.50 Calibre bullet?

[SimplexSimonx]

Close to what I think might be part of an aircraft (my earlier post) I also found a bullet.

I guess it's .50 calibre (it measures almost exactly 13mm at the widest point). It weighs 44 grammes and the numbers came up for lead, although there's obviously an outer (copper?) jacket. I don't think it's been fired because I would have guessed there'd be marks on it showing where the rifling had imprinted on it. There was no sign of any cartridge case. I'm guessing it's WW2 or later. There was a ROC station nearby spotting Nazi aircraft, and there were lots of Canadian troops in the area in the run up to D Day.

Is there any chance I can find out more about it?

Cheers, SxSx

[f8met]

Looks like it and if the tip is black, armour piercing and in the illegal category. Not sure if it is black or if it is corrosion.

[sweepstick47]

What you have is just the fired 'projectile' (the business end of a 'round').
A 'round' comprises the projectile and the cartridge together with it's propellent.
Regards ss47

[RRPG]

It is indeed a 50cal bullet. As has been pointed out, it appears to have the remains of black paint on the tip. This denotes an armour piercing bullet. I'm afraid that under section 5 1A (g) of the firearms act, this bullet on its own, even when not 'attached' to a cartridge case, is illegal to possess. Copy of relevant section from the act below.

RRPG

Section 5 1a g.jpg

[SimplexSimonx]

Thanks folks - the bits that look like black paint aren't, they're just patina. The core is definitely lead - not anything harder - so I think it's not armour-piercing (core would be steel or tungsten or DU or something if so?).

Cheers, SxSx

[Butty]

If it is AP then you'll not see the steel centre as its buried in the lead.
If from a crashed plane then it could be legal ball ammo that's blackened from a fire after the case has exploded.
Who knows without cutting it in half and then you've destroyed it.

[GeorgeMK]

Difficult to tell Ball and Armour Piercing apart once the nose colour has gone.

The M2 Ball projectile has a steel core. It is legal to own.

The M2 AP projectile has a hardened steel-alloy core. It is not legal to own in the UK without appropriate authority.

[SimplexSimonx]

So is weight a good way to tell which it is (tungsten's pretty dense)?

[andiron]

If it's steel then it should be magnetic?
Oh, I see now, they're both steel..ish.

[GeorgeMK]

So is weight a good way to tell which it is (tungsten's pretty dense)?

Taking weights from internet sites, the difference is 2.8 grains. (0.181437 grams)

M2 Ball projectile is 709.5 grains.

M2 AP projectile is 706.7 grains.

[SimplexSimonx]

Amazing that the weights are so similar. It's obviously the physical strength/hardness of the material that makes the difference on impact. I'm going to have to buy a machine to weigh that accurately - so I'll likely get myself on a "list" for being a potential drug dealer (as well as a potential hoarder of illegal weaponry).

[Butty]

That'll be some accurate scales to pick up 0.18 grams and on an item that has been in the ground for 80 years with corrosion on it.
Unless it's obviously AP with a black tip I'd personally keep it.

[Phil2401]

Just curious, why would an old corroded 05 armour piecing bullet be illegal to own? Ok If its the rules then that's it, but why? I can understand a tracer with phosphorus but a solid bullet?

Thanks to GeorgeMk for my new-found limited knowledge (and apologies if my assumption is wrong), but isn't it possible that the projectile is not solid metal, but an API type, with a small amount of incendiary material in the tip? The only reason it hasn't 'gone off' is because it missed its target and landed in soft ground.

Phil

[GeorgeMK]

Just curious, why would an old corroded 05 armour piecing bullet be illegal to own? Ok If its the rules then that's it, but why? I can understand a tracer with phosphorus but a solid bullet?

Thanks to GeorgeMk for my new-found limited knowledge (and apologies if my assumption is wrong), but isn't it possible that the projectile is not solid metal, but an API type, with a small amount of incendiary material in the tip? The only reason it hasn't 'gone off' is because it missed its target and landed in soft ground.

Phil

Ball and AP are not actually solid metal. There is a jacket, a core, and a nose filler.

It could be an API, the base closure can be different from Ball or AP, but the side profile looks the same.

[SimplexSimonx]

I guess the reason that the AP projectiles are illegal is because - if retrofitted to an otherwise 'legal' .50 cal cartridge in place of a bal projectile - the owner can then pierce most body armour at a distance of at least 1km (and therefore is far more dangerous/unstoppable than someone with 'normal' .50 cal ammunition which could be legally held for shooting bison or something).