FEATURED AUTHOR
JOHN. F MULLINS

John Mullins’ interest in frangible ammunition sprang from a lifetime of training soldiers, police officers, security personnel, and special operations units.

Mullins joined the U.S. Army at 17, straight out of high school. After basic and advanced training, he volunteered for airborne training, becoming a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division. Soon thereafter, he was recruited for Special Forces, joining “B” Company of the newly formed 5th Special Forces Group as a medic on an “A” Team. It was on this team that he made his first trip to Vietnam in 1963. (An account of this first tour will soon be published in Vietnam magazine.)

Mullins was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in 1964, attended Ranger school, and was reassigned to the newly formed 3rd Special Forces Group at Ft. Bragg. Within months he was on his way back to Vietnam, this time as the executive officer of an “A” Team in the central highlands. He led a company of Montagnard Strike Force troopers during the battle called Crazy Horse and was awarded the Silver Star. Although wounded and suffering from malaria, he finished a complete tour, leading Apache Patrols in the area surrounding the camp for the last few months.

After this tour he was assigned to the weapons department of the Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, where he helped formulate the Quick Kill instinctive shooting program, training U.S. soldiers on their way to Vietnam in this highly effective method of target engagement.

In 1968, he returned to Vietnam for a third tour, this time with the highly classified Studies and Observations Group (SOG). After spending a year in SOG, he extended his tour for another six months and took over a Provincial Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), eliminating the VC infrastructure as a part of the Phoenix Program.

Returning to the States once again, he attended the Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course and Defense Language Institute Russian Language School. He was then assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group in Bad Tolz, Germany.

Over the next 10 years, further assignments took Mullins to Europe, Central and South America, and the Middle East, where he served in training and advisory roles, often in high-risk situations.

Major Mullins retired in 1982 and immediately went back to the Middle East, working for another branch of the government. Following this, he became a free-lance consultant, working for different branches of the U.S. government, corporate and private clients, and selected friendly foreign governments.

In 1994 Mullins retired once again, agreeing to accept outside work only under extraordinary circumstances. Since then he has founded and now runs an ammunition company that manufactures and markets nontoxic frangible ammunition (a product based on his patent) and trains law enforcement, military and selected civilian clients in basic and advanced shooting tactics.

Through the years, Mullins became convinced that live-fire training was essential to the successful preparation not only of special operations troops but also of any police officer, security professional, or anyone else likely to go into harm’s way. He also became convinced that the live-fire training currently being conducted was deficient in many ways—not the least of which was that there was little tactical value in shooting at paper targets on a known-distance range. The problem, as he saw it, was that tactical live-fire training was too expensive, too dangerous, or both. As is well known, building a “shoot house” for live-fire tactical training with standard ammunition is a tremendously expensive proposition. Few departments can afford it. Even if they can, the shoot house is often reserved for the tactical team, while the street cop gets short shrift. Mullins decided that if we could not change the range, why not change the ammunition?

And frangible was born.

In his free time, Mullins writes novels, screen and teleplays, and nonfiction magazine articles and books. His first Paladin book, Frangible Ammunition, (September 2001) is now available through our online store and our print catalog.

MILITARY SCHOOLS

• Basic Airborne Special Forces Aidman
• Special Forces Qualification Course
• Demolitions School
• Officers Candidate School
• Special Forces Officer Qualification Course
• Jumpmaster School
• Infantry Officer Advanced Course
• Defense Language Institute French, Russian, and Spanish Language

Courses

• Military Freefall Parachutists Course (HALO)
• Military SCUBA School
• Ski School
• Infantry School Platform Instructors Course
• Diving Supervisors Course
• Diving Medical Technicians Course
• Special Operations (BLUELIGHT)
• Counterterrorism Training Ski Instructor School
• Military Mountaineering Training

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

• Silver Star
• Bronze Star w/ "V" Device and 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Air Medal w/1 Oak Leaf Cluster
• Purple Heart w/ 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
• Army Commendation Medal
• Good Conduct Medal
• Cross of Callantry w/Gold and Silver Stars
• Civic Action Medal
• 6 awards of the Presidential Unit Citation

