Idea for new bullet

Maybe this has been done before, but I just wanted to explore the idea.

So, I thought about a rifle round specially designed to defeat kevlar armor at short ranges. It would have the exact dimensions as a 5.56 Nato, just have some of the lead replaced with aluminium to increase the speed of the round.

Inside is still a lead core with a corundum tip used as a penetrator. If you ask why I chose corundum, it's because it is hard as shit and cheaper than diamonds.

The lead core should push the corundum tip through the armor, while the aluminium is shaved off.

The following MS Paint pictures are not 100% representing of the actual insides of the round, they're just an approximation.

1. This is the original design, the lead clump at the back would give the penetrator better characteristics, since as opposed to the other two designs the lead core has the diameter of the corundum tip. Though this placement would most likely lead to a very unstable round that could sway around if hit by a strong gust of wind.

2. The same, just with the clump placed further towards the tip. This has better flight characteristics, but extremely decreased penetration.

3. The frontal lead weight is sloped to slightly increase penetration as oposed to model 2, while maintaining the improved flight characteristics of said round.

The biggest problem with 2 and 3 are that the tip would most likely detatch from the core, which would be left outside the armor with the aluminium, basically negating the principle on which this idea is based, though this can be solved by making the lead weight and the core two seperate components. This in turn increases production complexity, a t6hing that should be kept at a minimum.

The biggest problems are that the tip will shatter if the target is too hard and that the bullet will quickly loose speed over short distances.

I'm no expert, this is just a stupid idea by some random on the internet, so don't expect too much. Your input is apprechiated.

Attached: Korundspitzengeschoss.png (1294x683, 18K)

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Your thinking is not bad, but it is incomplete.

Bullets have to be made in lots of millions, so ease of manufacture is important.

Armor defeat is a fairly minor concern in the overall performance envelope of a bullet.

Modern military ammo already uses many similar features to the ones you describe.

The M855, for example, was a brass jacketed, steel tipped, lead-based projectile. It's 'rear-heavy' since lead is a lot denser than steel. The hard steel tip does not deform on impact, so it is very stable in obstacle-defeat, namely shooting through glass and walls. Any armor-defeat performance is mostly incidental. The tail-heavy design is also a very good 'wounder', since the spin of the bullet is enough to keep it stable in flight, but not in a liquid, like flesh. As a result, it tends to yaw quickly inside tissue, making a large would channel and dumping a lot of energy.

Modern military ammo is VERY good, considering that the wound mechanics are heavily constrained by the geneva conventions.

an internet dummy here but relying on lead core to push the tip through feels less than ideal. wouldn't it just deform fairly easily? maybe have the tip fixed to a steel tube filled with lead like a spear and ditch the aluminium for a hard plastic so as much of the energy transfer is being done by the tip as possible.

Aluminium isn't a particularly good material to use as a projectile base, its relatively common but the industrial process to make it is quite extensive- also its quite anodic when placed next to copper and you'll get them eating each other with galvanic corrosion. Other problem with something like corundum is that its going to be a real pain in the butt to manufacture a lot of it to size and spec, then I'm more inclined to think it'll just turn to powder under the 100's of G's it'll have on impact.
Hardness is great, but mostly you need the structural strength which comes from materials which may not necessarily be as hard, but have far more density and ability to retain their shape as a penetrator- tungsten, hardened steel and the like are much easier to live with from a manufacturing perspective. But at the same time they're comparatively expensive.

Plus you do want some mass, speed is good but without the mass behind it the projectile will drop out of the supersonic and destabilise itself, which in some cases with a forward heavy, unbalanced projectile lead to tumbling making it pretty fucking worthless.

But you can already defeat kevlar with rifle rounds, even softpoints...

How will this in any shape or form be better then a hardened steel core with a pointy tip?

That's a great idea!

Depends on how much Kevlar you have.

I don't know, since I haven't tried it. My hope is that the corundum is better at penetrating armor since it is harder than steel. Though the con is that the tip will pulverize if impacting something really hard, but against softer (kevlar) and brittle (ceramic) armor it could work. I'm not 100% certain it wouldn't shatter if it directly hit a ceramic plate.

I calculated it and the actual design of the bullet would be about 1 gram heavy, that's quite light for a 5.56. It's fowardheaviness depends on what design of bullet you use, like the 3 examples I provided.

And thanks for the info on the metals, I don't know much about this topic, so every comment helps.