COATED BULLET BODY

Abstract

A bullet for ammunition, in particular with a caliber of at most 20 mm or at most 13 mm, may include a metallic bullet body and a surface coating with a thickness of more than 100 m forming at least sectionally an outer skin of the bullet.

Claims

1. A bullet for ammunition, comprising: a metallic bullet body; and a surface coating with a thickness of more than 100 um forming at least sectionally an outer skin of the bullet.

2. The bullet according to claim 1, wherein the surface coating comprises a material selected from the group consisting of copper, zinc, tin, nickel, chromium and alloys thereof.

3. A bullet for ammunition, comprising: a metallic bullet body including: a tapered bullet front, a narrow guide band adjoining the bullet front and adapted to engage in a land-and-groove profile of a firearm barrel, and a frustoconical bullet tail adjoining the guide band; and a surface coating covering the bullet tail at least sectionally and having a thickness increasing at least sectionally from the guide band towards the tail.

4. The bullet according to claim 3, wherein the guide band defines a maximum outer diameter of the bullet and is cylindrical and/or transitions into the bullet tail by a transition inclined at an angle of 15 to 70 with respect to a longitudinal axis of the bullet.

5. The bullet according to claim 3, wherein an angle of inclination of the frustoconical bullet tail in relation to a longitudinal axis of the bullet is 0.5 to 5.

6. A bullet for ammunition, comprising: a metallic bullet body; and a surface coating of plastic forming at least sectionally an outer skin of the bullet and having a thickness of more than 50 m and at most 500 m.

7. The bullet according to claim 6, wherein the plastic is: a thermoplastic plastic, a high-temperature-resistant thermoplastic plastic, a high-molecular thermoplastic plastic, a thermoplastic plastic of the polyolefin class, a polymer containing both amide and imide groups, a polymer of the polyhaloolefin class, and/or a synthetic polymer.

8. The bullet according to claim 6, wherein the plastic surface coating is an immersion plastic surface coating.

9. The bullet according to claim 6, wherein the surface coating is a galvanic surface coating.

10. The bullet according to claim 1, wherein the bullet body comprises a tapering bullet front, and a narrow guide band adjoining the bullet front and adapted to engage in a land-and-groove profile of a firearm barrel, wherein a shoulder is formed a transition from the guide band to the bullet front, the shoulder forming a reservoir for the surface coating.

11. The bullet according to claim 10, wherein the coating thickness in the reservoir is more than 125% of an average coating thickness of the surface coating.

12. The bullet according to claim 6, wherein the bullet body has an elongated frustoconical bullet tail which merges into a bullet bottom by a tail cone whose inclination with respect to a longitudinal axis of the bullet is greater than the inclination of the bullet tail.

13. Ammunition, comprising: an ammunition case and a bullet according to claim 1 arranged therein.

14. A method for producing a bullet for ammunition according to claim 1, the method comprising: deforming a metallic blank from a bullet body with a tapered bullet front; and applying a surface coating forming at least sectionally as an outer skin of the bullet.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein applying the surface coating comprises galvanically applying the surface coating to the bullet body.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein applying the surface coating comprises performing an immersion process to apply the surface coating to the bullet body.

17. The bullet according to claim 1, wherein: the metallic bullet body comprises: a tapered bullet front; a narrow guide band adjoining the bullet front and adapted to engage in a land-and-groove profile of a firearm barrel; and a frustoconical bullet tail adjoining the guide band; and the surface coating covers the bullet tail at least sectionally and has a thickness increasing at least sectionally from the guide band towards the tail.

18. The bullet according to claim 1, wherein the surface coating is plastic and the thickness is more than 100 m and at most 500 m.

19. The bullet according to claim 1, wherein the ammunition has a caliber of at most 20 mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

[0006] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the embodiments and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 1 a side view of an exemplary embodiment of a bullet according to the disclosure; and

[0008] FIG. 2 a detailed view according to section II in FIG. 1.

[0009] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Elements, features and components that are identical, functionally identical and have the same effect areinsofar as is not stated otherwiserespectively provided with the same reference character.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0010] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments, including structures, systems, and methods, may be practiced without these specific details. The description and representation herein are the common means used by those experienced or skilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring embodiments of the disclosure.

