"Most guns shoot tiny pieces of metal powered by tiny explosions. Torgue says F**K THAT, we shoot MORE EXPLOSIONS, and make them BIGGER! BUY TORGUE, BLOW S**T UP."
— Torgue manufacturer introduction, Borderlands 3
Guns are cool. Explosions are cool. Therefore, guns that cause explosions are even cooler. And because There Is No Kill Like Overkill, why restrict this to artillery, rocket launchers, and shoulder-mounted plasma cannons? Some writers firmly believe that any weapon can, and should, be granted the ability to turn its targets into Ludicrous Gibs.
This is usually achieved through, as the title implies, having the weapon shoot high-explosive rounds like miniature artillery shells, though in some cases it's best not to think too hard about how the size of the explosion compares to the size of the bullet. In some Speculative Fiction works, a more elaborate explanation may be employed, whereby the projectile somehow causes its target to explode through other means. Explosive Bullets sometimes appear in Science Fiction, especially military-themed works, to suggest that firearms technology has advanced and thus explain why guns are still in use, but they may be used simply because the writer thinks they're cool.
On another note, these projectiles will occasionally be employed as a "mundane" form of Depleted Phlebotinum Shells, whereby the intended target is a monster, Cyborg, robot, zombie or alien that can't feel pain, is inhumanly tough and/or regenerates extremely quickly, meaning that a weapon capable of blowing massive chunks out of it is more likely to achieve results than a standard firearm. Furthermore, they could be considered the Logical Weakness to an enemy who can deflect, block or catch bullets: they'll still be caught in the blast radius and either killed or heavily disfigured if the author wants to subvert Blown Across the Room. At best, the explosion could break the weapon or its internal components so it can't be used again, leaving the wielder vulnerable to more attacks.
It is worth noting that while Explosive Bullets do exist in Real Life, using them on the battlefield would constitute a war crime under the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868
and its successor instruments, which prohibit the use of explosive projectiles under 400 grammes in weight against human targets. The rationale behind this is that an exploding round isn't much more effective at incapacitating an enemy soldier than a mundane one, and as such using the former would inflict unnecessary suffering.note The '60s would also see the creation of the quirky Gyrojet family of guns that fired 13mm micro-rockets. They proved to be too inaccurate and unreliable to make effective weapons (and despite popular assumption, they did not fire explosive rounds), but they have gone on to inspire a fair few fictional firearms, which usually do feature explosive ammo.
In some video games, this may not be a default property of a weapon, but instead a Power-Up or modification. In certain cases the "explosive" part may be an Informed Attribute — no explosion is visible, but the projectiles just do more damage. Subtrope of Abnormal Ammo, and "High Explosive" rounds frequently appear as a form of Trick Bullet. Can be a cause of "Pop!" Goes the Human or Your Head A-Splode and thus invoke the Chunky Salsa Rule. May be used as an In-Universe explanation for why a handgun is able to deal so much damage. Compare and contrast Throw Down the Bomblet, Grenade Launcher, Pocket Rocket Launcher, and Trick Arrow for other uses of small, explosive projectiles. See also Recursive Ammo and Improvised Scattershot, for a bullet that is non-explosively split apart.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Blood+: After the Time Skip at the midpoint of the series, Kai Miyagusuku begins to use explosive phosphorous bullets in his father's M1911 — both the bullets and magazine are designed in conjunction, and the bullets are set to go off once Kai shoots the entire magazine. Because his targets are Chiropterans, it is necessary to shoot said entire magazine to have a chance in heck to hurt them and for the most part only injures them slightly better than plain .45-caliber lead.
- Early in Gunsmith Cats, a thug threatens Millie with "exploders," which a sidebar explains are hollowpoint bullets filled back up with gunpowder and capped with a primer. "Probably not available at your local gun shop."
- Heat Guy J:
- In the borderline authoritarian state of Judoh, bullets are heavily regulated, even for the police. For most missions, protagonist cop Daisuke usually requests and is allotted a handful of bullets, which usually includes a single explosive "Red Cap" round. Since ammo is so scarce it's sometimes been a detriment, and Daisuke is forced to use the Red Caps in scenarios where simple bullets would do.
