Why did the Germans use wooden bullets during World War II?

During World War II, the Germans used different weapons and cartridges for them. Among the latter were quite unusual at first glance - wooden bullets. True, they were used only in certain conditions.

Why did the Germans need bullets made of wood

Blank cartridges that were in service with the German army in the early forties "Platzpatron 33" / Photo: kopanina.rf

Wooden cartridges were mainly used for educational purposes / Photo: m.ok.ru

It would seem that wooden bullets are something from the realm of fantasy. In fact, it was these cartridges that were in service with the German army about eight decades ago. There were several options. One of the species was called "Placatron 33", which translated as "Blank cartridge". Basically, such cartridges were used for training purposes - to practice the skills of the shooter and during training.

Today, these bullets are made of plastic, and in the forties of the twentieth century, wood was used as a material for manufacturing. When a shot was fired, this bullet turned into many chips that could severely injure a person, however, only if the distance was small.

Similar patons made of wood were made back in tsarist Russia for the Mosin rifle / Photo: forum.guns.ru

The cartridge does not pose a danger to a person if the distance between him and the weapon is 25 m. in tsarist Russia, such cartridges were made specifically for the Mosin rifle. Used them to practice shooting skills to learn how to load and unload a rifle.

When fired with wooden bullets, in most cases they aimed precisely at the ground. Sometimes the charge accidentally hit a person, but did not do much harm to him. It should be said that these cartridges were also used to demonstrate the interaction of rifle mechanisms. In this case, there was no gunpowder in them.

Another version of the cartridges, which also contained a bullet made of wood, was used by the Germans when they fired rifle grenades. Back in the fortieth year, they were armed with a thirty-millimeter grenade launcher (the so-called martyrka) for such grenades. In order to make a grenade launcher from a rifle, it was necessary to attach a mart to the barrel, on the cut. As a result, they created 16 types of grenades, especially for the grenade launcher. Of these, the main ones are fragmentation, anti-tank and propaganda (with leaflets). To fire the grenade, they used the blank cartridge that came with it. Each type of grenade had its own such cartridges with different amounts of gunpowder.

>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<

Light grenades came with a cartridge crimped with an asterisk, heavy ones with a wooden bullet, empty inside. The shape of the latter could be different. But she and the Bullet Platzpatron 33 were different. At the end of the war, wooden bullets were used for other purposes. They were made because there was a shortage of lead, and therefore they found just such a way out.

It will be no less interesting to know why the Kalashnikov assault rifle needs cartridges with strange white bullets.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/050321/58070/

IT IS INTERESTING:

1. Why you can't try to climb the platform if you fell on the rails in the subway

2. Bonding two stores: why Kalashnikov thought the trick was a mistake (video)

3. Summer resident coated the house with 5 thousand bottles and reduced heating costs