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How Bullets Got a Manicure 

Why Did Colorful, Pointy Polymer Ballistic Tips Become So Popular in Rifle Ammunition? Here’s the Whole Story…

by Richard Baimbridge

If you’re like me and you’ve ever found yourself wondering why the heck some cartridges have those nice looking colorful, pointy plastic tips at the end of their bullets, this article’s for you… And if you already know why, well then stick along for the ride anyway because I guarantee there’s a thing or two you probably don’t know about how, when and why ammunition manufacturers got started on this fashionable trend.

If you ask most gun experts when the first Christmas light/Easter ornament-looking cartridges first appeared, they’ll tell you it was when Nosler started selling them in 1984. Or if they’re hardcore gun nerds, they might even allude to the debut of blue polymer-tip rounds on the big screen in the 1983 Chuck Norris Action film, Lone Wolf McQuade.   

But that’s actually incorrect by a margin of about two decades. In fact, the first company to introduce plastic tips (to my knowledge, anyway – and please do correct me in the comments if you know otherwise) was small-caliber ammunition manufacturer Canadian Industries Limited (CIL), which used polymer tips for their .22LR rounds for small-game hunting.

CIL began producing polymer-tipped bullets in 1963 with the introduction of their Sabre Tip line of .22LR ammunition. This early innovation aimed to enhance small-game hunting performance by improving bullet aerodynamics and expansion reliability. The brightly colored polymer tips made the rounds distinctive, but the concept was ahead of its time and didn’t really gain traction until Oregon-based Nosler re-introduced the concept in 1984 (or 1983, for Chuck Norris fans) under the registered trademark name “Ballistic Tip.”

Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets had bright, color-coded polymer tips, each representing a different caliber. So, that’s the who, what, where and when – now, the only question left is why? 

What is it exactly that makes polymer tips useful, effective and so popular that almost every rifle ammunition manufacturer (and even some handgun ammunition makers) now offer fancy polymer ballistic tips that look like they just stepped out of a nail salon?

Well, for one thing, when the bullet impacts the target, the polymer tip is rammed down into the hollow cavity of the bullet, causing more rapid expansion, leading to increased terminal performance. The polymer tip can also aid in the “barrier blind” performance of ammunition, meaning a bullet won’t veer off course as much when encountering an intermediary barrier like fur or clothing.

But mostly, it all boils down to the following attributes:

Flat Shooting at Long Range: With the signature pointed tips and higher ballistic coefficients (BCs), polymer-tipped bullets retain velocity better than traditional soft points. This means flatter trajectories and superior downrange performance.

Terminal Performance: Polymer tips act as a wedge on impact, initiating rapid and controlled expansion.

Resistance to Damage: Unlike exposed lead tips, polymer-tipped bullets are less prone to damage in magazines from the effects of recoil.

Wind Resistance: High BCs make polymer-tipped bullets less susceptible to wind drift, giving shooters greater long-range accuracy.

It’s also worth noting that the military has its own standardized color-coding system. Black-tipped military rounds denote armor-piercing projectiles. As such, they’re illegal for civilians to purchase. These rounds are designed to penetrate hard targets such as engine compartments, engine blocks, or vehicle doors, whereas orange or red tips identify tracer rounds.

Green-tipped AR rounds are frequently referred to as “armor-piercing” cartridges. However, while designed for deep penetration, green tips are not true armor-piercing rounds as per US Government definition, and are thus legal in most states.

An 80 Year-Old Bullet Design Gets a Polymer Facelift 

If you’re looking for a good side-by-side comparison of polymer-tip versus traditional bullets, look no further than the Remington Core-Lokt. After over 80 years of basically the same cartridge design, Remington finally upgraded its classic Core-Lokt rifle ammunition in September 2021 with polymer tips.

Field & Stream ran a detailed, side-by-side ballistics comparison of the “tipped” round versus the old round when it was first introduced. The most interesting findings were that a standard 150-grain .30-caliber Core-Lokt tipped bullet saw 3.3 inches less drop and 5 inches less drift in a 10mph crosswind at a distance of 300 yards. And as distances increased, so did the advantages of the tipped version. Long story short, the aerodynamics of the polymer tip make it significantly more flat-shooting than a regular-tipped projectile, and a superior round for shooting longer distances.

But as I mentioned earlier, polymer tips aren’t just used in rifle cartridges. They’re used in some handgun rounds, as well — most commonly as coatings or “polymer jackets.” The main benefit, obviously, isn’t superior long-range accuracy, but smoother efficiency in semi-automatic weapons, as well as preventing the hollow point cavity from clogging, thus ensuring optimal expansion and penetration.

Some examples of these rounds include Hornady Critical Defense, with a patented Flex Tip that enhances expansion; Sig Sauer V-Crown Elite, which combines a hollow point with a polymer tip; and the Federal Premium HST Tactical. Then again, marketing also plays a big role in the ammunition industry, so basically, anything new, modern, interesting, and, well, “flashy” is a good selling-point.

In case you’re wondering, CIL in Canada is still very much alive and making polymer-tipped .22LR ammunition today. In fact, they now produce a rimfire “Clean-22” .22LR cartridge with a 40-grain polymer-coated bullet, which they claim reduces lead buildup in suppressors by 60-80 percent – and best of all, it’s bright pink (in honor of Breast Cancer awareness).

I’m not sure how Chuck Norris would feel about that – but something tells me Netflix would love it.

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