Exploding Bullets WWII

What’s feared more than a Sniper Lurking in the Darkness?

A sniper that shoots an exploding bullet, sounds far fetched out of a James Bond movie. Exploding rounds have been around since World War II. The Germans made an 8mm rifle ammunition which exploded upon impact.
Which originally was design to help zero machine guns on an aircraft or as a replacement to tracer rounds out of a belt-fed so that you are making a bi-directional identifier from where you’re firing from.

The projectiles in the ammunition contain a charge of highly reactive phosphorus and a priming compound, and explode on impact.



Though the round was banned by the Hague Convention this didn’t stop the usage of it. During World War II both Russia and Germany were firing exploding bullets from sniper rifles. These vicious projectiles were used horrifically on human targets during the war on the eastern front.
Historians also stated that the Germans (B-Patrone rounds) were the first to authorize (order from Hitler) its snipers to use only on Russian on the eastern front. The Russians of course caught on and retaliate with its own exploding rounds (PZ rounds). Before you know it, this round became available to other troops other than the snipers. Both sides claiming the other were using it illegally first.

These exploding rounds were also used for sabotage operations which were left behind for enemy forces, generally insurgents, to find and use. It was designed to explode and destroy the weapon it is used in and perhaps injure or kill the person attempting to fire the weapon. Some exploding rounds were used to sight in guns and used in small arms exploding ammunition can include rocket-propelled grenades or mortar shells.


Inside these rounds a projectile within a projectile. A little firing pin is embedded inside of it and would strike the explosive on impact.

YouTuber The Mosin Crate gets a chance to shoot off some very old World War II exploding sniper bullets.

The German Mauser Rifle was the sniper’s choice for the German army. The 8mm rifle projectile was very lethal in the hands of a skillful sniper. Even to this day over 70 years later, these exploding bullets are not to be reckon with. The test results from Mosin Crate certainly will surprise you. Yes, these exploding bullets are the real deal.
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The folks from In Range TV also tested this exploding round against a ballistic gel.
German Round
Their findings after shooting at the thin ballistic gel from 30 meters shows the entry and exit holes were the same against a regular 196 grain ball ammo.
Russian Round
The entry was normal but the exit hole was definitely bigger than the German round.
The image below shows the results from a thicker ballistic gel.

To see the good parts to this video skip to 10:40.