Vernon Speer Fixing the Bullet

Speer changed the world of sports shooting simply by fixing a bullets biggest fault. The single most important factor leading to bullet failure is the separation of the bullet core from the jacket around it. As a hollow point bullet impacts the target, it mushrooms and as the lead is pushed forward into the mushroom head it pulls forward off of the base of the jacket. The jacket is what keeps all of the lead in one place, as the lead detached from the jacket the actual mass of the bullet was reduced. This allows full core from jacket separation.

When a hollow point bullet hits for example a target at a 45 degree angle the force to move in the original direction of the bullet is still there. If we follow the laws of physics we can see that at 45 degrees the force of a bullet going into the target will be reduced by half. The angle allows for the side of the bullet to impact first, this allows the jacket to cave in on the hollow point. As the tip is closing the forward force pushes the lead from the rear to the front and separates from the jacket. This is the bullet separation failure, causing less damage and less penetration than sometimes needed.

In steps Vernon Speer, a man with ideas of the future on his mind, he set our to create a bullet that enhanced its terminal ballistics. Speer realized that when you seat a bullet in its jacket lead oxide is created. This and lubricant were the prime factors found in core separation, to fix this Speer needed a way to get the lead into the jackets without lubrication and without "pushing" them in. The answer is really very simple, the jackets are manufactured separately already. Speer just figured to fill the jackets with the hot lead first then form the bullet. By pouring the molten lead straight into the jackets there is no lubricant and there is no oxidization of the lead to peel away form the jacket. Once the lead is poured, the tip is then formed to complete the bullet.

By plating the top of the lead before pushing down on the top to make most common hollow point bullets, you are left with a small dot of jacketing in the very center bottom of the hollow point. This is the creation of Speer's most popular self defense ammunition the Gold Dot. Whether or not the small dot helps is a debated subject on some internet forums but the round still remains very popular. Mainly due to its terminal ballistics and mass retention. Another form of bullet failure is the clogging issue that is sometimes brought to attention. When a bullet strikes a target at exactly 90 degrees the outside of the target whether it be clothes or animal hide can jam up the hollow point reducing its effectiveness. To this problem I simply do not believe it to be an issue. If the target is wearing a jacket or animal has tough hide then another concern is penetration, if an expanding bullet hits it will not go as deep as a regular ball ammunition in the same target. If the hollow point jams up and does not expand then it has turned into a ball ammunition in sort. This in itself has simply solved the problem of penetration. Therefore I really do not find this to be an issue.

When Vernon Speer created the method to fill the jacket then form the bullet tip, he revolutionized the was hunting and self defense bullets behaved and worked. Without his contributions the technology of the bullet would have not taken the next step. Core and jacket separation is a thing of the past thanks to Vernon Speer.