My husband wants to know the meaning of the different colored tips on military cartridges for instance: we black, red, silver etc....any info or where to get the info would be appreciated...Sandy

I have a chart tucked away in a book, if the chart in the first link does not load well for you I’ll hunt it up and scan it.
There are also several charts in older issues of the Rifleman I could scan.
The first link should give you the basics though. Collecting military cartridges is great fun due to the variations. For civil cartridges we enjoy collecting the various .38 Special and .357 Magnum variations. My wife collects the .32-20 and I collect the .25-20’s.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/bullets.htm

http://www.biggerhammer.net/manuals/garand/ammo.htm

http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/rifle/30_ammo.html

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slim

When I saw this post, my first thought was the thread about shooting Crayon wax bullets.
Andy

Different nations used different color codes to designated various types of ammunition. U.S. military ammo with black tips are armor piercing rounds. If you are looking a foreign ammo, it depends. All the best...
Gil

NATO has set up a standard colouring system, whereas the Warsaw Pact used a different system. Current (or at least the last 20-30 years) NATO would be different from those used by member nations before they standardized - that is British, American and others might be different.
So, if it is new NATO stuff (NATO calibres made by a NATO nation or to NATO standards for use by NATO nations) they should be:
- no colour - standard ball ammunition
- Black tip - Armour piercing
- Red tip - tracer
and some others that I cannot recall, for other variations such as Armour piercing tracer, Armour piercing incendiary, etc. The above is normally good for small arms , such as 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, .50 cal. Cannon shells are different (20 mm, 25 mm etc)

Gil is right; the color coding varies with the nation. From memory, the red tip is a tracer, the black tip is armor-piercing (173gr and quite accurate) and the orange I think -- possibly wrongly -- is an armor=piercing incendiary. The only foreign one I can recall is the 7.7mm Jap with a lavender tip; that indicates an explosive projectile intended for LMGs, not rifles

US mil cartridges were sometimes coded by the color of the sealing compoud around the primers; the meanings of the colors wasn't uniform and didn't necessarily relate to the bullet.

Bud W

The colored tips mean whatever the specific nation intneded it to mean. Black is U.S. armor piercing. Orange are night tracers. Red are day tracers. No color is ball. Once you leave the U.S., anything goes. Take care...
Oberndorf

Never can find things when I am looking for them.
Here is a good link to the basics on the .30-06 cartridge


http://cartridgecollectors.org/30-06intro/

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slim

Is it illegal to own armor piercing bullets ?

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Volatile & Unstable

In the US both red and orange are used for tracers (M196 and M856 5.56mm tracers). What's the difference between day and night tracers, Oberndorf? Ball ammo can be plain and green (M855 5.56mm), Blue ammo is inert training ammo. There is a color for frangible ammo also, and multi color (green tip with silver beneath is .50 Roufuss (high expolsive) API, API-T, etc

CD

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De Oppresso Liber
Iraq: 91',03',04',05',06',08' & 09'
Afghanistan: 09',10' & 11'

No, it is not illegal to own armor piercing ammo, unless regulated by some local or state law. you would need to check out your local area laws for this.

Many gun ranges do prohibit its use on their ranges, though.

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"Firearms only have two enemies - rust and politicans" author unknown

Hi I am new here, first post from Africa.

I know that the 7.62x39 with blue tip is a blue tracer mand the 7.62x39 with black tip is an armour piercing round. The 7.62x54R with a silver tip in an incendiary and South african 7.62x51 with red tip are red tracers, FNM 7.62x51 black tip armour piercing. I have a precious stash of 9x19 red tipped tracers. I carry them in a SIG-Sauer P220 when I am not in the bush. Too dangerous to use tracers in the bush because of feldfires.

I think the czech 7.62x39 (jncidently has the highest Vo of all AK-47/AKM) uses red tracers with a red tip, but not 100% sure anymore.

I had a batch of 30-06 with an orange tip and I think they were orange tracers, dont remember the make.

Regards
WAH