American Handgunner Nov/Dec 1981

In the English language, arcane wouldmean something old fashioned, orout of date. In French it means mysteriousor secret. Though it is not well known now,in the language of the American handgunner,it may in the future signify the mostlethal of all armor-piercing pistolammunition.Arcane bullets are manufactured inFrance. They do not at this time have aU.S. importer. Nor are they currentlybeing made under license in this country.Their performance is so astonishing,however, the editors felt it would be worthwhileto inform its readers ofwhat is a significantdevelopment in the history ofpistol ammunition. .Arcane bullets are currently available in.380,9 mm, .38 Spl., .357 Magnum, and .45ACP. All but the .380 have a conical bullet.The .380 is a round nose design due to limitationsin overall cartridge length in thatcaliber. The .380, 9 mm, .38 and .357 allshare the same bullet weight, which is aminiscule 70 grains. The .45 ACP weighsonly 120 grains! So, how do they do it?Arcane bullets are made of copper. Theyhave no jacket, nor do they need one. Theyare made out of pure copper, through andthrough. This, as well as their light weightand efficient configuration, account fortheir remarkable performance.The traditional problem with lightweightpistol or rifle bullets has been thatThis devastating handgun ammunition was developed especially forthe French Secret Police. It may be overloaded, but it is effective.they were just too fragile, and their penetrationand expanded frontal areasuffered as a result. Since they are made ofcopper, rather than having a copper jacketaround a lead core, Arcane bullets areutterly indestructible. They are not anexpanding bullet. And that brings up thetraditional problem with armor piercingbullets; lethality. This, of course is also aproblem for all the small bore pistol bullets.They count on the expansion of thebullet to make up for low mass and frontalarea. The Arcane bullets solve both problemsquite well.I do not have samples of .380 Arcanebullets, but was fortunate to be able to importsamples of everything else. Chronographedvelocities are listed in Table A.Because the Arcane bullets are travelingso fast, and because their conical bulletshape apparently sets up a shock wave, thelittle copper bullets produce wound channelsas large or larger than the very bestconventional, expanding bullets! I havekilled a variety of large animals with thisammunition and I can vouch for its effeciiveness.To try and demonstrate just howBy Andy Tillmanettectlve a lightweight, indestructible bulletis, I shot samples ofeach caliber into 25lb. bricks of potter's clay. I shaped eachbrick to a dimension of II inches long and 4inches deep. Its water content was about15%. It produced a deformation onexpanding bullets similar to what I havefound exists when thin bones like ribs orthe sternum are hit on ferral dogs. Penetrationwas also comparable. The only thingwhich is unrealistic about this potter's claywas the huge wound cavities, however, itdoes give you a relative idea of how thevarious calibers and bullet designs compare.See Table B.As you can see, the diameter of the woundchannels ofthe Arcane bullets equal or exceedsome very well-made expanding bulletsand far surpass the excellent KTWbullet in 9 mm (it also does so in .45 ACP).So how does the Arcane concept stand upagainst our own, home grown KTW bulletswhen it comes to penetration of barricadematerial?Penetration in dry tamarack logs.9mm Arcane 7" (bullet tumbled.)9 mm KTW 9 3 /,"9 mm FMJ 6".45 Arcane 6 1 /,".45 KTW 5".45 FMJ 3"It was interesting to note that the .45 Arcanebullet remained point forward in t'1\Stest, and the 9 mm did not. Upon closer examinationit was found that the ogive ofthe 9 mm bullet was not as steep as that onthe .45. As a result, it is apparently not asstable, and it tumbled, significantly reducingits penetration. The ogive is identicalon the .38 and .357 bullets and when testedthey too tumbled. I would suggest that themanufacturer increase the length of thebearing surface and increase the caliber ofthe ogive on their 9 mm".357 diameter bulletsto solve this problem.Penetration of 1/16 inch rolled steelplates was also tested. Three plates werelined up, 8 inches behind one another. Resultsindicated that the Arcanes were justas effective as the KTW armor piercingbullets.AMERICAN HANDGUNNER· NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1981