Photos of Bullets Sliced in Half by Sabine Pearlman

Jun 22, 2013 17 comments

Sabine Pearlman's intriguing photo series "Ammo" features images of a variety of ammunitions that have been neatly cut in half to reveal the surprisingly varied and intricate contents inside. Pearlman shot a total of 900 cross-sections of ammo, in a World War II bunker in Switzerland last October, documenting the meticulous and dangerous beauty that lies beneath the bullets' casings.

"I was originally intrigued by the ambiguous nature of the subject matter," she says. "The cross-sections reveal a hidden complexity and beauty of form, which stands in vast contrast to the destructive purpose of the object. It is a representation of the evil and the beautiful, a reflection of the human condition."

The ammo was cut in half by a munitions specialist who devised a technique to defuse the rounds before cutting them in half.

“It is a dangerous process, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing!,” warns Pearlman.

bullet-cross-section-5

  1. Some flavor of 5.56x45 loaded with a steel projectile in a copper half-jacket to protect the bore
  2. 5.56mm XM216 SPIW Flechette
  3. 7.62/.220 Salvo Squeezebore

The images are quite fascinating. It’s pity, the photographer failed to provide captions that could have explained what each bullet type is. Apparently, a knowledgeable Redditor was able to recognize some of these bullets. The captions that you find underneath these images are based on his identification. Please be aware, they might not be correct (but I believe they are).

About the photographer:

Sabine Pearlman was born and raised in Austria. She moved to the US in 2004, and today lives and works in Los Angeles. As a photographer, she strives to create a poetry of images by synergizing the "big picture" with the small details. Educated at Pratt Institute, Otis College of Art and Design and Santa Monica College, Sabine's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries nationally and internationally.

bullet-cross-section-1

  1. 7.62x51mm Plastic short-range training tracer
  2. This one is curious - it looks like a 7.62x51mm but the interior looks like a 'sabotage' cartridge as it appears to be loaded with a blasting cap and a small amount of explosive. Upon further consideration, I believe it may be a 7.92mm Mauser rather than a 7.62mm NATO based on the case dimensions and bullet construction.
  3. 6.5x55mm wood bullet blank (guessing at the cartridge on that one, it looks right!)

bullet-cross-section-2

  1. .450 Adams - the case appears too short and the bullet is too short, the cavity too shallow and it doesn't have enough grease grooves to be a .455 MkII.
  2. .38 Speer Target

bullet-cross-section-3

  1. .38 Special Glaser
  2. .224 BOZ

bullet-cross-section-4

  1. 9x19mm Cobra "High Safety Ammunition" - steel darts inside a polymer sabot
  2. 9x19mm Israeli riot control - steel balls embedded in amber resin

bullet-cross-section-6

  1. 9x19mm - looks much like a British 9mm MkIIz
  2. 9x19mm - solid brass hollow point - unsure of maker
  3. 9x19mm - either a tracer or possibly an explosive projectile. Not sure what that filler is

via Imaging Resources

Comments

  1. So which one do I use for hunting babies? Mind you, I liked to eat em alive, so no lethal ammo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You`re cruel)))))

      Delete
    2. Usually babies are hunted with an acid filled syringe, a scalpel or some sort or rotary blade to liquidfy the fetus.

      Delete
    3. No problem. Just put out your Planned Parenthood shingle- they'll come to you.

      Delete
    4. And a Presidential opinion that the survivors should be given the coup degras, like a baby seal except only, you know, a human one.

      Delete
    5. Just go to one of your abortion clinics, lefty. It's faster, easier, and they give you a lollipop for being good.

      Delete
    6. Baby killing is a sick big business. Unless we pretend it's not a baby.

      Delete
  2. Let me guess Post #1 is Anti Gun? Grow up. It takes a little person to completely bypass the mechanics of such a tool and go straight into the anti gun BS talking points.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not just bullets. These are cross sections of entire cartridges.

    Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I concur with the baby scarcity. Ever since Kermit Gosnell shut down I have noticed that prices are up and quality is down.

    Mail order in cryovac was so convenient. Preppers could order freeze dried product, boned or bone-in.
    Well the bloom is off the rose and the best days of baby eating are sadly behind us. Yet another omen portending the end of civilization as we know it.

    I am not alone in missing the delight which is Baby Back Ribs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The solid brass hollowpoint, bottom row, #2, appears to be a Dynamit Nobel/Ruag "Aktion +1" monolithic ductile brass hollowpoint round, missing the normal bright yellow plastic cap covering the hollowpoint opening to aid feeding:

    http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=avoawm&s=4

    It is a German-developed law enforcement round popular with many European police departments. The brass projectile gives good, reliable controlled expansion and adequate penetration in soft tissue, while also giving very good penetration against light cover such as automobile doors. It is also rather expensive, and, because it uses a brass bullet, is illegal to import into the US under thirty-year-old soi-disant "cop killer bullet" laws. Theoretically US police departments could get permission to import it, however because the Europeans only make it in 9mm, and most US law enforcement agencies favor the .40 caliber currently, the manufacturer has not attempted any aggressive marketing in the US.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah, but poster # 3 zinged his little punk rump.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I too miss baby back ribs, Philippino style!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Always found it fun how much people certain people scream for more laws and more regulations on guns when 99% of the time they use people with no regard for life or law as the reason more is better. So all that wonderful legislation will only affect the people who follow the law to begin with (who would NEVER do the things libs point at).

    Seriously, lets ban all the guns, make owning ammo illegal, now the only people who have guns and bullets are the ones who ignored the first batch of rules and regs. Gee, that makes for a safer world doesn't it...

    Or, lets say those bans worked, no more guns anywhere. Now the creeps who would of shot you when they break into your home at 3 am, scaring the crap out of/endangering you, your significant other and children will only murder you with a nice pointy knife or maybe a baseball bat or, OH, a crowbar!!! Oh-Joyous-Day!!! AND mass attacks a thing of the past?! Nope, now you have a bunch of cannibals running around with hatchets and machetes (or Molotov Cocktails), after all there can be only one!

    Point here being that the people who do the things that you libs are scared sh'tless of and trying to control with "strict-gun-control" are a disease, and even if you take away one means for them to act on their psychopathic impulses they will just find another, usually more creative and lethal, way to act upon them.

    Now, on topic, love the article. Though whats the point of a bullet with a wooden slug? Hunting Vampires?

    ReplyDelete

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