One for the Bullet Experts

[BioProfessor]

I'm searching a site and have no idea how old it is. I've found a couple of things that will hopefully tell me a time period. This listing is for a bullet. I'm familiar with the 3 ringer Civil War bullets but I'm not familiar with this. I've seen wad-cutter bullets with 2 rings but not three. The bullet is 9mm so it does qualify as a .38 caliber.

Thanks for any insights.

Daryl

 

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[Ken from Atlanta]

yup definitely a .38 or .357 "wadcutter".

 

[BioProfessor]

That's what I thought. Thanks. Was just hoping that sometime in the past they switched from three rings to two.

One down the toilet. Two to go.

Daryl

 

[dkw]

It's a semi wadcutter. A wadcutter is seated pretty much flush with the case mouth. A semi wadcutter extends past the mouth.
Below is a wadcutter in the first pic. The second pic is a semi wadcutter.

 

[BioProfessor]

That's my read too. The wad-cutter has 3 grooves and the semi-wadcutter has 2. So this semi-wadcutter has 3. Am I missing something?

Daryl

 

[Ken from Atlanta]

That's my read too. The wad-cutter has 3 grooves and the semi-wadcutter has 2. So this semi-wadcutter has 3. Am I missing something?

Daryl

You're not missing anything, there are so many people making their own bullets for re-loading, and so many different manufacturers making these things that I don't think there is really any kind of standard out there.

 

[dkw]

Like Ken said, there has been a multitude of designs and styles of bullets available over the years.

Here's one with no grooves.

 

[BioProfessor]

Good enough for me.

Thanks!!

Daryl

 

[watercolor]

If you see small vertical grooves within the recessed bands (like in yours), it's likely they're modern.
I'm not sure when ordnance manufactures started this practice. . . maybe someone else might have an idea.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I have wadcutters with no rings at all. All depends on the manufacturer and their whims.

Yours in the image is a swaged semi-wadcutter. The rings are knurled - meaning they were added after the bullet was machine swaged from a piece of lead wire (as opposed to cast). That makes it 100 years or newer.