.308 ammo types

[Islandboy]

Define ball ammo, or the different types for .308. I notice some mil. surplus is called ball ammo.
For instance, I've got some 200gr. Silver tip Winchester,
Some 165 Gr.Remmington, some 150Gr. remmington.
What function does the silver tip perform?
The other two are inexpensive rounds, one might be Brass Clad/plated/??
Hollow point ect ect.
What is it called when you score the tip? I think it was outlawed?
The purpose was massive frag damage, but how is that different from a hollow point and other variations?

[Alpo]

Military ammo has been referred to as "ball", probably since guns were invented.

Full metal jacket ammo is correctly called "hardball", so differentiate it from "soft point", but most people just call it "ball". So if you see someone selling "ball" ammo, it is full metal jacketed military-type (although not necessarily military surplus) ammo.

Silvertip is just a Winchester brand name. They thought it sounded cool. Original Silvertip was rifle ammo, and had a lot of lead exposed at the nose. Lead and silver are the same color. Voila - silver tip. Now they load pistol ammo (although they still load rifle) under the Silvertip brand. Most jacketed ammo is copper jacketed. Silvertip is aluminum jacketed. Once again - shiny grey = silver tip.

Remington Golden Saber pistol ammo is brass jacketed. I don't know whether the brass is supposed to be harder than copper (to maintain bullet shape in the magazine, so the bullet nose doesn't get bunged up) or softer than copper (to expand better, creating more damage), but it LOOKS different, and that draws attention, so increases sales.

The purpose of scoring the end of the bullet jacket is to help it open up evenly. If it opens evenly and consistently every time, the bullet is a better choice than one that opens completely one time and partially the next time and not at all a third time . Scoring also looks cool, and makes the bullet look more bad-ass. Looking bad-ass helps sales.

Scoring the tip of the bullet jacket is not illegal. It is prohibited by the Hague Convention (not the Geneva. Geneva is prisoners of war. Hague is weapons and ammo use) for use in warfare. That has no bearing on what civilians carry or use. Some states (New Jersey springs to mind) have outlawed hollow points, and scored jacket pistol ammo is all hollow point (at least all I am aware of), so they would be illegal there. Not for the scoring, but for the hollowpoint. I know of no place where a scored jacket on a rifle bullet is illegal.

[Islandboy]

Thanks, ALPO, anyone else want to weigh in?

[RJay]

The Silver tips are very effective on Werewolves, where as ball ammo is best for the Living Dead ( head shots). Wooden training ammo is still the old stand by for Vampires ( to the heart ). Cartridges of the World by Frank Barnes is till one of the best references for those who want to learn.:)

[Islandboy]

Thanks, Rjay, I think:confused:
:)

[Hammerslagger]

"Ball" is term often found on U.S. Military rifle and handgun ammo packaging which indicates that the bullet is a general purpose (or the standard) design; as compared to "AP" or "Armor Piercing" or "Tracer" or "Incinerary" or other special purpose design.

Some commercial ammo is sometimes advertised as being "military ball spec. ammo". Forty plus years ago, I encountered some Remington commercial headstamp 45 ACP in U.S. military ball packaging.

[Bindernut]

The original Winchester Silvertip rifle bullets have a thin aluminum cap on the exposed lead tip. This was (I believe) the first attempt at protecting the nose of the bullet from getting battered in the magazine by recoil...similar to the Nosler Ballistic Tip concept that came around years later. That aluminum cap is where the silver color comes in.

Remington also made a protected tip rifle bullet called the Bronze-Point. This too is the same concept as the Ballistic Tip...a Bronze Point is a hollow point bullet with a bronze tip in the nose to protect the tip and give a little better ballistic coefficient.