[0011] It is an object of the present disclosure to overcome the disadvantages of conventional techniques, including to provide a bullet with improved barrel expansion prevention and/or improved adhesion of a surface coating to the bullet base body.

[0012] Accordingly, a bullet for ammunition is provided in particular with a caliber of at most 20 mm or at most 13 mm. The caliber is generally referred to as a measure of the outer diameter of projectiles or bullets and the inner diameter of a firearm barrel. For example, bullets according to the disclosure are also used for ammunition with a caliber of less than 7 mm or at most 5.6 mm. The bullet can also be referred to as a solid bullet, since bullets according to the disclosure do not have a separate jacket, in contrast to jacket bullets, which generally consist of a bullet jacket made of deformable material, such as tombac, and a bullet body inserted therein, which is produced separately from the bullet jacket. In particular, the bullet is produced in one piece.

[0013] The bullet has a metallic bullet body, also known as a bullet core. The bullet body can, for example, comprise or consist of iron (chemical element symbol Fe) or an iron alloy. It is clear that the bullet core or bullet body does not have to consist of 100% or weight percent iron, but can contain alloy components. The bullet body can, for example, have an iron content or percentage by weight of iron of at least 20%, in particular at least 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and less than 100%. In an exemplary embodiment, the percentage by weight of iron is at least 90% or at least 95% and less than 100%. For example, the bullet body may be produced from soft iron and/or have a carbon content of more than 0.05%. Furthermore, the carbon content can be up to 2%, in which case the iron material is referred to as steel. It has been found that increasing the carbon content increases the hardness and tensile strength of the bullet, which has a beneficial effect on terminal ballistics. The bullet according to the disclosure is environmentally friendly and can have improved ballistics. Furthermore, the high carbon content has an anti-corrosive effect on the bullet. Furthermore, the bullet body may comprise iron and additionally at least one further transition metal, for example selected from the group comprising manganese and copper, in particular in a proportion by mass of 0.01% to 1.2% or 0.3% to 1%. Furthermore, according to a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body may comprise at least one additive selected from the carbon group, the nitrogen group and/or the oxygen group. The at least one additive may be a semi-metal, for example silicon. Furthermore, the at least one additive may have a percentage by weight of 0.01% and/or of at most 1%, in particular of at most 0.5% or of at most 0.48%. In a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body has a copper content of less than 4.0%, in particular less than 0.3% or less than 0.25%.

[0014] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, the bullet has a surface coating with a thickness of more than 100 m forming at least sectionally an outer skin of the bullet. The surface coating can have a lubricating and/or diffusion-inhibiting effect in relation to the firearm barrel, so that the bullet acceleration in the barrel is increased and the barrel load is reduced, since a lower penetration resistance can be generated. This leads to less abrasion in the barrel. The surface coating can also have an anti-corrosive effect. The selected thickness of the surface coating has proven to be optimal with regard to the properties of the bullets to be improved, namely bullet acceleration in the barrel, barrel load and/or rust protection. The surface-to-volume ratio between the surface of the bullet body to be coated and the volume of the surface coating can be used as a key figure for the assessment of sliding or lubricating coatings.

[0015] The thick surface coating provided according to the disclosure is able to significantly reduce surface wear and barrel expansion in particular. In particular, the surface coating is only applied to the bullet body when it already has the final bullet shape, i.e. when it has been completely deformed into the shape forming the bullet. Among other things, this allows the prejudice that thick surface coatings do not adhere strongly to the base body to be considered. The present disclosure overcomes this prejudice and achieves strong adhesion to the bullet body despite the thick surface coating, so that its functionality is ensured and the twist can be transferred from the land-and-groove profile to the bullet body.

[0016] In another exemplary embodiment of the bullet, the bullet body is completely coated with the surface coating. Alternatively, or additionally, the surface coating can have a varying layer thickness. The coating thickness, in particular in the case of electrolytic coatings, may be thicker at corners, edges and transitions or the like than at adjacent, in particular straight, such as cylindrical, and/or edge-free wall sections. The inventors of the present disclosures have recognized that the accumulation of material of the coating at corners, edges and transitions or the like can be used to further reduce wear. In particular at edge-free sections of the bullet body, such as in the region of the, in particular cylindrical, guide band, the bullet tail and/or in the region of the, in particular ogive-shaped, bullet front, the coating thickness can exhibit a substantially constant coating thickness in the circumferential direction and/or in the longitudinal direction of the bullet, wherein substantially constant is to be understood as meaning that a deviation of the thickness of the surface coating in the range of +/10 m can be present.

