Another Fun One: Late 1970’s/early 1980’s Velet Exploding Bullets in .38 Special

[regdor1999]

Unopened blister pack of Velet Exploding Bullets, .38 Special (Late 70’s/early 80’s)

[The Dar]

"Instant lethality in chest cavity" I reckon lawyers would have a field day if one were to use these in a defensive situation today.

Very interesting item though.

[Kestrel4k]

Wow.

[armoredman]

In the early 80s, when I bought my very first semi auto pistol, the gun shop sold me some interesting "self defense" 9mm rounds, called Devastators, a wide hollow point filled with black powder and a primer glued in backwards, so whatever it hit, supposedly, would fire the primer, causing the powder to blow out the hollow point to an extreme width. FORTUNATELY, I never had the opportunity to use on in such a manner, thankfully. IIRC, we did fire a couple into phonebooks after I bought real SD ammo, and I do not recall them making any bigger a hole than anything else.

[pworley1]

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

[JimB..]

In the early 80s, when I bought my very first semi auto pistol, the gun shop sold me some interesting "self defense" 9mm rounds, called Devastators, a wide hollow point filled with black powder and a primer glued in backwards, so whatever it hit, supposedly, would fire the primer, causing the powder to blow out the hollow point to an extreme width. FORTUNATELY, I never had the opportunity to use on in such a manner, thankfully. IIRC, we did fire a couple into phonebooks after I bought real SD ammo, and I do not recall them making any bigger a hole than anything else.

Can you imagine being the guy who had to spend his day seating primers into little charged lead bombs? My guess is that they never really worked.

[armoredman]

It was definitely a scam designed to rope in the uninformed, like I was back then. If I had known anything, I would have known A), it was stupid, B), it was dangerous, and C), it was dangerously stupid!

[dale2242]

Ronald Reagen was shot with 22 LR exploding bullets if I remember right.

[deces]

Ronald Reagen was shot with 22 LR exploding bullets if I remember right.

Then he banned automatic firearms, go figure.

[firefly1957]

Exploding bullets go back a long way .

Not as long ago KTW made some exploding bullets a coworker who was part time deputy and FFL holder used a 9mm KTW exploding bullet on a pitbull that jumped his fence and was in his yard He said the hit was behind the ribs broadside and it almost blew the dog in half . The claim was the bullet had Mercury Fulminate in it .

[challenger_i]

Your guess would be right. I was invited to assist a local gun shop owner in testing these, before he put them out for general sale. They were a dismal failure. We tried many different target materials and never managed to get one round to detonate on impact.

Can you imagine being the guy who had to spend his day seating primers into little charged lead bombs? My guess is that they never really worked.

[HWooldridge]

In the early 80s, when I bought my very first semi auto pistol, the gun shop sold me some interesting "self defense" 9mm rounds, called Devastators, a wide hollow point filled with black powder and a primer glued in backwards, so whatever it hit, supposedly, would fire the primer, causing the powder to blow out the hollow point to an extreme width. FORTUNATELY, I never had the opportunity to use on in such a manner, thankfully. IIRC, we did fire a couple into phonebooks after I bought real SD ammo, and I do not recall them making any bigger a hole than anything else.

That was tried with some Express rifle loads in the 19th century, on the assumption they would work better on thin skinned dangerous game (read lions and tigers). Was supposedly a dismal failure - most did not work at all, or failed to penetrate sufficiently into the animal.

[atfsux]

I was never so giddy as a school boy than the day I discovered that small pistol primers are .177 caliber and large pistol primers are .22 caliber. I immediately loaded one in my pellet gun and aimed at the mailbox post. When it went BANG, I laughed like a mental patient.

So yes, I can verify that when a primer hits a side of beef (or pork butt) at velocities above 500 fps, they go off.

[firefly1957]

HWooldridge I can remember a old time writer mentioning 1/4 pound exploding rifle bullets being shot broadside into a elephant he said the animal went 250 yards before going down . That would have been black powder cartridge and if I remember correctly the top was filled with Potassium Chlorate and Antimony Trisulfide.

Some years ago I read a article about a old black powder mold that had a hollow point to hold a .22 short and the writer had no luck with modern .22 shorts opening the bullet . Those old copper cased .22 short rounds did not use any powder they had a large priming charge of Mercury Fulminate so they did open the hollow points unlike smokeless propellant . I had a thought that modern "power loads" used for driving nails would work . I drilled some 50 caliber bullets and loaded them to 1300 f/s in my sharps . Firing them into the 50 yard berm left a nice crater firing them in Gallon water filled jugs showed they did indeed explode many bullet fragment holes were left in the plastic jug remains .

[HWooldridge]

HWooldridge I can remember a old time writer mentioning 1/4 pound exploding rifle bullets being shot broadside into a elephant he said the animal went 250 yards before going down . That would have been black powder cartridge and if I remember correctly the top was filled with Potassium Chlorate and Antimony Trisulfide.

Some years ago I read a article about a old black powder mold that had a hollow point to hold a .22 short and the writer had no luck with modern .22 shorts opening the bullet . Those old copper cased .22 short rounds did not use any powder they had a large priming charge of Mercury Fulminate so they did open the hollow points unlike smokeless propellant . I had a thought that modern "power loads" used for driving nails would work . I drilled some 50 caliber bullets and loaded them to 1300 f/s in my sharps . Firing them into the 50 yard berm left a nice crater firing them in Gallon water filled jugs showed they did indeed explode many bullet fragment holes were left in the plastic jug remains .

@ Firefly1957,

That's right in line with what I recall reading. Interesting that you were able to develop a recipe that worked. I would like to shoot some feral hogs with an exploding slug and see what that does. Might be a blast...pardon the pun.

[firefly1957]

HWoolridge They were the Yellow power load level I forgot to mention that .

[M-Tecs]

Exploding bullets have been around for a long time. The explosion force on the ones we used to be able to purchase had limited power very similar to a small firecracker. They didn't work very well. If they did go off and they did not denotate until entering a rib cage a firecracker sized explosion may or may not increase lethality? The jackrabbits I shot will the 22LR exploding bullets responded the same as a being hit with a solid. I've found them to be less accurate and effective than a standard hollow point. I've only fired 22 Cal and 38 Cal. Both very underwhelming. They were purchased cheap when a local gun shop that went out of business.

The current military 50 cal. and larger are a different animal and claimed to be very effective but I have no firsthand experience. Same for Firefly1957 solution. That sounds very interesting and effective.

https://www.bevfitchett.us/chemical-...g-bullets.html

http://www.thegunmag.com/explode-exp...etter-bullets/

https://www.nationalreview.com/corne...y-kera-claims/

[redhawk0]

Not legal in Komifornia....Might be today if they put the Prop 65 warning on it....hahaha

[MUSTANG]

Welllll there's always the RAUFUS round at $100.00 each.

[35 Rem]

I remember trying to make some in the early 80's by drilling out 44 bullets so that they had a hollow point the size of a 22 rimfire round. Then I'd insert various 22 shorts or Long rifles and probably even some Longs backwards into the hole, being careful to keep all the rimfire powder intact. RTV or some other adhesive would be used to keep it all stuck together. Never saw any real benefit. It was hard to determine if the expansion gains were from the hollow point or any effect of the rimfire round firing.
Also, I was never able to prove that the rimfire round WAS firing. Was fun to mess with though.