wood tipped 223 bullet

[monasco86]

I found what seems to be a very old wood tipped live round in my grandpa old junk. He says it looks to be from a 223. He can't remember where it came from and acts like he's never seen anything like it but he is very old now. I know he was stationed in Germany once and his brother served in Vietnam. He and I both would really like to know where it came from if anyone can help.

 

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[BosnMate]

What does the head stamp say? I read someplace in the distant past that the Germans at the end of WWII, when there were loosing and against the wall, experimented with wooden bullets. I don't know if they ever tried them in an actual firefight though.

 

[monasco86]

V(I or a 1) top... 8 off to the side... HA on bottom... And off to the other side a 4 with a line or something underneath. Its hard to see.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

HA is a Danish headstamp, a pic would help me decipher it accurately for you. Wood bullets were used a lot as training rounds for machine guns and automatic rifles. The guns were fitted with a "shredder" adapter at the muzzle which basically ripped them into sawdust. The wood slug was just to provide enough gas pressure to cycle the action. They were also used as blanks to fire rifle grenades, but being a .223 that's probably not the case with yours.

 

[detroitdigger]

It is probably a practice round, I've seen AK-47 wood bullets, it's a European thing.