[0017] In an exemplary embodiment of the bullet according to the disclosure, the surface coating may comprise or may consists of a material selected from the list comprising copper, zinc, tin, nickel, chromium and/or alloys thereof. It should be understood that said components of the surface coating material go beyond the mere presence of trace elements.

[0018] According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, which can be combined with the preceding aspects and exemplary embodiments, a bullet for ammunition is provided in particular with a caliber of at most 20 mm above of at most 13 mm. The caliber is generally referred to as a measure of the outer diameter of projectiles or bullets and the inner diameter of a firearm barrel. For example, bullets according to the disclosure are also used for ammunition with a caliber of less than 7 mm or at most 5.6 mm. The bullet can also be referred to as a solid bullet, since bullets according to the disclosure do not have a separate jacket, in contrast to jacket bullets, which generally consist of a bullet jacket made of deformable material, such as tombac, and a bullet body inserted therein, which is produced separately from the bullet jacket. In particular, the bullet is produced in one piece.

[0019] The bullet has a metallic bullet body, also known as a bullet core. The bullet body can, for example, comprise or consist of iron (chemical element symbol Fe) or an iron alloy. It is clear that the bullet core or bullet body does not have to consist of 100% or weight percent iron, but can contain alloy components. The bullet body can, for example, have an iron content or percentage by weight of iron of at least 20%, in particular at least 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and less than 100%. In an exemplary embodiment, the percentage by weight of iron is at least 90% or at least 95% and less than 100%. For example, the bullet body may be produced from soft iron and/or have a carbon content of more than 0.05%. Furthermore, the carbon content can be up to 2%, in which case the iron material is referred to as steel. It has been found that increasing the carbon content increases the hardness and tensile strength of the bullet, which has a beneficial effect on terminal ballistics. The bullet according to the disclosure is environmentally friendly and can have improved ballistics. Furthermore, the high carbon content has an anti-corrosive effect on the bullet. Furthermore, the bullet body may comprise iron and additionally at least one further transition metal, for example selected from the group comprising manganese and copper, in particular in a proportion by mass of 0.01% to 1.2% or 0.3% to 1%. Furthermore, according to a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body may comprise at least one additive selected from the carbon group, the nitrogen group and/or the oxygen group. The at least one additive may be a semi-metal, for example silicon. Furthermore, the at least one additive may have a percentage by weight of 0.01% and/or of at most 1%, in particular of at most 0.5% or of at most 0.48%. In a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body has a copper content of less than 4.0%, in particular less than 0.3% or less than 0.25%.

[0020] The bullet body may have a tapered, in particular ogive-shaped, bullet front, a narrow, in particular cylindrical, guide band adjoining the bullet front for engaging in the land-and-groove profile of a firearm barrel and a frustoconical tail adjoining the guide band. For example, the bullet front, bullet tail and guide band may be made from one piece, in particular from one metal body. In the case of a cylindrical guide band, this can also be referred to as a guide band sleeve. Its abrupt pressing into the firearm barrel prevents a wedge effect between the firearm barrel and the bullet and thus suppresses the expansion of the firearm barrel.

[0021] According to the further aspect according to the disclosure, the bullet may comprise a surface coating covering the bullet tail at least sectionally with a thickness increasing at least sectionally from the guide band towards the bullet tail. The varying surface coating thickness in the range of the bullet tail can ensure that the bullet does not have the largest outer diameter towards the bullet tail, which is to be avoided for manufacturing reasons. The shape of the bullet according to the disclosure can consider the problem inherent in the prior art that, due to the process, the greatest layer thickness results precisely at the bullet tail in many coating processes. This phenomenon is compensated for in the bullet shape according to the disclosure with the frustoconical outer contour of the bullet tapering towards the bullet tail. It is clear that the thickness of the surface coating can also remain constant or even decrease sectionally in the course from the guide band to the bullet tail. For example, a kind of reservoir and/or an accumulation of the surface coating can occur at the rear-side of the guide band, in particular at a contour protrusion present there at the transition from the guide band to the adjoining bullet tail, which can initially lead to a decreasing surface coating thickness in the region of the bullet tail immediately adjoining the guide band, in particular directly at the rear-side of a guide band. Among other things, the manufacturing accuracy of the blank and the manufacturing technique for applying the surface coating have an influence on the coating thickness that actually occurs. The basic tendency of the increasing coating thickness is decisive for this aspect of the disclosure. In the region of the bullet tail towards the bullet bottom, there can be a constant increase in the coating thickness.

