[andyk]

I guess they’re talking about pre-fragmented ammo like Glaser or Magsafe. I’ve never heard the term dum-dum used to describe ammunition.

[DuncanWaring]

“Dum-dum” is term from a century ago, originating with, I believe, the “Dum Dum” arsenal in India.

It describes lead bullets with an “X” cut into the nose for enhanced expansion.

It’s very effective.

[LegendHasIt]

Dum-Dum is an old term. Some guys in WWII used to split the full metal jacket on their bullets a bit, with a knife. It MIGHT make them fragment better, but it sure as hell doesn’t increase accuracy.

[bruoz]

Dum-dums are ball ammo that have had an x cut on the nose of the bullet. They can be either solid lead or full metal jacket rounds.

[Gunslingr3]

The term is over 100 years old, and a reference to hollow points, not frangibles (which seems to be what the article is trying to talk about).

"However, it was soon noticed that such small caliber rounds were less effective at wounding or killing an enemy than the older large caliber soft lead bullets. Within the British Indian Army, the Dum Dum arsenal produced its now infamous solution - the jacketing was removed from the nose of the bullet, creating the first soft point bullets. Since the Mark II jacket did not cover the base of the round this could potentially lead to the jacketing being left in the barrel. This potential problem resulted in the rejection of the Dum-dum design and led to independent development of the Mark III, Mark IV (1897) and Mark V (1899) .303 British rounds, which were of the hollow point design, with the jacket covering the base; while these were made in Britain, not at the Dum-Dum arsenal, the name "Dum-dum" had already become associated with expanding bullets, and continued to be used to refer to any expanding bullets."

[LegendHasIt]

I guess they’re talking about pre-fragmented ammo like Glaser or Magsafe"

If he used Glasers, he spent a helluva lot of money on ammo.

[Steamburg]

Lethality is all about shot placement. Magic bullets only happen in movies and government investigations.

DumDum is from a munitions plant near Calcutta. The name derived from expanding bullets they manufactured in the 19th century. Darn new tech.

[FlyVet]

I’ve never heard the term dum-dum used to describe ammunition.

You must be young. "Dum-dum bullets" was a mediot favorite, back in the days maybe 15+ years ago, when Liberal Democrats thought they were making inroads into gun rights.

They harped and carped about the evil Black Talon bullets for a few years, until they got tired of it. (Of course similar bullets are still made, like Golden Saber and such, but they don't have such an evil-sounding name, so Pavlov's Dogs got tired of barking about it).

And they've mostly shut up about it for years, since they found out they'd lose elections if they didn't get off it, like the chameleons that they are.