eli5 Why does the shell of a bullet come out of a gun but can shoot people?
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Can you please elaborate on what the _but_ means here? Those two do not seem to be in any conflict.
Here’s an ELI5 explanation.
Get an empty 2-liter soda bottle. Throw out the cap. Stuff a carrot into the opening. Put the bottle onto the ground, then jump on it. As the air is forced out of the bottle, it’ll send the carrot flying.
A typical bullet is similar. The shell is the bottle. The carrot is the actual bullet. When the power inside the shell is ignited, it expands rapidly, forcing the bullet to separate from the shell and fly out the end of the gun barrel. The shell is now empty.
A bullet is comprised of several parts the casing comes out the side of the gun and the bullet itself comes out of the barrel and goes forward and shoots things.
I think that’s what you’re asking but I’m not sure.
The shell that pops out is called the casing. It just holds the bullet, propellant (“gunpowder”), and primer together in a relatively secure package.
When you fire the gun, the gun hits the primer. The primer is impact-sensitive; when it experiences a sharp impact, it detonates. This sets off the propellant, which burns extremely quickly, turning to very hot gas. This very hot gases raises the pressure inside the casing to an extremely high level. The sides and back of the casing are supported by the metal of the gun itself (the receiver); the only side that can get pushed is the back of the bullet, which is stuffed into the front of the casing. So the super hot gas pushes on the bullet, pushing it down the barrel and accelerating it to a very high speed. Once the bullet starts moving the gun starts recoiling; usually, the recoil is resisted by some springs so that the bullet has time to leave the barrel before the gun fully recoils. When it fully recoils, the now-empty casing is kicked out (by a piece called an ejector or extractor) so that a new casing+bullet can come in.
So the bullet and the shell case are two separate parts. They are operating as designed; the bullet goes down the barrel at super high speeds to hit/destroy things, while the casing just carries the bullet and propellant in a single package, then gets dumped out the side or top of the gun once its job is done.
They’re not the same thing.
The bullet, along with propellent are inside the shell.
The propellant sends the bullet forward, out the barrel. This is what hits a target.
The gun jettisons the empty shell. Then replaces it with a new round. And the process repeats.
So there’s 2 parts to the bullet. The actual “bullet” part that goes inside people and hurt them is the very tip 20% of the bullet. The other 80% is the shell which contains gunpowder. After the trigger is pressed, it releases a hammer on a spring which strikes the gunpowder and makes the bullet go boom. The shell casing is discarded after exploding because it’s useless weight.
What do you mean by “shell”? Are you talking about the [casing](https://firsttimegunbuyer.com/ammo-types/ammo-casings/)? The bullet is just the part that comes out of the barrel when the gun is fired. The casing holds the bullet, powder charge, and primer together. The whole thing is called a cartridge. Once the powder ignites, it propels the bullet out of the barrel and there’s nothing left in the casing, so it’s empty and gets ejected.
What people usually refer to as a bullet is a cartridge, comprised of several components. The bullet is the tip that comes out the front end of the barrel, propelled by the gunpowder within the casing. As the mechanism of the firearm works, either a bolt (rifles)or the entire slide(pistols) moves backwards from the force, and the last piece of the cartridge, the shell, is ejected out of the side to make space for the next cartridge/round. As the slide or bolt moves back forward it would feed the next round into the chamber, ready to fire again.
A bullet’s shooty bit is the tip.
It is held in place by a shell and inside the shell is gun powder.
So what happens is the gun hits the back of the shell and makes a spark. Which makes the powered inside explode. That explosion sends the bullet out of the barrel. But the shell is still there and is either thrown out in a semi automatic or automatic weapon. Or you manually cycle the mechanism if it’s bolt action
Or some weapons you physically have to pull the shell out. This is how the classic double barrel shotgun in movies and video games work.
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