[0022] According to an exemplary further development of the bullet according to the disclosure, an angle of inclination of the frustoconical bullet tail in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bullet may be in the range of 0.5 to 5. A length of the frustoconical bullet tail considered in the longitudinal direction of the bullet can be in the range of 10% percent to 50% of a total bullet length.

[0023] According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, which can be combined with the preceding aspects and exemplary embodiments, a bullet for ammunition is provided in particular with a caliber of at most 20 mm or of at most 13 mm. The caliber is generally referred to as a measure of the outer diameter of projectiles or bullets and the inner diameter of a firearm barrel. For example, bullets according to the disclosure are also used for ammunition with a caliber of less than 7 mm or at most 5.6 mm. The bullet can also be referred to as a solid bullet, since bullets according to the disclosure do not have a separate jacket, in contrast to jacket bullets, which generally consist of a bullet jacket made of deformable material, such as tombac, and a bullet body inserted therein, which may be produced separately from the bullet jacket. In particular, the bullet may be produced in one piece.

[0024] The bullet has a metallic bullet body, also known as a bullet core. The bullet body can, for example, comprise or consist of iron (chemical element symbol Fe) or an iron alloy. It is clear that the bullet core or bullet body does not have to consist of 100% or weight percent iron, but can contain alloy components. The bullet body can, for example, have an iron content or percentage by weight of iron of at least 20%, in particular at least 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and less than 100%. In an exemplary embodiment, the percentage by weight of iron is at least 90% or at least 95% and less than 100%. For example, the bullet body may be produced from soft iron and/or have a carbon content of more than 0.05%. Furthermore, the carbon content can be up to 2%, in which case the iron material is referred to as steel. It has been found that increasing the carbon content increases the hardness and tensile strength of the bullet, which has a beneficial effect on terminal ballistics. The bullet according to the disclosure is environmentally friendly and can have improved ballistics. Furthermore, the high carbon content has an anti-corrosive effect on the bullet. Furthermore, the bullet body may comprise iron and additionally at least one further transition metal, for example selected from the group comprising manganese and copper, in particular in a proportion by mass of 0.01% to 1.2% or 0.3% to 1%. Furthermore, according to a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body may comprise at least one additive selected from the carbon group, the nitrogen group and/or the oxygen group. The at least one additive may be a semi-metal, for example silicon. Furthermore, the at least one additive may have a percentage by weight of 0.01% and/or of at most 1%, in particular of at most 0.5% or of at most 0.48%. In a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body has a copper content of less than 4.0%, in particular less than 0.3% or less than 0.25%. According to a further aspect of the disclosure, the bullet may comprise a surface coating of a mineral, such as graphite, and/or plastic forming at least sectionally the outer skin of the bullet with a thickness in the range of more than 50 m and at most 500 m. The minerals or plastics have the advantage that they have a material-inherent corrosion-protective effect and at the same time act as a lubricating or sliding layer in relation to the firearm barrel, so that there is an improvement both in terms of bullet acceleration in the barrel or barrel load and in terms of preventing the bullet from rusting. It is quite possible that mixtures of the materials mentioned are used for the surface coating or that the surface coatings consist entirely of the individual materials. Corrosion protection is an important factor, in particular in the field of military and authority applications, in order to ensure the longevity of ammunition, which is usually procured in large quantities. Ammunition is often stored under adverse conditions and within large temperature ranges or spans. An important quality criterion for qualifying military and authority ammunition is the so-called salt spray test. The salt spray test is a standardized test for evaluating the corrosion protection effect of coatings. For example, according to the international standards ASTM B117 or DIN EN ISO 9227.

[0025] In an exemplary embodiment, the plastic may be selected from a list containing a thermoplastic plastic, in particular a high-temperature-resistant thermoplastic plastic, such as PEEK, a high-molecular thermoplastic plastic, such as POM, or a thermoplastic plastic of the polyolefin class, such as PE, a polymer containing both amide and imide groups, such as PAI, a polymer of the polyhaloolefin class, such as PTFE, and/or a synthetic polymer, such as silicone.