- A foreign mercenary named Luka is a Villain of the Week. In addition to smuggling himself and his own android into the city, he sneaks in a gun that essentially fires explosive shot rounds, with tiny explosives mixed into the simple round shot. This is one of the few weapons in the show that can incapacitate the titular android, reducing him to essentially just a head in one shot.
- Hellsing: Alucard's Jackal (a ludicrously oversized Hand Cannon which only he can wield due to his vampiric Super-Strength) fires explosive-tipped 13mm rounds, which, for good measure given what he usually fights, are also crafted from a blessed silver cross.
Luke Valentine: [after one of Alucard's shots misses him, and the entire hallway behind him is blown up] A pistol... did that!? ...Jesus.
Comic Books
- Judge Dredd: High-explosive rounds are among the various types that can be chambered on voice command by Judges' "Lawgiver" pistols.
- Used by Lex Luthor in Justice League (2011) to blow open a way to the Batcave.
- Superman: Minor Rogues Gallery member Terra-Man is a space cowboy armed with dangerous alien revolvers that boast Explosive Rounds as one of their many ammo options.
- The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers: Ironfist, who works at the weapons development facility of Kimia, developed "cerebral-sensitive bullets". These bullets include tiny computers that help redirect them at the neural centre of their target, which for most Transformers is in their head. The Kimia Ethics Committee (a group of Autobots including legal experts whose job is to evaluate weapons developed at Kimia before they can be deployed) judges that their use would constitute a war crime and forbid their use. However, Ironfist "accidentally" takes several boxes worth with him when he's deployed on what he knows is a suicide mission. When several of the Wreckers make use of them in combat, the heads of their victims detonate.
Fan Fiction
- The Space Marines on Rocketship Voyager are equipped with "explosive bullets that would shred flesh but not pierce the hull of a rocketship." However B'Elanna Torres empties an entire clip into a Psiborg monstrosity that's charging at her to no effect.
Films — Live-Action
- Aliens: The M41A Pulse Rifles & M56 Smart Guns wielded by the Colonial Marines fire "10mm explosive-tipped caseless" ammo. Every M41A also has a 30MM pump-action Grenade Launcher installed in its under-barrel, for hordes of monsters too large and tough for even aforementioned explosive armor-piercing rounds to put down.
- Beethoven: The villain in the film is an evil veterinarian who's been stealing peoples' dogs to conduct weapons tests on them for profit. At the end of the film, after he recaptures the titular St Bernard he pulls out a revolver that he says is loaded with explosive rounds, but he's stopped before he ever gets a chance to use the gun.
- Dredd: Among the many switchable types of ammo in a Judge's Lawgiver II firearm is an explosive bullet. Dredd gives the command "High Ex" to his firearm, and it loads a round that blasts a hole in a concrete wall of the Peachtree residential tower. The hole is big enough to walk through, which is how Dredd and his companions are able to escape from Ma Ma and her three Bullet Hell mini-guns.
- Never Say Never Again: James Bond is at the mercy of Fatima Blush, a vampish agent of Spectre. Bond buys time by playing to her ego, and begins to pen a short memoir about Fatima being the best lover he's had. However, Bond's pen is actually a rocket-dart launcher, one of Q's devious devices. The dart strikes Fatima in the upper left abdomen, and seems to be a dud. As she aims her pistol, though, the dart's fuse ignites and blows her away. Only her smoldering stilettos remain.
Bond: "Still a few bugs", Q?
- Runaway: Evil scientist Luther Charles's signature weapon is a pistol that fires "smart bullets", miniature heat-seeking missiles that lock onto a target's body temperature reading and chase after them, exploding on contact. Officer Karen Thompson gets shot in the arm by one of the missiles that fails to detonate, meaning she essentially has an unexploded bomb inside of her that her partner has to remove before she can be safely treated.
