08:06 – We got a lot of science kit stuff done yesterday, with more on the schedule for today.
I think I’ve mentioned .308/7.62mm API’s (armor-piercing incendiaries) “blue tips” in the past. They’re a handy thing to have on hand. From personal experience firing them, they’ll punch a nice hole in a steel engine block, and the incendiary charge is more than enough to ignite gasoline, and often even diesel. I used to have a bunch before I accidentally lost them in the lake.
As far as I remember, the ones I lost were heavy hand-loads made with pulled bullets, which may have been US-issue .30-06 bullets or NATO 7.62mm bullets. They had very pale blue tips, robin’s egg blue or even sky blue, not the darker blue tips found on some current US-issue (frangible?) ammo. I believe the charge is white phosphorus. I do remember that they generated a bright flash when the bullet hit even thin metal like an auto body (we used to shoot at junked cars a lot…). Presumably the tungsten penetrator core continued unaffected by losing the incendiary compound that surrounded it.
I was going to recommend that everyone pick up at least a few rounds of this stuff, but as far as I can tell it’s no longer available, except perhaps under the counter at a gun show. That’s a pity.