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Soft Shell Bullet

For the gentle soldier in a less-than-gentle army.
 
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Have any of you ever bitten a bullet? Let me tell you, it ain't pleasant. It feels like you're biting a polished rock. And it can't be good for your teeth, especially when you're under the knife without anesthetics and you're really grinding down. So what I propose is a soft-shelled bullet, made of firm rubber or a soft metal such as gold, which has some give, that a concerned soldier can keep in his pocket or a belt pouch unbeknownst to his fellow soldiers. If the need should ever arise for field-expedient surgery to be performed on this soldier, all he has to do is put that bullet in his mouth and bite down on it. Under enough pressure, it will yield slightly, saving the teeth and preventing a hell of an ache in the mouth later without making him appear weak to his squad mates. In fact, if it's a gold shell, then his squadmates will see the impression of his teeth in it and think he must surely be the toughest of them all.

(note: I did also search the Science: Health categories for prior art, and didn't see anything like this)

21 Quest, Apr 14 2009

(?) Why you shouldn't put copper in your mouth. http://www.halfbake...m/idea/Mouth_20Slug
[coprocephalous, Apr 15 2009]

(?) Lead bullet: good biting! http://www.civilwar....html?m7:item=BU118
[bungston, Apr 15 2009]

[link]






       I think I'd rather use a soft shelled crab.
normzone, Apr 14 2009
  

       I think I'd rather use a "soft" wooden baton.
ye_river_xiv, Apr 14 2009
  

       Yeah, but if everyone else is biting bullets you're going to get picked on for being the only one to ask for a stick. Really, who carries wooden batons into battle these days?
21 Quest, Apr 14 2009
  

       or made of opium.
WcW, Apr 14 2009
  

       Perhaps some opium inside the shell casing which can ooze out if you bite on it hard enough.
21 Quest, Apr 14 2009
  

       Love it - they could be issued to Medics individually wrapped in sterilised paper, like plasters. [+]
zen_tom, Apr 15 2009
  

       //It feels like you're biting a polished rock//
Presumably a jacketed round? Well yes, it would, wouldn't it?
A lead ball round though would perhaps be a tad softer, recalling those days before anaesthesia.
coprocephalous, Apr 15 2009
  

       Well yes but we don't exactly want to put lead in our mouths now do we?
21 Quest, Apr 15 2009
  

       But if you put a copper jacketed round in, it would upset your Mouth Slug.
coprocephalous, Apr 15 2009
  

       In case you don't recall that particular conversation, copro, I voted strongly against mouth slugs. Sounds like a parasite you'd pick up if you weren't careful while visiting a third-world country. Besides, copper is harder than I prefer, and only bullet is jacketed, anyway. Not the shell casing. Those are usually steel or brass.
21 Quest, Apr 15 2009
  

       I don't think you should bite bullets with shell casing still on. You should bite a spent bullet that has already been fired, hit you, then dug out of your own flesh by a scared medic with shaky hands, pierced, and worn as a necklace so you never forget that day, and the man who shot you because someday you will meet him again and there will be a reckoning. Plus the necklace keeps it handy in biting range in case you get shot again by that guy and the medic has to dig the next one out.
bungston, Apr 15 2009
  

       I'm definitely up for opium bullets. Although maintaining the ammunition inventory might be a chore.
normzone, Apr 16 2009
  
      
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