Handguns are popular first guns for many new gun owners, and there’s little wonder why. They are great for a wide variety of purposes, from range fun and competition to home protection and concealed carry. However, the terminology associated with pistol ammunition can be downright confusing for someone new to firearms.
Pistol Ammunition: A Guide
Today, we’ll try to define some of those terms so reading an advertisement for ammunition isn’t like taking an English as a second language course.
Ammunition Vernacular
First, let’s start at the beginning with the two main types of handguns: semi-automatic pistols and revolvers.
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In a nutshell, semi-auto pistols feed shells from a magazine into the chamber. When the gun is fired by pulling the trigger, the mechanism expels the used brass, loads another round into the chamber, and cocks the hammer, making the gun ready to fire again.
Revolvers, on the other hand, feed ammunition via a round cylinder. When the gun is fired, the cylinder revolves to align the next round with the barrel and firing pin, making the revolver ready to fire again.
Since I’ve already used the word “brass” to explain that difference, let’s quickly look at parts of the bullet.
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The brass is the casing, typically made of brass, that has a primer at the rear to ignite the gunpowder within the case. That ignition is what propels the bullet, or projectile, which is seated at the front end of the brass. Together, these parts and components make up the cartridge, which is often called the bullet or round of ammunition.
That brings us to another defining feature of pistol ammunition, namely, whether it is centerfire or rimfire.
A centerfire round has the brass, primer, powder, and projectile as described above.
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A rimfire round instead has its ignition materials inside the rim of the base. Consequently, in a rimfire, the firing pin strikes the rim of the case, rather than striking a primer, as the firing pin does in a centerfire cartridge. Rimfire pistol ammo is typically .22 caliber and used for plinking and range fun. Larger calibers are mostly all of the centerfire variety.
Digging Deeper
About that word “caliber.” That refers to the diameter of the projectile, hence also the diameter of the inside of the pistol barrel through which it is shot. It is expressed in either millimeters or fractions of an inch.
For example, a .45 ACP round is 0.45 inches, while a .380 round is 0.38 inches. A 9mm projectile, however, is obviously measured in millimeters and is 9mm in diameter. In inches, a 9mm bullet is 0.354 inches.
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One of the most difficult discussions of handgun ammunition concerns projectile types. That’s because different types of projectiles are made for different jobs. Not only are they purpose-specific, but the type of projectile also affects the price of the ammunition.
The most common type is “ball,” also called full-metal-jacket (FMJ) ammunition. These projectiles are typically made of lead, fully encased in a jacket, typically made of brass. They are most commonly used for practice, plinking, and competition.
The next common type is hollow-point projectiles. These bullets feature a hollow cavity in the end, which enables them to expand significantly upon hitting a soft target. This design transfers more energy to the target and creates a larger wound channel compared to standard FMJ ammo and is commonly used for self-defense purposes, both at home and carried concealed.
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Finally, the weight of the bullet in handgun ammunition, when combined with the velocity it leaves the handgun, determines how much power a given round has. Bullet weight is measured in grains, with a grain weighing 1/7,000 of a pound. For .45 ammunition, 230-grain ammo is common. For the popular 9mm, 115-grain bullets are most common, although some prefer heavier bullets of 147 grains.
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