Reversed Ball Round

drache

drache

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I never knew this....

There was a WWI trick of reversing the lead of a standard German bullet (so the point is on the inside of the casing) that if fired, would punch a hole through armor plating! I just watched a show on the history channel which showed this and the Canadian Soldiers who watched this demonstration were just shocked because they didn't believe it would work!
 
The german's would pull the bullet out of the casing and flip it around then fire it. I didn't believe it either until I seen it with my own eyes, and like I said neither did the Canadian Soldiers that were watching.

The round never actually goes THROUGH the steel though. It hits the steel and then blows a hole clean through (6mm of "driveshaft" type steel is how they explained it) but the round itself never goes through.

The show was called "Finding The Fallen" and this one was about the WWI tanks.
 
Ok I was sort of wrong that the round doesn't go through steel, fragments do go through and the ballistic gel right behind the steel looked really messy!

This testing took place in a "lab" where they test armor plating for tanks, apcs, etc.

The first shot was with a normal WWI type round (NOT armor piercing) out of (what appeared to be) a Mauser Gewehr 88 at a distance of 25 meters (the total length of the range in the "lab"). The round struck the plate and made a dent of about 2-3mm (so they said).

They then shot a WWI German armor piercing rounds at steel plating and it blasted through.

Next they used one of the reverse rounds and it too made a hole in the steel plate but this hole was MUCH cleaner through than the armor piercing round. I sat there dumb founded!

SO if you want to do this test I would suggest:
1. A caliber of no less than 7.62, preferably 7.92
2. Use a rifle that if it blows up you won't regret
3. Set up a remote firing system (IE a piece of string and some sandbags :D)
4. 2 Pieces of steel NO LESS than 6mm thick
5. Test one round normal, if it goes through the steel you might need a better grade of steel (same steel composite as a driveshaft)
6. I take NO responsibility for anyone being injured while doing this.....
7. If you go through with this, PLEASE provide photos! :D
 
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I beleive it has to do with the friction.

I have a nice little bit of hardened plate steel

I used to shoot everything at it, any sort of ball ammo 7.62x38, x51, x54R and 303 no problems even fired some 7.62x51 AP and they left some good dents but no penetration.

Then one day with the 300WM and Nosler BT ammo I fired and to my disbelief there was a hole in my plate :eek: and then another :mad:

oh well then I tried the 7mm mag same deal and surprise surprise the 25-06 does the same.

But not the bullet just spall from the back of the plate, I put up a sheet of coroplast (election sign) and it looked like a shotgun blast hit it, but very little penetration onteh sheet.

I have yet to try with my 22-250 but some day I'll give that a try too.
 
the spauling of the metal plate produced fragments and spauling wounds. this was sone by shooting at the "sniper plates" which were steel plates with a rifle slot in them.

The energy transfer would cause steel spauling from the other side. The bullet did not penertrate

Both sides did it
 
Strangeday said:
the spauling of the metal plate produced fragments and spauling wounds. this was sone by shooting at the "sniper plates" which were steel plates with a rifle slot in them.

The energy transfer would cause steel spauling from the other side. The bullet did not penertrate

Both sides did it
Click to expand...

Yeah they said it was a "anti sniper" trick! Then the Germans realized it would also work against the tanks of the British!
 
I would think that the larger surface area of the bullet is why this is happening. You no longer have a point in which it will penetrate because there is so much energy on such a small amount of surface area. Now you have a large amount of surface area with the same amount of energy in which the metal that it's making contact with fails and breaks, making a hole.
 
Thanks for the the other thread! I knew what spalling was and even the normal rounds would spall the inside of the WWI tanks. What made my jaw hit the floor was the HOLE that a reversed round actually made! :D
 
Sort of a high velocity cookie cutter.

If you do this the pressure is increased due to reduced case capacity.

Velocity alone can cause penetration. There is some velocity at which the hardness of the bullet does not matter.

Also, if i was testing, i would expect better results at 100 yards. Close in the bullet has a lot of yaw.
 
another interesting experiment is shooting various rounds at 1/2"-3/4" aluminum... some small cal. hunting rounds punch perfect holes while others stop dead... velocity and surface area play a major role in getting thru to the meat on the other side of the can.
 
An old Speer manual I have lists reduced loads with SR4759. Also recommends just reversing the bullet in the case. Makes a great chicken load. No expansion and bingo at 25 yards.
 
ive shot through 1/2" steel easily with my gun just using some federal powershocks. my buddy was able to just barely with his 30-06 using the same, but couldnt with a different brand
 
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