[0026] In an exemplary embodiment, the plastic surface coating can be applied by an immersion process.

[0027] In general, galvanic coating processes are suitable for the surface coatings. According to an exemplary further development of bullets according to the disclosure, the surface coating has or consists of a particularly CR (VI)-free galvanic layer, in particular of metal from the group comprising tin, zinc, nickel, cadmium, cobalt and alloys thereof. For example, the surface coating can be produced and/or applied in accordance with the standard DIN EN ISO 042:2018-11 FastenersElectroplated coating systems. Furthermore, the surface coating can also be applied by means of a cathodic sputtering process, in particular sputtering. It is also possible to create tribologically optimized surface coatings using polymer-chemical molecules. For example, the surface coating can be produced as a galvanic coating, in particular to increase corrosion resistance, for example in accordance with the standard DIN 50961:2012-04 Electroplated coatingsZinc coatings on ferrous materials or DIN 50970:2008-07 Metallic coatingsGalvanic zinc and zinc alloy coatings on ferrous materials and additional CR (VI)-free treatments.

[0028] In an exemplary further embodiment of the present disclosure, the bullet body has a tapering, in particular ogive-shaped, bullet front and a narrow, in particular cylindrical, guide band adjoining the bullet front for engaging in the land-and-groove profile of a firearm barrel. In the case of a cylindrical guide band, this can also be referred to as a guide band sleeve. Its abrupt pressing into the firearm barrel prevents a wedge effect between the firearm barrel and the bullet and thus suppresses the expansion of the firearm barrel.

[0029] At the transition from the guide band to the bullet front, a in particular circumferential, (e.g., sharp-edged and/or formed as a contour step) shoulder may be formed which, together with the outer surface of the bullet front, may form a reservoir for the surface coating. The shoulder at the transition from the guide band to the bullet front can also be referred to as a tear-off edge. For example, the tear-off edge or the shoulder is oriented at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the bullet. The reservoir for the surface coating enables a local accumulation of surface coating, which is oriented towards the front of the bullet. The increased coating thickness is particularly helpful in ensuring a dampened sliding of the bullet body, in particular its guide band, into the land-and-groove profile of the firearm barrel. Furthermore, the guide band sleeve increases the torsional strength of the coating so that the guide band sleeve prevents the coating from shearing off when the twist is transferred in the barrel of the firearm during firing.

[0030] According to a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the coating thickness in the reservoir is more than 125%, in particular more than 150%, in particular more than 200%, in particular more than 250%, in particular more than 300% or more than 350%, of an average coating thickness of the surface coating. The average coating thickness can be understood in particular as a coating thickness of the surface coating averaged in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bullet. Crucial to this aspect of the disclosure is that in the range of the reservoir there is a significant accumulation compared to the remaining surface coating in the remaining part of the bullet.

[0031] According to a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the bullet body has an elongated, frustoconical bullet tail which merges into a bullet bottom by means of a tail cone whose inclination with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bullet is greater than the inclination of the bullet tail. For example, the inclination of the tail cone in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bullet is in the range of 15 to 45, in particular in the range of 20 to 40, in particular in the range of 25 to 35 or about 30.

[0032] According to a further exemplary embodiment, the surface coating has a hardness in the range of 20 HV to 150 HV, in particular a hardness in the range of 30 HV to 125 HV or a hardness in the range of 40 HV to 100 HV. It has been found that a certain surface coating hardness is necessary on the one hand for effective lubrication and sliding in the barrel and on the other hand to ensure sufficient stability in order to fulfill this conflict of objectives.

[0033] According to a further exemplary embodiment, the plastic surface coating has a hardness in the range of 70 Shore A to 100 Shore D, in particular a hardness in the range of 80 Shore A to 90 Shore D or a hardness in the range of 90 Shore A to 80 Shore D. It was found that a certain surface coating hardness is necessary on the one hand for effective lubrication and sliding in the barrel and on the other hand to ensure sufficient stability in order to fulfill the above-mentioned conflict of objectives when using plastic as a material for the surface coating.

