Black talons.

[71MUSTY]

They have come a long way from the days of drilling a FMJ, inserting a primer and a BB and sealing it with wax.

That's for sure.

[M1NM]

I believe "Super Vel" from the 70's with teflon coating, was the first "controversial" round. After all it could "pierce bullet proof vests" They became know as "cop killer bullets".

Noooooo - They were just hyper velocity light bullets. He actually made them a little smaller in diameter to get the speed up and the pressure low. If I remember the .357 Super-Vel was a 110 grain bullet.


Lee E. Jurras (born July 27, 1934 in Plant City, Florida) is an American firearm cartridge designer, known for creation of the Super Vel line of cartridges, and groundbreaking developments in hollow-point ammunition.

Jurras began handloading cartridges for profit at age 12. In the 1950s, he experimented with lathing rifle bullets to create jacketed handgun ammunition, inspired by Jim Harvey. In 1963, Jurras founded Super Vel ammunition company in Shelbyville, Indiana. Jurras' ammo utilized lightweight bullets pushed at high velocities to cause bullet expansion, but at low enough pressure for typical firearms. The Super Vel line was an outstanding success, selling massive amounts of hollow-point ammunition to law enforcement and civilian buyers. However, the rapid growth of the company and its reliance on outsourcing of cartridge cases left it vulnerable, and it was overtaken by competitors and closed its doors in 1974.

TEFLON BULLETS

In the 1960s, Paul Kopsch (an Ohio coroner), Daniel Turcos (a police sergeant), and Donald Ward (Kopsch's special investigator), began experimenting with special purpose handgun ammunition. Their objective was to develop a law enforcement round capable of improved penetration against hard targets, such as windshield glass and automobile doors. Conventional bullets, made primarily from lead, often become deformed and less effective after striking hard targets, especially when fired at handgun velocities. The inventors named their company "KTW," after their initials.

After some experimentation with sintered tungsten-alloy rounds, which were eventually abandoned due to supply and cost concerns, the inventors settled on a bullet consisting mostly of hardened brass with a steel core. In testing, the comparatively hard brass bullets wore out barrels far more quickly than standard solid lead and copper-jacketed lead rounds, since they did not deform to fit the rifling.[1] In an attempt to reduce barrel wear, the bullets were experimentally coated with a protective layer of Teflon. The inventors, having also noted that the tips of canes were frequently covered with the relatively soft and malleable Teflon to help them grip surfaces, found that the addition of Teflon helped to prevent bullet deflection off of vehicle doors and windshields, further improving penetration against those surfaces.[2][3]

By the late 1960s, KTW had begun commercial production. In 1980, continued production of the ammunition was turned over to the North American Ordnance Corporation. The production of KTW-branded ammunition eventually ceased in the 1990s. However, some manufacturers continue to coat their bullets with various compounds, notably Teflon and molybdenum disulfide, as a protective layer against barrel wear.

Several of the various calibers of KTW rounds produced could, in fact, penetrate police vests, under certain conditions. However, as Kopsch pointed out in a 1990 interview, "adding a Teflon coating to the round added 20% penetration power on metal and glass. Critics kept complaining about Teflon's ability to penetrate body armor... In fact, Teflon cut down on the round's ability to cut through the nylon or Kevlar of body armor."