Ammo acronym guidance?

[HOLYROLLER]

I was looking through a cheaperthandirt.com catalog and was confused as to what all the brass acronyms meant. FMJ, JHP, HP, HS, SP, TMJ, TMJ RN, BTHP, LRN, MC, JHPCL, BJHP, BEB, STHP, SJHS, SCHP, ETC...ETC! See what I mean? Thanks in advance and God bless, Mike.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Pete]

IIRC most. if not all ammo acronyms are in the MidwayUSA online guide to gun terminology.

http://www.midwayusa.com/guntecdicti...um=homepage319

[ccw9mm]

The Midway list helps for some things, but many if not all of the acronyms for bullets are simply not specified in the definition, relegating the person to having to know the definition in the first place. Note the following example from the Midway site, where no such mention of "LRN" is made:

Projectile made of solid lead utilizing a smooth ogive and a rounded tip. May or may not include lube rings about the circumference of the base.

A simple search for "LRN JHP acronyms" in Google turned up this web site: Handloads -- acronyms.

[P95Carry]

I have an acronym help page up but no link to it from here yet - it does tho have at least some bullet abreviations (bottom of page) - in case it helps.

Acronyms

[HOLYROLLER]

Thanks all.

[Bob O]

This is a list of acronyms and abbreviations for ammunition that I have been compiling. It keeps getting longer because of new designs and manufacturer's marketing ideas, such as Hornady's new "TAP FPD" ammo. Hornady seems to be the leader in inventing and trade marking acronyms.

Any additions and/or corrections to this list will be appreciated.