- The Suicide Squad: Peacemaker's comically oversized Desert Eagle fires similarly oversized hollow-point bullets that explode on impact, with him going so far as to taunt Bloodsport for using smaller bullets. Ultimately, this comes back to bite him, as Bloodsport defeats him in a Quick Draw by shooting through one of his shots with his smaller, tougher bullet.
- They Call Me Bruce: The Chicago mafia asks a hitman how he plans to kill Bruce. After enthusiastically demonstrating various methods on a store dummy, the silenced pistol with explosive bullets that blows up its head gets their unanimous approval.
Literature
- In Black Man's Burden by Mack Reynolds, the Reunited Nations team is equipped with low-caliber silenced weapons that can be switched between solid slugs and explosive.
He made himself comfortable, the light Tommy-Noiseless with its clip of two hundred .10 caliber, ultra-high velocity shells resting before him on a flat rock outcropping. He thoughtfully flicked the selector to the explosive side of the clip. Let Homer Crawford say what he would about not setting off a Fourth of July, but if he needed covering in the moments to come, he'd need it bad.
- In Counter-Clock World a police officer is shot in the foot with a "prefrag" bullet, but it doesn't explode as it's literally a museum piece, so he's able to limp on. The next time someone shoots the officer, they make sure to use a more effective weapon.
- The Day of the Jackal has the sinister cabal hire a British sniper to slay French president Charles de Gaulle. This sniper, codenamed "Jackal", commissions a specialized .22LR rifle from a clandestine gunsmith, which includes four explosive bullets (made by putting a drop of mercury in the tip to create a mushrooming effect upon impact). The Jackal brings this weapon to an empty field and fires ordinary .22LR bullets at a watermelon to zero the crosshairs. He fires one explosive bullet at the melon, which makes it disintegrate into mush. This book was adapted into the 1973 suspense thriller of the same name, starring Edward Fox as The Jackal, which portrays the test firings faithfully.
- In the background of Hammer's Slammers, conventional guns with explosive bullets are noted to have been standard-issue weapons before the invention of powerguns. They're said to be "equally likely to vapourize a leaf as to kill their targets." In the setting's "modern day," they're obsolete and not used in serious conflict.
- John Carter of Mars: While swords and knives seem to be preferred, guns do exist, and can use bullets that explode in sunlight; non-explosive ammo is also available, for night raids where the spent bullets are expected to be left behind. A note near the beginning says the ammo uses radium... while admitting that this is because the "notes" use a Martian term, and "radium" was substituted because the narrator expects it to behave that way (the series started in 1912).
- Midway through John Dies at the End, people start sending John and Dave "gifts" to help with their monster-hunting. Of note are a box of bullets with a green band around them, which explode and completely obliterate the watermelon they test them on.
- Logan's Run: Sandmen, who are special law-enforcement personnel who hunt down "runners" (people who refuse to report to termination centers once they reach the age of 21), carry revolvers with multiple load-outs. One of the cartridges is Nitro, which is highly explosive and generally used against fortified barriers or attacking crowds.
- The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress: The Federation Peace Forces troopers carry projectile guns that fire "small explosive missiles" (these aren't necessarily rocket guns; "missiles" in this case is likely a bit of an Expospeak Gag for "bullets", described by a Loonie who has no experience with guns). Mannie mentions the plop! these rounds make when they go off inside someone's body.
- Skylark Series: Seaton and Crane use their newly-discovered X-metal to, among other things, create X-plosive bullets for their firearms. In their first test-firing, a pistol bullet with a "small" charge blows a tree stump to splinters, and one with a "real" (one-milligram) charge not only obliterates the huge boulder it was aimed at, half a mile away, but also bowls over both men when the explosion's shockwave reaches them.
- The Sprawl Trilogy features explosive Azide bullets used by several characters, from Julius Dean's hidden revolver in Neuromancer, to Turner's Smith & Wesson magnum in Count Zero.
