WHAT ARE CASINGS?

I was wondering what a casing for a bullet is? I have seen it in different video games and I think this is really important to understand. I was wondering if anyone out there knows and can explain in detail on what a bullet casing is. I have looked all over the internet but there nothing detailed enough. I would REALLY like a detailed explanation with a picture.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, TacticalTank.

 

Do you mean the casing for the projectile? A casing for the propellant? Or just what. The normal and used casing for the war-projectile was a full metal jacket, that meant that the lead was covered from head to toe with brass, and NOT scored for expansion. That is a "casing". The propellant could also be in a "casing", brass in some instances, and in linen bags in others. Those too are casings.

 

I mean like theres a bullet but a shell around i think called a casing, i think it comes out of the side of a gun life a machine gun.

 

What comes out of the side of a gun is the empty shell of the bullet

 

Do you mean the fired shells that come out of a gun ?

 

Okay, a casing is the unit that contains the propellant in this instance. The projectile (bullet) can also be inside of a casing (FMJ), the propellant can also be in a linen casing for naval guns, but what you are asking is what are the brass casings used generally called?

They are simply that. When empty they are shell casings, when unfired (complete with projectile) they are considered rounds.

At least that is how I understand your query.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhh! the shiny part of the bullet

 

This applies to small arms only, as brndirt1 said, naval guns are different. There were also some exotic ammunition concepts near the end of the war; the Germans were working on caseless 8mm and the Japanese had a 40mm caseless aircraft cannon if memory serves.

Strictly speaking, the "bullet" is only the bit of metal that goes zinging downrange. A complete unit of ammunition is called a "cartridge" or "round."

The cartridge consists of a bullet, primer, propellant and primer. For small arms the bullet is usually made of lead with a thin jacket of bronze alloy on the outside, but sometimes the bullet is made of steel or hard armor-piercing materials like tungsten carbide. For larger weapons that fire explosive projectiles the term "shell" is used for the projectile instead of "bullet." This is a little confusing because, for some reason, shotgun cartridges are also called "shells" even though they do not fire explosive projectiles.

The case of the cartridge is made of brass or steel or mixed construction paper/plastic and metal in the case of shotgun ammunition. It is a tube, closed at one end with the bullet inserted at the open end. The case performs many roles. For one thing it holds all the other components of the round together. For another, being made of metal, it's fairly strong and can survive being shoved around in feed systems without falling apart. Finally, during the actual firing of the weapon, the case helps to contain the pressure.

The primer is how the weapon fires the cartridge. The primer is usually a metal sandwich with a shock-sensitive explosive in the middle, though many aircraft guns in WWII used electrical primers. The explosive filler in the primer detonates when the primer is struck with a firing pin. This detonation in turn ignites the propellant, which is usually gunpowder.

When the gunpowder burns enormous pressures are generated; on the order of 20,000 PSI for pistols and 50,000 PSI for rifles. Standard atmospheric pressure is around 14 PSI, so there is a whoooleee lot of pressure behind that bullet, which consequentially goes zinging down the barrel. The case gets left behind in the weapon.

In order for the weapon to fire again, the old, fired case needs to get taken out of the weapon so that a new one can be inserted (excepting revolvers, but we'll ignore that for the moment). There's usually a reciprocating piece called the "bolt," which has a spring-loaded claw on it called the "extractor." When the bolt is withdrawn to the rear of the weapon, the extractor pulls the old case out with it, and a piece called the "ejector" spits it out of the weapon. In bolt-action rifles the operation of the bolt has to be done manually, but in automatic weapons the bolt cycles on its own. Yes, Virginia, weapons other than bolt-action rifles also have bolts!

When the bolt is sent back forwards it picks up a new cartridge with unburned gunpowder and a bullet still attached so the cycle of firing may begin anew.

 

MikeRex, Thanks a lot you had just what i was looking for =] i really appreciate it!

 

A good reference for this sort of thing is:
BOOKS BY ANTHONY G WILLIAMS