+P = Contains a higher powder charge than normal (10-15% overpressure).
+P+ = Contains a much higher powder charge than normal (20-25% overpressure).
A = A-Frame (Swift)
ACC = Accelerator
ACEL = Accelerator Discharging (or Discarding) Sabots
ACP = Auto Colt Pistol
A-MAX = Polymer tipped long range target bullet (Hornady)
AP = Armor Piercing (has a steel or other hard metal core) (Military)
API = Armor Piercing Incendiary (Military)
APT = Armor Piercing Tracer (Military)
APTI = Armor Piercing Tracer Incendiary (Military)
AT-BT = AccuTip Boat Tail (Remington)
BBWC = Bevel Base Wad Cutter
BD or Ball, Duplex = M198 - Contains two bullets (Military)
BEB = Brass Enclosed Base
BEE = FP varmint bullet for .218 Bee (Hornady)
BJHP = Brass Jacketed Hollow Point
BP = Bronze Point
BT = Boat Tail, also Black Talon (Winchester)
BTBT = Ballistic Tip BoatTail (Nosler)
BTHP = Boat Tail Hollow Point
BTM = Boat Tail Match
BTSP = Boat Tail Soft Point
C/T = Combat Target (Hornady)
CB = Cast Bullet
CL = Core-Lokt (Remington)
CL-SIL = Cannelure - Silhouette (Hornady)
CLU = Core-Lokt Ultra (Remington)
CMJ = Complete Metal Jacket
CNL = Conical Nose Lead
CP = Cone Point
DEWC = Double Ended Wad Cutter - can load either way (Cast Bullet)
DPX = Deep Penetrating X (Cor-Bon cartridge with a Barnes X all copper hollow-point bullet)
EFMJ = Expanding Full Metal Jacket (Federal)
EP = Expanding Point
FEB = Fully Encased Bullet
FMC = Full Metal Case
FMJ = Full Metal Jacket
FMJBT = Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail
FMJ-ENC = Full Metal Jacket - Encapsulated (Hornady)
FMJFN = Full Metal Jacket Flat Nose
FMJFP = Full Metal Jacket Flat Point
FMJRN = Full Metal Jacket Round Nose
FMJRP = Full Metal Jacket Round Point
FMJSWC = Full Metal Jacket Semi-Wad Cutter
FMJTC = Full Metal Jacket Truncated Cone
FN = Flat Nose
FNEB = Flat Nose Enclosed Base
FNSP = Flat Nose Soft Point
FP = Flat Point
FS or Fail-Safe = Partition bullet with steel bands around lead cores. (Winchester)
FST = Fail Safe Talon
GAP = Glock Auto Pistol
GC = Gas Check (Cast Bullet)
GD = Gold Dot (Speer)
GDHP = Gold Dot Hollow Point
GS = Golden Saber (Remington)
GS = Grand Slam (CCI)
HAP = Hornady Action Pistol (Hornady)
HBWC = Hollow Base Wad Cutter
HC = Hard Cast
HE = High Energy
HM = Heavy Magnum
HMR = Hornady Magnum Rimfire
HORNET = Extra thin jacket for .22 Hornet (Hornady)
HP = Hollow Point
HPBT = Hollow Point Boat Tail
HPJ = High Performance Jacketed
HPWC = Hollow Point Wad Cutter
HS = Hydra Shok (Federal)
HS & HS2 = Hi Shok & Hi Shok 2 (Federal)
HSP = Hornady Soft Point, also Hollow Soft Point
HST = (no actual meaning) a type of hollow-point (Federal)
I = Interlock (Hornady)
IB = Interbond (Hornady)
IRT = Indoor Range Training (Federal)
J = Jacketed
JET = FP for 22 Rem Jet revolver (Hornady)
JFP = Jacketed Flat Point
JHC = Jacketed Hollow Cavity, (Sierra jacketed hollow point)
JHP = Jacketed Hollow Point
JHPBT = Jacketed Hollow Point Boat Tail
JSP = Jacketed Soft Point
JSPF = Jacketed Soft Point Flat
JSZ = Jacketed Stranded Zinc (Federal)
L = Lead
LBT = Lead Bullet Technology
LF = Lead Free (Nontoxic)
LFN = Long Flat Nose (LBT design), also Lead Flat Nose
LFP = Lead Flat Point
LGC = Lead Gas Check (Cast Bullet)
LHP = Lead Hollow Point
LM = Light Magnum
L-N-L = Lock-N-Load (Hornady)
LRN = Lead Round Nose
LSWC = Lead Semi-Wad Cutter
LSWC-GC = Lead Semi-Wad Cutter, Gas Checked
L-C = Lead Combat
L-T = Lead Target
LTC = Lead Truncated Cone
LWC = Lead Wad Cutter
MB = Multi Ball (Shot)
MC = Metal Cased (basically FMJ)
MJ = Metal Jacket
MK-BTHP = MatchKing Boat Tail Hollow Point (Remington)
MON = Monolithic Solid
MRWC = Mid-Range Wadcutter
MR-X = Improved TS with poly tip & tungsten rear core (Barnes)
NBT = Nosler Ballistic Tip
NOS = Nosler
NOSBT = Nosler Ballistic Tip
NP = Nosler Partition
P = Plated
PB = Parabellum
PG = Partition Gold (Winchester)
PL = Power-Lokt
PP = Power Point
Pro-Tex Bore = Lead bullet with a zinc washer cast in base (Cast Bullet)
PSP = Pointed Soft Point
PSPCL = Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt (Remington)
R.E.A.L. = Rifling-Engraved-At-Loading (Lee muzzle loader bullet)
RN = Round Nose
RNFP = Round Nose Flat Point
RNL = Round Nosed Lead
RNSP = Round Nose Soft Point
RHT = Reduced Hazard Training (Federal and CCI/Speer low toxicity bullet)
S&W = Smith and Wesson
SBBT = Soft Point Boat Tail
SCHP = Solid Copper Hollow Point
SFHP = Starfire Hollow Point (PMC)
SHP = Speer Hollow Point
SJ = Semi Jacketed, also Short Jacket (Hornady)
SJHP = Semi Jacketed Hollow Point, also Soft Jacket Hollow Point
SJSP = Soft Jacket Soft Point
SLAP = Saboted Light Armor Penetrating
SOL = Solid
SP = Soft Point, also Spire Point, also Spotter-Tracer (Military)
SPSX = Spire Point Super Explosive (Hornady)
SPTZ = Spitzer
SSB = Swift Scirocco Bonded (Remington)
SSP = Single-Shot Pistol (Hornady)
SST = Super Shock Tip (Hornady)
ST = Silver Tip HP (Winchester)
STHP = SilverTip Hollow Point (Winchester)
Sub = Subsonic
SWC = Semi Wad Cutter
SX = Super Explosive
SXT = Supreme Expansion Technology (Winchester)
TAP FPD = Tactical Ammunition Police - For Personal Defense (Hornady)
TB = Trophy Bonded
TBS = Trophy Bonded Solid
TC = Truncated Cone
TCMJ = Truncated Cone Metal Jacket
TCSP = Truncated Cone Soft Point
THP = Tubular Hollow Point
TL = Tumble Lube (Lee)
TMJ = Total Metal Jacket -- like FMJ, but the copper jacket even wraps the rear of the bullet and totally encapsulates the lead. Also CMJ, FEB
TNT = TNT hollow point (Speer)
TRI = Triad Group (A Square)
TRU = Tactical Rifle Urban (Federal)
TS or Triple-Shock = Improved X-bullet (Barnes)
UHC = Ultra High Coefficient (Hornady)
VLD = Very Low Drag
V-MAX = V-Max Polymer Tip Varmint Hunting Bullet (Hornady)
V-MAXBT = V-Max Boat Tail (Hornady)
W/C = With Cannelure (Hornady)
WC = Wad Cutter
WLN = Wide Long Nose (LBT design)
WLY = Woodleigh
WMR = Winchester Magnum Rimfire
WSM = Winchester Short Magnum
WSSM = Winchester Super Short Magnum
X or X-bullet = Solid copper hollow-point bullet (Barnes)
XP3 = FS without the steel bands (Winchester)
XTP = Extreme Terminal Performance (Hornady jacketed hollow point)

[P95Carry]

Bob - that is superb. Hard to believe so many!

I'll watch and see if this grows much more but with your permission will put this on a page on one of my sites later on.

[QKShooter]

FANTASTIC Bob O -

[dr_cmg]

Bob, that is an outstanding list and lots of work.

Holyroller, it would be nice if all the ammo companies used the same terms and ammo dealers didn't have to put dozens of acronyms on their ads. Unfortunately, the manufacturers are always trying to differentiate their product from others and pay ad agencies to come up with new and catchy terms and acronyms. Such is life.

[ccw9mm]

Somebody just earned a "sticky". Great effort! A great reference for inquiring minds.

[Pete]

Another vote for sticky status, it will make it easier to find when I need to refer to it.

[P95Carry]

Guys - I mentioned in my earlier post - subject to Bob saying Ok and any late additions - I will put this all up on a dedicated web page on one of my sites.

Hopefully when we change domain soon the software will enable the addition of extra links and hope then we can effectively have covered, acronyms in general - ammo acronyms, the holster maker's links and - my small help0 page for pic posting.

I think this can work better than having too many stickies.

[Bob O]

Bob - that is superb. Hard to believe so many!

I'll watch and see if this grows much more but with your permission will put this on a page on one of my sites later on.

Do with it as you please!

[BIG E]

I'm going to start posting only in acronyms from now on.