Base Construction

Base construction is a feature relating to all types of both plain lead and jacketed bullets.

Examples include the following:

• Solid base bullet composed of one material with no jacketing

• Open base - jacketed bullet with the core exposed

• Jacketed solid base - jacketed bullet with the core enclosed

• Gas check bullet - composed of a lead bullet with a shallow copper alloy cup fitted to the base

Base Shape

There are many systems for describing the geometry of the base of bullets; the most common variations include these:

• Flat base
• Stepped recess
• Concave recess
• Parabolic concave recess
• Conical recess
• Truncated conical recess
• Concave recess with convex protrusion in the center
• Convex base
• Conical convex base
• Parabolic convex base
• Truncated base bullet

More information regarding base shape can be found in the FBIs General Rifling Characteristics database.

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