USMC Gets the Silver Bullet

**vicious_cb** · 02-02-15, 22:30

Mk318 Mod1 with the Silver Bullet.

Interview: SAL FANELLI,supervising engineer for Infantry Weapons Systems at MCSC

"About this time the issue about environmentally friendly green ammo came up and we had to take a look to see if it was possible to replace the lead and still meet the specification. We found that we could replace the lead with copper, stretching the jacket around ever so slightly so it allowed us to crimp the nose even more. With that, the ballistic coefficient went up allowing the round to fly more efficiently through air with a better trajectory. Now it’s a ballistic match to the stock off-the-shelf reticle patterns that the Marine Corps uses, like the Trijicon ACOG sights. We named the improved round the Mk318 Mod1."

"Since we were worried about confusion with the Mk262, we had to take another look at the color of the tip. Every color was taken except for solid silver so we decided to nickel plate the entire projectile. As we now jokingly say, “All Marines will have silver bullets.” That round hasn’t been fielded yet, and a potential production contract is in the future. I can just see the Marines out there polishing bullets."

http://www.sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=2879

**markm** · 02-03-15, 07:30

You want to be environmentally friendly when slaying bodies.

**Apricotshot** · 02-03-15, 07:35

In the USMC lexicon the term "Silver Bullet" has an entirely different and uncomfortable meaning.

**Failure2Stop** · 02-03-15, 07:41

Sal is a good dude.

**TomD** · 02-03-15, 08:22

Is this a COTS bullet?

**nova3930** · 02-03-15, 09:55

I read that last night. The most interesting thing in it was the claim USMC is developing a requirement for an intermediate caliber.

**MegademiC** · 02-04-15, 20:31

Nickel compounds are toxic, and some people have severe allergies to free nickel ( not a concern if plated properly). How long till they pull these?

On the flip side, I can't wait to see some legit gel testing. With a smaller open tip and solid copper, I can't help but think it may suck. Hope not.

**TehLlama** · 02-04-15, 20:39

Interesting, yes. Surprising, not to me.

It's not a direct COTS projectile, but there are very similar offerings and it's basically a slight modification of a COTS offering into a fieldable design that meets multiple requirements. The fact that it's a scalable construction (at least technologically speaking) means that lessons learned from making a better .224 projectile along side lessons learned from making the Mk319 7.62mm projectile can be used to improve any intermediate caliber offering from the get-go.

I too would be just fine with painting a stupid random color tip on it (make it silver, idgaf)... but the proof is going to be gel tests in direct comparison at various ranges from M4/M16/SCAR/M27/Mk18/HK416 platforms side by side with M855A1. Considering everything I'm seeing second-hand with M855A1, and current cost estimates through both NSWC Crane and directly from ATK/Federal on pricing for Mk318Mod1 that this would only have to perform on par with 855A1 (which shouldn't be hard) in order to be a completely better solution. I suspect even with the copper core it'll outperform the Army answer, while being cheaper, without requiring insane chamber pressures, and not having any lingering contract/intellectual property theft disputes attached.