges that at least started out using heeled bullets: .38 Short and Long Colt, .41 Short and Long Colt, .44 S&W American. The heel went inside the case, and the part of the bullet outside the case was the same diameter as the outside of the case mouth. The bullet lubricating grease was in a groove on the ogive of the bullet, so it was "outside lubricated." Inside lubricated replacement bullets are the diameter of the heel of the original bullet, so they rattle loosely down cylinder throats and bores. They're commonly made hollow based so they can obturate to make up for this, but it's an imperfect solution.

[montana_charlie]

The advantage of the heeled bullet is that groove diameter of the barrel, and chamber diameter to accept the cartridge, are both the same dimension. The chamber ends where the lands ramp up to bore diameter in the leade. However, there is no step, or other transition necessary to go from chamber to groove diameter.

It is this 'smooth tube' shape that allows .22 rimfire cartridges of varying lengths to be fired in the same chamber. When a short is fired in a long rifle chamber, it simply has to cross a length of 'freebore' to enter the constriction of the bore, but does not have to negotiate a diameter reducing 'step' transition.

CM