Late 19th century Spitzer (bullet)

technical drawings of french 1898 pattern balle d bullet.


france

the spitzer bullet design first introduced in 1898 balle d french army. balle d bullet designed captain georges raymond desaleux, in order improve ballistic performance of existing french 8×50mmr lebel service cartridge of 1886.

the original 1886 pattern 8×50mmr lebel cartridge innovative service cartridge design, since first military cartridge use single-base smokeless, nitrocellulose based, (poudre b) gunpowder developed paul vieille in 1884. original 1886 pattern 8×50mmr lebel loaded 15.0 grams (231 gr) cupro-nickel-jacketed lead-cored flat-nosed wadcutter-style balle m bullet designed lieutenant colonel nicolas lebel achieving muzzle velocity of 628 m/s (2,060 ft/s).

the new 1898 pattern 8×50mmr lebel cartridge loaded desaleux s new lighter 12.8 grams (198 gr) balle d brass mono-metal spitzer bullet achieved muzzle velocity of 700 m/s (2,300 ft/s), providing flatter trajectory , improved maximum effective range. besides having pointed nose section balle d first military rifle projectile had boat tail - streamlined tapered base - further minimize air resistance in flight.

downrange performance

the 1898 pattern 8×50mmr lebel balle d spitzer nose profile combined boat tail resulted in ballistic coefficient (g1 bc) of 0.568 0.581 (ballistic coefficients debatable). fired @ 700 m/s (2,300 ft/s) muzzle velocity balle d bullet retained supersonic velocity , past 800 m (870 yd) (v800 ≈ mach 1.13) under icao standard atmosphere conditions @ sea level (air density ρ = 1.225 kg/m) , had maximum range of approximately 4,400 m (4,812 yd). 21st century standards 800 m (870 yd) typical effective supersonic range regarded normal standard military rifle round.

1886 pattern 8×50mmr lebel balle m load

1898 pattern 8×50mmr lebel balle d load

the above downrange performance tables show superior velocity retention of balle d compared balle m predecessor

note: air density ρ used correlate these tables unknown.