Armory Sponsor
Posted: 5/13/2013 1:26:46 AM EDT
| Been reloading since the mid 80s...and within the past two weeks have heard projectiles referred to as "heads". I have never before heard this term used...Is it new? Is it regional??? |
|
Quoted: My guess is that it has to do with the term bullet. Most non-reloaders call loaded ammunition bullets, so to help distinguish bullets from loaded ammunition some use terms like "head", "projectile" and "tips". My guess is some of it may be once used military field artillery jargon. I only say this as my father and his group were largely WWII field artillery and tank vets. |
|
"Slug" has been around a long time. I think I've heard it in old black and white gangster movies.
"Heads" seems like it could be confusing, since there is also "case head." Might be easy to get the reference mixed up. ETA: Just because I'm like that, I had to look and see the etymology, so... slug (n.2) "lead bit," 1620s, perhaps a special use of slug (ed ~the critter) with reference to its shape.
|
|
I look at it this way.
Bullet goes into the case. Powder goes into the case, and primer goes into the case. All together, they make a cartridge. I have used pills, projectiles and bullets to describe them at one time or another. No term bugs me that much, except when people refer to their engine as a "motor". But that isnt shooting related. |
|
"heads" sounds like a name made up because somebody got tired of saying bullets.
I love it when people (especially old car guys) call the engine in their car a Motor. I'm like... "really? How many watts does it put out?!" I didn't think 69 Chevelles where electric? 
|
|
Oh man. I'm never ever "like" anything. Motors don't put out any wattage at all. They take watts in.
Calling things for what they are is known as "nomenclature". In any technical subject, every little thing has a name that distinguishes it from every other little thing. In language, the rules mean just as much. |
|
Quoted:
Oh man. I'm never ever "like" anything. Motors don't put out any wattage at all. They take watts in. Calling things for what they are is known as "nomenclature". In any technical subject, every little thing has a name that distinguishes it from every other little thing. In language, the rules mean just as much. Correct. They put out horsepower just like engines. 
|
|
Quoted: http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=51498 Never heard them called that, but heard the term "pills" way too many in magazines and even reloading manuals. Pic is off topic in this forum. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=51498 Never heard them called that, but heard the term "pills" way too many in magazines and even reloading manuals. Pic is off topic in this forum. dryflash, You left it a hot link in your post.  Crap, now in mine too.
|
|
Only ever heard them called bullets, boolits, projectiles, tips or pills.
A funny story related to this: A few years after I started reloading, my little brother got into the room at a time when I had left for some reason. When I returned I found that the box of 30-30 bullets had become empty, and rightfully figured he had taken them for whatever reason. After searching his room for about an hour with my mother, we could not find the bullets and so my mother guessed perhaps he had swallowed them. A trip to the ER and an xray confirmed this and they gave him ipecac because of the lead risk, which ended up causing several very shocked nurses run into the room a short time later when he spewed nearly the whole box of bullets into the metal sink. Yes we did rinse the bullets off and take them home to use. 
|
|
Quoted:
As a boater, the term "heads" does bring something to mind, but it's not bullets.
I've been noticing the spelling "boolits" a lot lately. Not just on Arfcom, but all over various shooting/reloading websites. What's up with that? There's a website that has that spelling in its title. Castboolits.com. |
|
Quoted:
As a boater, the term "heads" does bring something to mind, but it's not bullets.
I've been noticing the spelling "boolits" a lot lately. Not just on Arfcom, but all over various shooting/reloading websites. What's up with that? I believe the term "boolits" is in reference to projectiles you make yourself, cast or swagged. "Bullets" refers to factory projectiles. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a boater, the term "heads" does bring something to mind, but it's not bullets.
I've been noticing the spelling "boolits" a lot lately. Not just on Arfcom, but all over various shooting/reloading websites. What's up with that? There's a website that has that spelling in its title. Castboolits.com. That was one example I was thinking of. I can see going with that spelling if the domain castbullets.com was already taken, but I see that spelling in posts and in website content, often without any "smileys" or other indications of "cutesiness". Almost like it's an accepted, alternate spelling. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a boater, the term "heads" does bring something to mind, but it's not bullets.
I've been noticing the spelling "boolits" a lot lately. Not just on Arfcom, but all over various shooting/reloading websites. What's up with that? I believe the term "boolits" is in reference to projectiles you make yourself, cast or swagged. "Bullets" refers to factory projectiles. Really? Interesting.... |
|
So every round of ammunition has two heads?
The cartridge head with the primer pocket, and the head at the other end that goes down the barrel that normal folks know as a bullet? It is bad enough that numerous idiots do not understand that 'automatic' in handguns does not mean machine gun (or machine pistol). |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a boater, the term "heads" does bring something to mind, but it's not bullets.
I've been noticing the spelling "boolits" a lot lately. Not just on Arfcom, but all over various shooting/reloading websites. What's up with that? I believe the term "boolits" is in reference to projectiles you make yourself, cast or swagged. "Bullets" refers to factory projectiles. Really? Interesting.... It's slang horseshit. But hey, if enough folks continue use and assign meaning, maybe we will see it enter official use (see: rim vs wheel  ).
|
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=51498 Never heard them called that, but heard the term "pills" way too many in magazines and even reloading manuals. Pic is off topic in this forum. dryflash, You left it a hot link in your post. Crap, now in mine too.Normally I remove the off topic pics that get posted here. I left that one so everyone could see what I call "off topic", and maybe decide to post garbage pics like that in GD instead. It was a test, as in trying something new. Either way that pic has no place in a technical forum. Maybe poster will remove it and learn something if he sees this.
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=51498 Never heard them called that, but heard the term "pills" way too many in magazines and even reloading manuals. Pic is off topic in this forum. dryflash, You left it a hot link in your post. Crap, now in mine too.Normally I remove the off topic pics that get posted here. I left that one so everyone could see what I call "off topic", and maybe decide to post garbage pics like that in GD instead. It was a test, as in trying something new. Either way that pic has no place in a technical forum. Maybe poster will remove it and learn something if he sees this. I posted that right before I left work Tuesday afternoon, and didn't log back on to Arfcom until Wednesday morning when I immediately came back to that thread to remove the picture, and even deleted it from my media files so the pic has been gone for more than 24 hours. I didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time I posted it because the discussion didn't seem to be that technical. I apologize for veering the thread off topic. |
|
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=51498 Never heard them called that, but heard the term "pills" way too many in magazines and even reloading manuals. Pic is off topic in this forum. dryflash, You left it a hot link in your post. Crap, now in mine too.Normally I remove the off topic pics that get posted here. I left that one so everyone could see what I call "off topic", and maybe decide to post garbage pics like that in GD instead. It was a test, as in trying something new. Either way that pic has no place in a technical forum. Maybe poster will remove it and learn something if he sees this. I posted that right before I left work Tuesday afternoon, and didn't log back on to Arfcom until Wednesday morning when I immediately came back to that thread to remove the picture, and even deleted it from my media files so the pic has been gone for more than 24 hours. I didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time I posted it because the discussion didn't seem to be that technical. I apologize for veering the thread off topic. Thanks |
Armory Sponsor