Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Wadcutter
A wadcutter is a bullet specially designed for shooting paper targets, usually at close range and with significantly subsonic velocities under 800 ft/s (244 m/s) such as are found in handgun and airgun competitions. A wadcutter has a flat or nearly flat front, which acts to cut a very clean hole through the target, making it easier to score and hopefully reducing errors in scoring to the favor of the shooter. Since the flat nosed bullet is not well suited for feeding out of a firearm's magazine, wadcutters are normally used in revolvers or specially designed semi-automatic pistols. Target airguns generally shoot at even lower velocities, around 400 ft/s (122 m/s), so the use of wadcutters is nearly universal in airgun target shooting where paper targets are used.
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