[0034] According to a further aspect of the present embodiments, which can be combined with the preceding aspects and exemplary embodiments, ammunition is provided, in particular with a caliber of less than 20 mm or less than 13 mm. The ammunition may comprise an ammunition case and a bullet arranged therein, in particular a pressed-in bullet, which is formed according to one of the previously described aspects or exemplary embodiments.

[0035] According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, which can be combined with the preceding aspects and exemplary embodiments, there is provided a method for producing a bullet, in particular according to the disclosure, for ammunition, in particular with a caliber of at most 20 mm or of at most 13 mm.

[0036] In the manufacturing process according to the disclosure, a metallic blank, in particular made of iron, is deformed into a bullet body with a tapered, in particular ogive-shaped, bullet front. The bullet body can be formed from a one-piece iron blank (chemical element symbol Fe) or an iron alloy blank. It is clear that the bullet core or bullet body does not have to consist of 100% or weight percent iron, but can contain alloy components. The bullet body can, for example, have an iron content or percentage by weight of iron of at least 20%, in particular at least 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and less than 100%. In an exemplary embodiment, the percentage by weight of iron is at least 90% or at least 95% and less than 100%. For example, the blank or the bullet body may be produced from soft iron and/or have a carbon content of more than 0.05%. Furthermore, the carbon content can be up to 2%, in which case the iron material is referred to as steel. The formed bullet body may also have a narrow, in particular cylindrical, guide band adjoining the bullet front for engagement in the land-and-groove profile of a firearm barrel and a frustoconical bullet tail adjoining the guide band. Furthermore, the bullet body may comprise iron and additionally at least one further transition metal, for example selected from the group comprising manganese and copper, in particular in a proportion by mass of 0.01% to 1.2% or 0.3% to 1%. Furthermore, according to a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body may comprise at least one additive selected from the carbon group, the nitrogen group and/or the oxygen group. The at least one additive may be a semi-metal, for example silicon. Furthermore, the at least one additive may have a percentage by weight of 0.01% and/or of at most 1%, in particular of at most 0.5% or of at most 0.48%. In a further exemplary embodiment, the iron of the bullet body has a copper content of less than 4.0%, in particular less than 0.3% or less than 0.25%.

[0037] Furthermore, in the method according to the disclosure for forming an outer skin of the bullet, a surface coating may be applied at least sectionally to the deformed bullet body.

[0038] In an exemplary embodiment of the process according to the disclosure, the surface coating may be galvanically applied, in particular in a galvanic immersion bath, or produced by sputtering. In the following description of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, a bullet according to the disclosure is generally provided with the reference numeral 1, which is to be understood as a solid bullet whose bullet body, which is generally identified by the reference numeral 3, is produced from one piece, in particular from iron, such as soft iron, such as by deforming.

[0039] FIG. 1 shows a side view of an exemplary embodiment of the bullet 1 according to the disclosure. A direction of flight F is indicated schematically by an arrow F and points to the left in FIG. 1. With reference to the bullet flight direction F, the terms nose or front, nose-side or front-side and rear, rear-side or rear-side are to be understood. Basically, bullets 1 according to the disclosure can be divided into 3 main sections: A bullet front 5; a guide band 7 adjoining it; and a bullet tail 9 adjoining the guide band 7. The bullet front 5 has an substantially ogive-like shape and tapers in the direction of flight F, which is oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis L of the bullet in FIG. 1, forming an ogive on the outside towards a planar front face pointing in the direction of flight F, which forms a bullet tip 11.

[0040] The ogive-shaped bullet front opens into the guide band 7 at the rear side. The curvature of the ogive 5 decreases continuously in the direction of the guide band 7, so that the bullet front approaches at least a cylindrical shape immediately before a transition 13 into the guide band 7. The guide band 7 may be generally designed to guide the bullet within a firearm barrel and/or to engage in a land-and-groove profile of the firearm barrel. In the bullets 1 according to the disclosure, the guide band 7 defines a maximum outer diameter of the bullet 1. This is realized, among other things, by the transition 13 from the guide band 7 to the bullet front 5 being formed by a shoulder in the form of an outer contour recess, at which an outer diameter of the bullet 1 is abruptly reduced. The circumferential outer contour recess can be seen in particular in FIG. 2 and is identified by the reference sign 15. The outer contour recess has several functions. Firstly, it can be used to ensure that substantially only the guide band 7 engages in the land-and-groove profile of the firearm barrel. By minimizing the engagement and/or sliding contact between the bullet and the firearm barrel to substantially a such as narrow-band, cylindrical guide band 7, the pressure resistance of the bullet 1 within the firearm barrel can be reduced. Furthermore, the outer contour recess 15 forms a reservoir 17 in which a surface coating, generally provided with reference numeral 19, can accumulate. In this regard, reference is made to the embodiments of FIG. 2 below.