- Uller Uprising: This Military Science Fiction novel by H. Beam Piper about an uprising by the natives of a planet that humans are being imperialists on features lavish use of "contragravity", with airjeeps, "combat-cars", and flying tanks, but the weapons on these vehicles are all mid-20th century machine guns, auto-cannons, artillery, and rockets — not even guided missiles. The protagonist (a high-ranking military officer) does carry a 10-mm semi-automatic pistol which fires bullets with a "small bursting-charge".
Live-Action TV
- CSI: NY: In "Hide Sight", a sniper uses exploding bullets in his rifle as he takes out random people from a high-rise. One bullet enters a woman's brain, killing her, but does not detonate until Sid attempts to remove it during autopsy. It explodes, which causes her skull to violently burst open. Sid gets hit directly in the face and knocked out.
- ER: In one episode a man accidentally shoots his friend in the arm with an "explosive" bullet that fails to explode. Benton has to remove it with a technician from the bomb squad in the operating room to safely dispose of it.
- Grey's Anatomy: In a similar plot to the ER episode above, in one episode a patient has an undetonated explosive bullet in their body. It detonates inside the body, further injuring the patient.
- Fallout (2024): The Ghoul's handgun fires special fin-stabilised grenades shaped like miniature missiles. They make a "FWOOM" sound when fired, and very rarely leave the target actually in one piece... and if it does, then the building behind it won't survive. Which is evident by how he was able to blow off a character's foot and kill a Brotherhood of Steel soldier by shooting them in a specific weak point in the armor.
- Law & Order: In "Double Blind", the murderer uses homemade .32 rounds coated in fulminated mercury, an unstable chemical compound that supposedly causes a low-grade explosion inside the victim. The result is a bullet that does far more damage than its caliber would suggest.
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe TV shows have the "Judas Bullets" (apparently so called because "if you wanted to kill Jesus, that's the bullet you'd use"), manufactured by Hammer Industries from Chitauri metal salvaged after the Incident. They drill some way into whatever they are fired at before exploding violently and can penetrate materials that are impervious to most weapons.
- In Luke Cage (2016), Diamondback attempts to kill the normally bulletproof Luke with two of them; he survives but with serious injuries and a lot of shrapnel lodged inside him. After the process that gave him bulletproof skin is undone to remove the shrapnel and then reapplied, his skin becomes tough enough to resist another Judas Bullet fired at him in the second season.
- In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a sniper tries to kill Director Mace, who is warned at the last second and manages to block the shot with the podium he'd been standing at, only to realize that it's trailing sparks as the bullet drills into it. He barely has time to throw it as high as he can before it explodes.
- Special Unit 2: Exaggerated. In one episode, Detective Nick O'Malley uses a round of "Red Ammo" to get rid of a nest of sirens. That one round of "Red Ammo" is not only an explosive round for his .44 Magnum, it is powerful enough to wipe out a whole building.
Carl: Red ammo kicks ass!
Roleplay
- Hazbin Hotel: Lucifer's Folly introduces Gunhead, the Overlord of Bloodshed, whose weapon-appendage fires powerful exploding rounds.
Tabletop Games
- Iron Kingdoms: The mercenary Captain Amador Damiano is equipped with a Hand Cannon named "Judgement" — his "Blaster" special rule allows him to shoot these with it by spending a FOCUS, causing shots to deal AoE damage within three inches.
- In Lancer, the first licence for the Iskander mech unlocks a weapon called the Stub Cannon, which is described as a "supercompact rotary cannon", which deals explosive damage (rather than kinetic, as usual for firearms).
- Shadowrun has explosive bullets as a type of variant ammunition but they're twice as expensive as the normal kind and explode in the gun on a critical glitch. Making them Awesome, but Impractical.
- Top Secret: The Top Secret Companion has High Explosive and High Explosive Incendiary bullets for firearms. The bullets are filled with explosive material: they have massive shock power when they impact and are extremely lethal on hits to the chest.
