Expanding bullet

This causes the bullet to increase in diameter, to combat over-penetration and produce a larger wound, thus dealing more damage to a living target.

[9][10][11] There were several expanding bullets produced by this arsenal for the .303 British cartridge, including soft-point and hollow-point designs.

[14] The use of the term dumdum for expanding bullets other than the early .303 designs is considered slang by most ammunition and ballistics sources.

[15][16] Manufacturers have many terms to describe the particular construction of the various types of expanding bullets, though most fall into the category of soft-point or hollow-point designs.

The adoption of rifling allowed the use of longer, heavier bullets, but these were still typically constructed of soft lead and would often double in diameter upon impact.

[19] The earliest examples of bullets specifically designed to expand on impact were those fired by express rifles, which were developed in the mid-19th century.

This split section expanded only to the depth of the incision, making it an early form of controlled expansion bullet.

Attempts to limit recoil to an acceptable level led to higher-velocity rounds generally being smaller in diameter and lighter.

[21] However, it soon became apparent that such hard, small-caliber rounds were less effective at wounding or killing an enemy than the older, large-caliber soft lead bullets.

Historian Barbara Tuchman wrote that, Developed by the British to stop the rush of fanatical tribesmen, the bullets were vigorously defended by Sir John Ardagh against the heated attack of all except the American military delegate, Captain Crozier, whose country was about to make use of them in the Philippines.

"[26]However, the rest of the delegates at the 1899 Hague Convention were not persuaded by Ardagh's arguments and voted 22–2 to prohibit the future use of the dumdum bullet.

[28] The adoption of an amendment to Article 8 at the Review Conference of the Rome Statute in Kampala (2010) makes the use of expanding bullets in non-international armed conflict a war crime.

[27][29] One example of a war crime involving expanding ammunition is the August 1941 German killing of Soviet prisoners at Zhitomir, as a human experiment with captured Red Army materiel.