Dum-Dum bullets

[Flattybasher9]

The following is an extract from the "Axis History Forum" site.

"1st picture:

In Maubeuge Fortress, 60.000 dumdum bullets were examined by Hauptmann a.D. Alfred Mannesmann and the american Consul in Aachen, Thomson, 3 american journalists and the mayor of Maubeuge.

2nd picture:

Dumdum bullets found at Laon, 1915. Until now, more than 30.000 POWs were found with dumdum bullets."



ADDED
"The Turks used dum dum bullets & explosive bullets & they made ghastly wounds when they struck. Dum dums are made by either reversing the bullet in the case, or by sawing the point off. A corporal in A (coy) had half his head blown off by either a dum dum or explosive."

From http://www.smythe.id.au/letters/15_16a.htm
Regards

Malky

[ShaunJ]

Extracts and photos from an  interesting contemporary report on German use of dumdum bullets here: http://iaaforum.org/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12282

[barryd]

Winston Churchill was believed to have had dum-dum bullets when he was captured by a Boer during the war in South Africa. Due to the kindness of the Boer it was overlooked. Two problems were with Churchill that day,  the bullets and carrying a gun as a war correspondent. Both no no's now.

[stockton]

  flattybasher you've proved both my points
Dum-Dum's were used and probably more than we think
and the reverse bullet was some thing id'e seen tested, again this was by
noted historian Andew Robertshaw.

Thanks to all for replying.
All the best.
Derek

[youngtug]

From ShaunJ's link, this extract seems to say that the penetration of metal plate is nill.
 I would think that the reason to reverse the bullet would be to cause more damage to the human body not for armour piercing purposes.
 

  Furthermore, certain
soldiers who had been provided with bullet-
stoppers (to all intents and purposes, shields)
told me that, in certain cases, bullets seemed to
strike the steel plate with a peculiar noise and
left upon it an unusually large mark. These
arguments were not in themselves quite con-
clusive. At the same time, however, a Captain
of Infantry declared to me that he had found
German cartridges in which the bullets had been
reversed, that is to say, with the end pointing
inwards. I followed up my investigation from
this point.

[youngtug]

Of interest;  http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-32-dum-dum-bullets-and-the-box-otruth/
and;   http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-truth-50-shooting-bullets-backwards/

[youngtug]

Watch the video; http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/09/loading-bullets-backwards-video-3027828.html

[alanmack]

With regard to armour-piercing ammunition, remember that the rounds for Service rifles of the day were supposed to be accurate up to a mile and that the pointy bit is mainly for ballistic reasons not its effect on the target. Reversing the 'ball' at shorter ranges may achieve penetration of a metal plate by causing the plate to spall, throwing off a piece of the plate from the rear surface. Striking the plate with the sharp end may well be not so effective as the hammer blow of the blunt face. This, of course, depends on the exact circumstances. These principles are still employed today in tank ammunition.

[youngtug]

Armour piercing bullets have a steel core, or some other hard material. I have always thought that the softer outer case compresses and flattens out upon impact, thereby stabilizing the inner  core long enough for it to penetrate. What the reversed bullet would have had was a soft [lead] core inside a harder sleeve/jacket. The German bullets especially had no jacket toward the base of the bullet. This to my mind would be counter productive if you wanted to penetrate metal. It would also depend on the type of metal wether it was likely to spall from being hit.