- Warhammer 40,000:
- Boltguns, or bolters, are the signature weapon of the Adeptus Astartes and the Adepta Sororitas. They fire .75 calibre rocket-propelled "mass reactive" shells, which are designed to embed themselves in the target before detonation. They effectively illustrate both the over-the-top nature of the setting and the fact that many of mankind's foes are Made of Iron, making such destructive weapons genuinely useful. However, Commissar Ciaphas Cain is known to prefer the laspistol, which is far less bulky and has a larger ammo capacity, observing that other Commissars use Bolt Pistols because they make a lot of mess and a lot of noise when used for summary executions, making it clear to other Guardsmen not to cross them.
- During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, the Iron Warriors Legion made some use of variant "shrapnel" bolt weapons, where the shells were set up to explode in a hail of maiming shards right in front of the enemy instead of waiting to penetrate. In Horus Heresy second edition, these have reduced range and armour penetration compared to standard bolt weapons, but force Pinning tests because being hosed down with semiautomatic fragmentation bombs isn't great for unit morale.
Video Games
- BioShock 1: One of the rarer ammo for the Shotgun is Explosive Buck(shot) to light targets on fire.
- Borderlands: While most gun manufacturing corporations can produce guns that fire explosive rounds, Torgue exclusively makes guns that fire explosive rounds. Surprisingly, Mr Torgue, the former CEO of the Torgue corporation, is actually one of the friendliest CEOs in the universe.
- Brotato: The Shredder is a handgun that fires projectiles that have a chance to explode on hit, going up as the weapon is upgraded.
- Call of Duty: Some of the .50 BMG sniper rifles, like the Rytec AMR (Barrett .50 Cal) and the Signal 50 (Gepard GM6 Lynx) in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II respectively accept explosive rounds, turning those anti-materiel rifles into grenade launchers, which gibs enemies when shot.
- Cyberpunk 2077:
- A fair number of weapons in the game use this type of ammunition, which causes their shots to pack a greater punch and deal a small amount of Splash Damage. This is usually a property of Iconic weapons, but the Metel and MA70 LMG fire them by default.
- The Active Chimera Core, which V rips out of the eponymous Spider Tank during the Phantom Liberty storyline, can be used to craft one of three powerful Weapon Mods, one for each class of firearm. The Power Weapon mod, "Firecracker", converts the weapon's usual ammunition into explosive rounds.
- Destiny: The most common Cabal weapon is the Slug Rifle, a gyrojet weapon that fires microrockets engineered with two-stage explosive charges: the first to penetrate armor, the second to shred the flesh underneath, very much like Warhammer 40,000's bolters. Destiny 2 allowed the player to wield one in the form of Skyburner's Oath, an Exotic Scout Rifle with the unique property of penetrating the shields of Cabal Phalanxes. Eventually, five sidearms of five of the game's elements (Indebted Kindness, Buried Bloodline, Aberrant Action, The Call, and Tinasha's Mastery) that have the ability to fire explosive rounds.
- The Division: One of the ammo types that the Agent can load into their guns are explosive rounds, that last as long as a single magazine of bullets. While they're powerful, they're also inaccurate, so it's best to use them under specific circumstances.
- Drawn to Life: The acorn shooter you carry through the second world fires bouncing acorns; these acorns will jump around wildly before splitting into three smaller explosive acorns.
- Despite being a classic "medieval weaponry only" fantasy game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim manages to include a version of this. The Dawnguard DLC introduces crossbows and three kinds of explosive bolts for them: there are Fire, Frost, and Electric bolts, which do standard physical damage on impact, then explode for ten points of the appropriate kind of elemental damage.
- Enter the Gungeon: The Explosive Rounds item gives all bullets a chance to explode on contact.
- Fallout:
- Fallout: New Vegas: The Gun Runners' Arsenal DLC added .50 MG cartridges, fired from the Anti-Materiel Rifle, that explode on impact.
- Fallout 4:
- One of the random Legendary effects that can be applied to weapons is "Explosive", with each bullet dealing 15 extra points of area-of-effect damage. This is noted to create a Game-Breaker when paired with a high rate-of-fire weapon such as the minigun, (which will have its base damage more than doubled), or a shotgun, as every single pellet is deemed to be an individual explosive projectile, making it capable of devastating almost anything at close range. However, having too many ranks of the Explosive Experts perk will double the blast radius of the detonation, which makes it very dangerous to yourself at close range.
