Plastic Ammo - Is it Real?

About 20 years ago, American companies that produce high-powered rifle ammunition started using polymer tips on some of their bullets to achieve better flight characteristics over hollow points during long-range shooting. With polymer tip rifle rounds, more penetrating power compared to stand-alone hollow points, and more reliable feeding with semi-automatic guns. This paved the way for the common use of Polymer Material in ammunition.

For anyone asking if plastic ammo is real - it very much is. But readers should note that there is a difference between bullets that have a polymer tip and copper bullets that are housed by polymer casings. Occasionally, we hear about new calibers that are supposedly revolutionary, but what makes polymer-cased ammo different from the brass and metal-cased ammunition we are used to normally using? That's what we'll be discussing today. 

Polymer-Cased Ammo Potential

True Velocity's current line of calibers they are producing today. (Source: Field & Stream Magazine.)

True Velocity is a company based in Texas and has been trying to pave the way for polymer-cased ammo to become more commonplace by increasing military usage and overall popularity in the civilian commercial market.

Compared to the ammunition that we know today, it is said to be lighter than brass-cased rounds, useful when carrying multiple rounds on missions or transporting large amounts of ammo while trying to cut overall weight.

Another possibility of introducing polymer-cased ammo is how it would reduce high temperatures from wearing down guns, as brass is a thermal conductor and plastic can insulate the heat transfer from beyond the cartridge. This is a new idea that is still in the process, and the US military is highly considering it as well with their recent decisions of changing their service rifles to be chambered in 6.8mm, more powerful than many service rifles chambered in 5.56 NATO.

Can you reload polymer-cased ammo?

According to True Velocity’s website, they stated that their cartridges are not reloadable and should not attempt to do so. This may be due to how soft the polymer material can be after being ejected from the firearm and the possibility of the casing being damaged would be greater when trying to reload - which completely differs from brass casings as they can still be reloaded, depending on the condition of the casing’s exterior condition. So it's safe to assume that polymer casings should not ever be used for reloading. 

Can you buy polymer-cased ammo right now?

True Velocity’s .308 Winchester Rounds are available to the public. (Source: Gunsandammo.com)

You sure can. True Velocity is currently selling their composite-cased .308 Win ammo for $69.99. The company has stated on their website that they are producing rifle cartridges such as 5.56 NATO, 6.5 Creedmoor, and .338 Norma Mag, with no handgun calibers for now. Also, calibers other than .308 Win are not available to the public for purchase at this time. As much as we would like to see plastic 9mm and .223/5.56 rounds to open up new purchase options in the civilian market, manufacturers aren't ready to produce these en masse just yet.

Can bullets be made out of plastic?

A 3D-Printed Plastic Bullet. (Source: Everydaynodaysoff.com)

Commercially, there have not been any big ammo manufacturers that made plastic bullets yet. Nor True Velocity has developed any ammo that has a plastic bullet to compliment the plastic casings that we know of currently. Bullets can be made from anything, such as 3D-printed plastics or even resin. Somewhere in the depths of the internet, someone decided to reload shotgun shells with uncooked popcorn kernels.

Although there has been great strides in innovation by super curious gun enthusiasts to make more plastic bullets, (especially when many Americans were dealing w/ the ammo shortage of 2020) some people experimented using 3D printers to print projectiles to see if they would be viable. 3D printed bullets would almost certainly be lighter than typical copper bullets but that's not to say no other manufacturers have tried it.

In fact, Federal had pretty popular line of defense rounds called " Syntechs" which pre-COVID were more affordable as well. However, some reviews have come out that strictly as a defense round, the Syntechs didn't properly break apart on impact as well as most hollow point rounds should. There haven't been as many complaints for Federal Syntech's range version which are essentially FMJ-style, except they're made out of plastic... so Full Plastic Jacket it is.
h2 - Other Projectile Materials

A 40mm rubber counter-riot round used during the French Yellow Vest Riots. (Source: CNN)

We've also seen rubber being used as a nonlethal counter-riot round by law enforcement more often in recent years and it's usually shot out of a 40mm grenade launcher. With its ability to bounce off hard surfaces, such as concrete sidewalks or roads, the "40 mike mike" has proven to be useful as a non-lethal, anti-personnel solution. However, the round can still cause death if it hits a person's chest and stops the heart or by causing enough brain damage from an impact to the head. Typically, the round is shot below the chest or upper torso so as to inflict as little damage as possible but still cause enough pain to incapacitate an aggressor. 

Pepper ball rounds. (Source: Atlantic Tactical.)

Another material worth mentioning is pepper ball rounds, meant to launch a pepper-spray ball to break the plastic ball upon impact and release the irritating and dreadful pepper spray around the vicinity of the impact. These pepper-ball rounds can be shot out of paintball guns.

Is Composite-Made Ammo as the Future of Firearms?

Right now, it seems that plastic-cased ammo is the way of the future in the gun industry and with the US military. However, there is still not enough information nor is it commercially available for us recreational shooters to use. Whenever the option of polymer-cased ammo will be readily available for consumers to purchase, we will be ready to try it out. In the meantime, while polymer-cased ammo is still up in the air and becomes the way to the future of shooting, 80% Arms will be there for you in the future for your gun parts and needs! With True Velocity having .308 composite-cased ammo available for the public, we also have AR10 80% lower receivers in stock to build your next .308 rifle.