Mushroom-bullet.

Application filed February 24,1914. Serial No. 820,623.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known, that I, Frank O. Hoagland, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of 5 Connecticut, have invented an Improvement in Mushroom-Bullets, (Case C,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to full covered or jacketed bullets of the class in which the 10 body cover and the tip cover are made separate, and has for its object to provide a bullet having a novel tip cover so constructed that while the bullet shall retain the ordinary properties of covered or jacketed 15 bullets, it will mushroom, i. e. flatten out, _s upon impact with an objective. This result I accomplish by stretching and thus thinning and weakening the metal of the tip cover by forming grooves therein, either 20 longitudinally or with a slight twist to correspond with the grooves of a rifle barrel.

In the accompanying drawing forming a . part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation of a form of my novel bullet in which 25 the tip cover is stretched and weakened by means of series of longitudinal grooves, rolled into the core, which run out well toward the point of the bullet; Fig. 2. a view of my novel bullet partly in elevation and 30 partly in longitudinal section ; Fig. 3 a cross section on the line 3—3 in Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 an elevation illustrating a form in which the grooves are given a slight twist; Fig. 5 an 35 elevation illustrating a form in which the grooves extend back to the rear end of the tip cover; Fig. 6 a partial sectional view illustrating a mode of retaining the tip in engagment with the core without struck-in 40 holding points, and Fig. 7 is a view showing the bullet mushroomed by impact with an objective.

denotes the core of my novel bullet which is made of relatively soft metal, 21 45 the body cover and 22 the tip coyer.

The gist of the invention lies in thinning and weakening the metal of the tip cover by forming grooves therein in the direction of its length, but without slitting it or forming 50 openings therein, so that the forward end of the bullet will readily mushroom upon impact. This weakening of the tip cover is effected after it is seated on the tapering portion of the bullet by swaging, rolling or otherwise forming therein longitudinal 55 grooves 23, the metal of the tip cover being rolled into the metal of the core. In the form illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 the grooves do not extend back to the rear end of the tip cover and-the tip cover is shown as not ex- 60 tending quite to the body cover, leaving a zone 24 of the metal of the core exposed between the tip cover and the body cover.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 2, the forward end of the body cover is set inward 65 slightly and the rear end of the tip cover overlaps it, as at 25, leaving a smooth joint on the outer side.

The form illustrated in Fig. 4 differs in that the grooves 26 are given a slight twist 70 to correspond with the grooves of a rifle barrel.

The form illustrated in Fig. 5 corresponds with the form in Fig. 1, except that the grooves 27 extend back to the rear end 75 of the tip cover and the tip cover abuts against the body cover, as at 28.

In all of the forms above described, holding points 33 may be struck out from the metal of the tip and forced into the core in 80 order to prevent the possibility of the tip cover becoming, detached therefrom.

In Fig. 6, I have shown the tip cover as retained in place without the use of holding points. In this form the rear end of the 85 tip cover is set inward slightly and the forward end of the body cover overlaps it as at 34. As the rear end of the tip cover tapers outward slightly and the forward end of the body cover tapers inward slightly, it 90 follows that the inwardly tapering forward end of the body cover will lock the tip cover in place.

The effect produced by stretching and thus thinning and weakening the metal of the 95 tip cover by forming grooves therein is to insure that upon impact of the bullet.with an objective, the tip cover will open out and ordinarily be ruptured and the entire forward end of the bullet will mushroom, sub- 100 stantially as indicated in Fig. 11.