A revamp of my previous post of the same name, listing out a couple generalized variants of cartridges as well as some more specific examples. Note that there are combinations of these types, for examples armor-piercing incendiary tracer cartridges.
Ball
The most basic of cartridges, of the type most commonly referred to as “full metal jacket.” Nothing special here. Note that as a field expedient soldiers of various militaries reportedly carved cross notches into standard ammunition in an attempt to increase expansion, with varying levels of effectiveness.
Hollowpoint
Warcrimes edition. Upon impact, the bullet expands and causes more trauma than other types of rounds, and is also used for controlled penetration as due to their nature hollowpoint rounds have almost no overpenetration, and can be easily defeated by body armor.
Armor-piercing
Ammunition that has a core made of harder metal than lead, allowing it to penetrate body armor and certain types of cover more easily.
Tracer
But I’m already Tracer… Rounds that are built with pyrotechnic material in the base, allowing the projectile trajectory to be much more visible. Also have a mild incendiary effect, and can ignite certain flammable substances.
Match
Special high-performance ammunition designed for use in either shooting competitions or for use by snipers. Has a higher velocity and a flatter trajectory than ball ammunition and performs better at range.
Incendiary
Basically tracers but on steroids, these rounds are specifically designed to start fires and can easily light materials that tracers cannot. Also have a secondary effect caused by the pyrotechnic material igniting withing a wound, causing enhanced tissue damage.
Caseless
A special and unique type of ammunition limited to firearms specifically designed for them, these are much smaller than tranditional cartridges by encasing the bullet within the propellant. However, firearms built for these rounds typically overheat quickly because in tranditional cartridges a large amount of the heat is ejected out along with it.
Explosive
Warcrimes edition squared. Typically paired with an incendiary agent to ignite them, these rounds explode and fragment upon impact.
Subsonic
Ammunition designed to travel at speeds lower than the speed of sound, thus maximizing the effect of suppressors and eliminating the “crack” of a supersonic round breaking the sound barrier.
Shotgun-specific ammunition types
Slugs
Full-caliber solid projectiles designed for hunting large game and causing massive amounts of blunt trauma.
Buckshot
Typically contain from 6 to 8 pellets of moderate size, enough to hit multiple targets but also substantial enough to cause significant damage.
Birdshot
Similar to buckshot, but contains far more smaller pellets. Can only cause lethal damage at nearly point-blank range, but can also hit multiple targets with only a point and click.
Flechette
A typically military-grade shotgun load containing around a dozen pointed steel projectiles that offer enhanced penetration when compared to a normal buckshot load.
Dragon's breath
Special incendiary shotgun shells which fire pieces of burning magnesium, which burn at around 3,000 °F (1,650 °C). Due to their relatively low pressure, they cannot function properly in semi-automatic shotguns as there is not enough recoil energy produced to cycle another round.
Please leave any thoughts and suggestions below.
