Please Load Your Gun with Cartridges

Many of my articles deal with using the proper terminology and this one is no exception. I don’t like to sound too critical but I believe it is important to be accurate in the small details of our novels. One of the most frequent mistakes I read in novels or see on television is the use of the term “bullet” instead of “cartridge”. Even experts can interchange the meanings of these words. Recently, a firearms examiner I know called to ask if I had any .45 caliber bullets for an experiment he was conducting. Being a re-loader I did but as the conversation progressed I had to clarify “do you mean .45 cartridges?” to which he laughed and affirmed. It was a simple, innocent, exchange of terminology but if you don’t like e-mails pointing out the mistakes in your novels here is the difference.

The bullet is the conical shaped projectile of the cartridge. The bullet is the piece that leaves the muzzle of the gun and travels towards the intended target. The cartridge case is the brass or steel part that holds the primer (the ignition source), the gunpowder, and the bullet. When all of the unfired components are assembled you have a cartridge. If you load a cartridge casing without a bullet or insert a bullet without a casing holding powder and primer you won’t project a bullet.

One big exception is a muzzle loading rifle sometimes referred to as a “musket”. These weapons are characteristic of the type used in the American Revolutionary War but are still manufactured and used today by collectors, hunters, and competitive shooters. I will have future articles on muzzle loading weapons but those are not used by police or most bad guys. So if your character is loading “bullets” into a gun or magazine you’re technically incorrect.