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A heeled bullet is a bullet that is necked down at its base to allow a projectile the full internal diameter of a gun barrel to fit in a cartridge case of the same or narrower dimension.[1][2][3] Heeled bullets mostly disappeared with the advent of smokeless powder cartridges,[4] though older rimfire designs, such as the .22 caliber cartridges, still use heeled bullets, and many cartridges that date back to the black powder era still reflect their heeled bullet origins in their caliber designations.
More powerful smokeless powder allowed the use of smaller, non-heeled projectiles in existing caliber guns. Two examples are a ".38 caliber" firearm actually shooting bullets of .357 in (9.1 mm) diameter, and a ".44 caliber" bullets of .429 in (10.9 mm) diameter. This legacy of historic heeled bullets is the cause of confusion among many shooting enthusiasts over the actual physical diameters of the bullets they fire.
- ^ Heard, Brian J. (17 August 2011). Handbook of Firearms and Ballistics: Examining and Interpreting Forensic Evidence (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-96477-3.
- ^ Aggrawal, Anil. APC Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. New Delhi, India: Avichal Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-7739-441-2.
- ^ Sumner, Robert (5 June 2020). The Calibers: Pistol. Page Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-1-64701-153-6.
- ^ Zwoll, Wayne Van (1 August 2006). Complete Book of the .22: A Guide To The World's Most Popular Guns. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4617-5002-4.