What cartridge was this?

[heron]

I saw a classic movie the other night: "The Day of the Jackal," in which an assassin has a custom-built sniper rifle made for him -- it probably weighed about two pounds, but I'm curious about the ammunition. He was shown handling some cartridges, and they were small, but necked-down, I'd guess .22 caliber, but longer than a .22LR by maybe about half.

He was having a discussion with the gunsmith who was making it for him, and they talked about 'exploding bullets,' and they guy mentioned mercury, and something else I forgot.

Any ideas what that was?

There was another unusual weapon earlier in the movie, some sort of automatic rifle with the magazine coming out of the top of the receiver; I'm curious about that, too.

 

[Jim K]

Those are the little known .346/235 MBS (movie bulls**t special).

Very deadly and the victim is guaranteed to fall dead instantly but only if the script says so.

There have been many guns and cartridges in the MBS series, all dependent for results on the writer's imagination.

Jim

 

[ScotZ]

This may help

http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/"Day_of_the_Jackal"_Custom_Sniper_Rifle


http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/The_Day_of_the_Jackal

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I recall the "Jackal" using mercury-filled bullets in the novel by Frederick Forsyth. (I have not seen the movie.) The idea was that the mercury, inside a hollow cavity, would cause explosive expansion of the bullet upon impact with the, um, target. I seriously doubt this would actually work. Many novelists have little knowledge of firearms or ballistics, to put it mildly.

 

[Dark Skies]

I seem to recall from my school days that mercury dissolves lead in a process called amalgamation.

 

[Jim Watson]

Yes, I figure mercury in a lead bullet's hollowpoint would act irregularly and so imbalance the bulelt that accuracy would be poor. Hardly a sniper's choice. There are known explosive bullet preparations that really worked 100+ years ago and could have been adapted instead of bafflegab nonsense.

Do not depend on adventure novels and books for firearms expertise. Even the few authors who really know the subject will often make stuff up.

 

[heron]

Okay, so the FM 24/29 light machine gun was the one with superfluous sights . . . the custom sniper rifle seems to be a custom fantasy . . . thanks.

 

[Dark Skies]

No, the custom sniper rifle was an adapted hunting rifle reworked by an English gunsmith and really did shoot. I remember reading about it in a magazine - Maxim or similar - about ten years back.