Q & A

Paladin: There's a lot of confusion about what exactly frangible ammunition is. Tell us about what it's made of, some of its strengths and weaknesses, and how it compares to traditional ammo.
Mullins: True frangible ammunition is designed to disintegrate upon impact with any object as hard or harder than itself. The most common frangibles on the market are made by one of two processes: Injection molding, or sintering. In the former, copper powder is mixed with a polymer binder and formed in an injection molding machine using heat and pressure. The latter process does away with the polymer. The powder is mixed with a wax-like substance, formed under great pressure, and then sent through an oven where the wax is melted out. The main advantage of frangible ammunition is in its ability to enable close-in shooting against steel targets, and its contributions to safety. Good frangible offers no dangerous splashback, and vastly reduced ricochet. Its disadvantage, at present, is in slightly higher per unit cost. However, prices will go down as economies of scale are realized.

Paladin: There are a lot of references to "nontoxic frangible" (NTF) ammo. What is that?
Mullins: NTF is ammunition that is, in addition to being frangible, also contains no lead or other heavy metals, either in the projectile itself, or in the primer and powder. This greatly alleviates environmental problems currently encountered on both indoor and outdoor ranges.

Paladin: Most people consider frangible ammo a training round. Can it be used for anything else?
Mullins: Frangible is a lethal round, and can be used in service applications. It can be useful in places where there is high danger of collateral damage from rounds that miss their target – i.e., courthouses, nuclear power facilities, prisons, etc.

Paladin: SEALs, SAS, and other high-speed elite military units are famous for the tremendous amount of live-fire training they do in shooting houses. Have they switched over to frangible?
Mullins: In many cases, yes, particularly when they train outside the purpose-built shoothouses that are designed to allow for standard ammunition. Such facilities are extremely expensive. Frangible allows them to put up low-cost alternative shooting facilities that might closely match actual targets.

Paladin: Is frangible ammo beneficial for civilian use?
Mullins: Unequivocally, yes. Civilian shooters run into the same problems as do police and military shooters. Finding a decent shooting range is getting harder and harder, what with OSHA and the EPA closing down ranges right and left. NTF allows for a range to continue operations, where it might not have been able to before. It also, if used properly, immeasurably enriches the practice sessions, allowing for target engagement that would be impossible with standard ammunition.

Paladin: Are any of the big commercial firearm schools such as Gunsite or Thunder Ranch utilizing frangible ammo in their shooting programs?
Mullins: Gunsite is, for sure. Am not certain about Thunder Ranch. Another big user is the SigArms Training Academy.

Paladin: Your book claims that frangible ammunition is the first viable revolutionary development in firearms technology in 100 years. Why is this?
Mullins: Once we had smokeless powder, all other changes in firearms ammunition have been incremental. We still use lead, mostly clad with copper jackets. That particular form of ammunition has been around since the turn of the century. Other materials, i.e., steel, tungsten, and so forth that have been used in small arms ammunition have been added, for the most part, either to cut costs, or to provide armor piercing capabilities. This is the first time a totally new process and new materials have been used to form projectiles since the adoption of lead itself.

Paladin: Other than frangible ammo use, what do you see as other significant trends in practical firearm training these days?
Mullins: Increasing realism in firearms training programs. We're getting away from punching holes in paper targets, and are concentrating upon the proper tactical use of firearms. Unfortunately, we are still a long way from making this universal. Most police officers still are woefully deficient in tactical firearms training.

Paladin: Any predictions on the next major development in ammunition technology?
Mullins: The integration of computers and simulations into the training program. The problem with tactical firarms training is twofold. If you have a facility wherein you shoot against moving, lifelike targets (as in FATS and others), you are restricted to one spot (possibly moving right or left somewhat, but you have to stay in place in front of the screen). If you have a facility wherein you can move (i.e., shoothouses), the targets are largely immobile and not realistic. Why not combine the two? Put the shooter in a facility wherein he or she can move, going through doorways, up stairs, clearing rooms, etc., but what he or she sees is projected on a wearable heads-up display connected to a computer, and rigged so that where the weapon points, the scenario reacts. Most of this technology is on the shelf (look at any first-person shooter game), needing only systems integration.

Do you have questions of your own for John? Feel free to e-mail him for further information.