AMMUNITION
DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY OF THE
WORD ‘AMMUNITION’
• Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material
fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon
or weapon system.
• The term Ammunition includes both expendable
weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines),
and the component parts of other weapons that create
the effect on a target (e.g., bullets and warheads).
• The word ammunition comes from the French phrase
la munition, which means "the material used for
war". The word was first used in English in the mid-
17th century.
HISTORY OF AMMUNITION
900: Chinese Fireworks and Fire Lance
Projectiles Alchemists of the Tang dynasty
were the first to discover the explosive
effects of combining saltpeter, sulfur, and
charcoal. While these were initially used to
create the world’s fireworks displays,
military applications were soon discovered.
Fire lances were gunpowder-filled bamboo
tubes, attached to spears, which could
spew flame when a fuse is lit. They could
also transform any objects placed inside
them, such as rocks, into potentially lethal
projectiles — the first “bullets” for the first
HISTORY OF AMMUNITION
1400s: The Cast Lead Ball
With the development of armor and stone
fortifications in Middle-Ages Europe, firing
stones at high speeds was no longer
powerful enough. Gunsmiths and
ammunition manufacturers got creative by
shaping molten metal into sphere shapes,
first with iron, then with easier-to-produce
lead. These lead balls, projectiles created
specifically to be shot out of firearms, were
HISTORY OF AMMUNITION
1830s: Experiments in Cylindro-Conical Bullets
In the 1830s, a French infantry captain Henri-Gustave
Delvigne designed bullets that were “cylindro-conical,”
rather than spherical. The term refers to their cylinder-
shaped body ending in a pointed head. François Tamisier,
a French artillery captain, added grooves to the design
for improved stability.
Both inventors ran into a difficult: bullets needed to be
small enough to be easily loaded, but big enough to line up
with the barrel grooves. Louis-Etienne de Thouvenin’s
rifle, the carabine à tige, contained a steel stem that
expanded bullet bases when the bullets were struck with a
HISTORY OF AMMUNITION
1841: The Minié Ball
Despite its name, the Minié ball was the culmination
of the experiments in conical bullets. It had a hollow
base and three grooves, intended to make it fit easily
inside rifles. Building on Delvigne’s work, French
army officer Claude- Étienne Minié designed the
bullet to expand upon firing, grip the grooves, and
spin out from the barrel, allowing for greater muzzle
velocity, range, and accuracy. The Minié ball’s design
brought together and enhanced the developments
that came before it, making it the first modern bullet.
HISTORY OF
AMMUNITION
1882: The Full Metal Jacket Bullet
The Swiss engineer Eduard Rubin decided to
encase a soft lead core within a shell made of
copper alloy, creating the world’s first full
metal jacket bullet. This practice allowed
bullets to fly faster without suffering
deformation or losing too much metal while
escaping the barrel. The copper may also be
substituted with steel alloy — either way, full
metal jacket bullets have higher speeds than
HISTORY OF
AMMUNITION
1898: The Spitzer Bullet
In 1898, Captain Georges Raymond Desaleux of
France tackled the challenge to minimize the air
resistance that a bullet faces. His solution was to
elongate the bullet even further and add a thin
cylinder atop a thicker one. This new design allowed
for high accuracy over longer distances than ever
before. The spitzer bullet’s aerodynamic qualities
were further improved with the development of the
boat tail base in 1901. When loaded into the first
machine guns, this bullet changed the face of
COMPONENTS OF
AMMUNITION
The basic components of
ammunition are the case, primer,
powder, and projectile(s).
Shotshells have an additional
component called wad. The
container that holds all the other
ammunition components together.
It’s usually made of brass, steel,
copper, paper, or plastic.
COMPONENTS OF
AMMUNITION
Propellants: - A chemical mixture that burns rapidly
and converts to an expanding gas when ignited.
Modern smokeless powder will burn slowly when
ignited in the open (outside of the case). Black
powder is less stable and can be explosive when
impacted or ignited in the open. Another powerful
product was TNT the material comprising the
explosives furnishes oxygen for its own combustion
upon explosion. Gun cotton can be used alone is
known as single based powder and when used in
combination with Nitro glycerine is called double
COMPONENTS OF AMMUNITION
SINGLE BASE 1: Pure nitroglycerin with incomplete
solvent and combination with stabilizer.
SINGLE BASE 2: Pure nitrocellulose with complete
solvent.
DOUBLE BASE 1: Nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin
with no other solvent
DOUBLE BASE 2: Nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin
with complete and incomplete solvent.
COMPONENTS OF
AMMUNITION
Primer - The primer is the chemical or device
responsible for initiating the propellant
combustion that will push the projectiles out of
the gun barrel. To accomplish this task, the
primer has a small amount of explosive inside
that’s secured by a metal cap. The explosive
powder is typically a mix of lead, styphnate,
barium nitrate, antimony sulfide, and
tetrazene. The active ingredient is lead
styphnate which has an ignition temperature of
COMPONENTS OF
AMMUNITION
Projectile - The object expelled from the barrel.
A bullet is a projectile, usually containing lead,
fired through a rifle or handgun barrel. Most
pistol bullets are made of a lead-antimony alloy
encased in a soft brass or copper-plated soft
steel jacket. In rifle and machine-gun bullets, a
soft core of lead is encased in a harder jacket of
steel or cupronickel. A slug is a solid projectile,
usually of lead, fired through a shotgun barrel.
Shot is a group of lead, steel, tungsten alloy, or
bismuth pellets fired through a shotgun barrel.
COMPONENTS OF
AMMUNITION
Wads - A seal and/or shot
container made of paper or plastic
separating the powder from the
slug or shot in a Shotshells. The
wad prevents gas from escaping
through the shot and holds the
shot together as it passes through
the barrel. Wads are essential
ingredient of shotgun ammunition
and mostly 6.
TYPES OF SETS
WADS ARE USE:
Base wad
• Bullets used in
Paper wads rifle and handgun
Over powder wads cartridges come
Cushion wads in various
designs, sizes,
Under shot wads
and weights.
Top shot wads
Cup wads
MODERN AMMUNITION
Modern ammunition varies depending on type
of firearm. Rifles and Handguns use a
cartridge containing a single projectile(bullet).
The two types of modern ammunition are
centerfire and rimfire. Both are primer-
ignited cartridges, meaning they fire when the
firing pin strikes the primer.
Center fire - Primer
location: Center of the
9mm Parabellum
casing base -
Reloadability: Most is
reloadable - Uses:
.38 Winchester/7.26
NATO
Rifles, shotguns,
handguns, large game,
long-range shooting, Classic Rifle
Rim fire - Primer
location: Rim of the
CALIBERS
casing - Reloadability: (.22 Long
rifle)
Not reloadable - Uses:
Target practice, plinking,
small game hunting 410 BORE
(small game
hunting)
In the present day, ammunition continues to
evolve with a focus on precision, performance,
and specialization. Cutting-edge technologies,
such as computer-aided design and
manufacturing, enable the production of
ammunition with unparalleled consistency and
accuracy. Specialized ammunition variants
cater to diverse needs, including long-range
shooting, self-defense, competitive shooting,
From subsonic rounds for suppressed firearms to high-velocity
cartridges for long-range precision rifles, modern ammunition
offers a wide array of options to meet specific requirements. To be
concluded, the evolution of ammunition reflects humanity's quest
for innovation, efficiency, and effectiveness.
From the humble beginnings of musket balls to the precision-
engineered cartridges of today, ammunition has played a pivotal
role in shaping the course of history, warfare, and shooting sports.
As technology continues to advance, one can only wonder what
the future holds for the ever-evolving world of ammunition.