[0041] Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the guide band 7 may also be radially offset at the rear side from the adjoining bullet tail 9. A transition 17 from the bullet tail 9 into the guide band 7 is formed by an outer contour protrusion in which an outer diameter of the bullet 1 continuously increases. The outer contour projections in the region of the transitions 13, 21 can have an angle of inclination in relation to the longitudinal axis L of the bullet 1 in the range of 10 to 90, wherein according to the exemplary embodiments in FIGS. 1 and 2 the angle in the region of the transition 13 is 90 and the angle, which is provided with the reference sign , in the region of the transition 21 at the rear side is approximately 40. A radial depth of the outer contour projections or recesses measured transversely to the longitudinal axis L of the bullet can be less than 0.5 mm, in particular about 0.2 mm. In addition to the technical effect of reducing the pressure resistance through the barrel of the firearm, the outer contour projection 21 at the rear side of the bullet 9 into the guide band 7 has the technical effect of so-called breathing of the barrel of the firearm. This is achieved by the fact that when a firearm is fired, the gas pressure that forms or builds up generates an elastic expansion of the firearm barrel, resulting in gentler sliding of the bullet 1 within the firearm barrel. This means that the resistance to penetration is increasingly reduced. It was found that the resulting gases are pressed into the ring space delimited between the outer contour protrusion at the rear in the range of the transition 21 and the firearm barrel and thus elastically expand the barrel radius, resulting in less abrasion between the firearm barrel and bullet 1.

[0042] The bullet tail 9 may be formed in a frustoconical shape, so that the outside of the bullet tail 9 tapers continuously from the guide band towards the bullet bottom 23, wherein an angle of inclination of the outer surface of the bullet tail 9 in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bullet L is in the range of approximately 0.5 to approximately 5. At the rear side, the bullet tail opens into a short tail cone 25, whose inclination in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bullet L is in the range of 15 to 45, in particular 30.

[0043] The bullets 1 according to the disclosure comprise a surface coating 19 forming, at least sectionally, an outer skin of the bullet 1, which is schematically indicated in FIG. 2. The surface coating 19 can be designed according to one of the exemplary embodiments described above.

[0044] The bullet body 3 can be completely coated with the surface coating 19. Alternatively, or additionally, the surface coating 19 can have a varying layer thickness along the longitudinal axis L of the bullet. Furthermore, the layer thickness, particularly in the case of electrolytic coatings, can be thicker at corners, edges and transitions or the like than on adjacent, particularly straight, such as cylindrical, and/or edge-free wall sections of the bullet body 3. The detailed section II shown in FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the layer thickness profile of the surface coating 19 in the region of the guide band 7. While the surface contour of the bullet body 3 has abrupt contour jumps, particularly in the region of the shoulder 15 forming the reservoir 17 at the transition 13, the surface coating 19 may be applied to the bullet body 3 quite evenly, i.e. with a substantially continuous transition from the radially deeper bullet front 5 to the radially protruding guide band 7. This leads to the surface coating 19 accumulating in the reservoir 17, which results in an increased layer thickness there. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the surface coating thickness increases continuously starting from the bullet front 5 up to a maximum in the region of the reservoir 17 and from there continuously decreases again towards the guide band 7, from then on the coating thickness may be substantially constant.

REFERENCE LIST

[0045] 1 Bullet [0046] 3 Bullet body [0047] 5 Bullet front [0048] 7 Guide band [0049] 9 Bullet tail [0050] 11 Bullet tip [0051] 13, 21 Transition [0052] 15 Shoulder or outer contour step [0053] 17 Reservoir [0054] 19 Surface coating [0055] 23 Bullet bottom [0056] 25 Tail cone [0057] Angle of the tail cone [0058] Angle of the transition at the rear side [0059] F Direction of flight [0060] L Longitudinal axis of the bullet