- Some more advanced Turrets are equipped with 5.56mm Explosive rounds instead of regular 5.56 rounds. They provide a significantly higher Defense rating than conventional turrets; and visibly explode into small fireballs (and do much more damage).
- Fallout: London: One of the possible upgrades for the Heavy Machine Gun, aka the MG-42, gives it access to High Explosive Rounds, massively increasing its damage, and giving it access to area-of-effect damage.
- FBC: Firebreak: One of the Universal Mods that Firebreakers can equip to their weapons grants them the ability to shoot these.
- Girls' Frontline: FRAG-12 shells are a piece of Special Equipment exclusive to AA-12. They function similarly to ordinary slugs (increased damage and accuracy, in exchange for making a Doll only target one enemy instead of three), with the added benefit of an area-of-effect that matches her damage stat.
- Grand Theft Auto:
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
- One of the new weapons added is the Explosive Shotgun, a variant of the Automatic Shotgun (based on the AA-12) that fires explosive slugs. Although it's hampered by an unrealistically slow rate of fire, the damage boost and improved range and accuracy (hereby averting Short-Range Shotgun) more than make up for it.
- In the multiplayer component of the same standalone expansion, the Advanced Sniper (based on the DSR-1) fires explosive rounds that have a comparable payload to the Explosive Shotgun. Without the use of cheat codes (which gives it stronger explosive rounds on par with grenades and sticky bombs), the functionality of the Advanced Sniper is little different from the Sniper Rifle in single-player.
- Grand Theft Auto Online: After the "Gunrunning" DLC, players can modify certain guns in the game into Mk II variants with a plethora of customisation options, which includes explosive rounds for the Pump Shotgun Mk II and Heavy Sniper Mk II.
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
- Halo:
- The variants of the Magnum/M6 Series handgun appearing throughout the series are noted in supplementary material to utilise 12.7 x 40mm "High Explosive, Semi-Armor Piercing" ammunition, which goes some way towards explaining why some of them are ridiculously powerful Hand Cannons.
- Played with regarding one of the more esoteric weapons in the Covenant's arsenal, the Needler. It fires hails of volatile "blamite" crystal shards that explode a short while after striking a living target, inflicting gruesome injuries. If seven shards strike a target in quick succession, they "supercombine", and blow the unfortunate victim to shreds in a powerful blast.
- Helldivers 2: The R-36 Eruptor from the Democratic Detonation premium warbond is a bolt-action sniper rifle that fires "jet assisted" high explosive ammunition. The shells explode on contact and spray shrapnel in every direction. This gives it one of the highest damage outputs per shot of any primary weapon, and its explosive power means that it's able to destroy enemy spawners, as well as fences and the doors to shipping containers. It's also the only primary weapon with heavy armor piercing, allowing it to damage many enemies that would otherwise require stratagems or grenades.
- Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades features them for various weapons, some real and some completely fictitious.
- 12 Gauge shotguns can load both high explosive and fragmentation slugs though their lower velocity requires a bit of compensation at longer ranges.
- .50 BMG has the Mk. 211 multi-purpose rounds as an option.
- The NTW-20 loads these by default. Given that it's a 20mm round, these things make a bigger boom than the others.
- Meat Fortress has an All-Class weapon called the "Firewalker" modeled after the BAR and can load explosive bullets that are just as over-the-top as the source material.
- Left 4 Dead 2: One of the items that the survivors can find is a box of explosive rounds. Once found, a survivor can pick it up and set it up anytime, a set box having four uses, one for each survivor. Using the box gives you a free magazine for your current primary weapon, said magazine being made up of the explosive ammo. Hitting (un)common Infected with one of these bullets will cause a small explosion to apply splash damage to surrounding Infected, making for a good crowd clearer as well as causing every Special Infected sans the Tank to stumble. This ability to inflict a Cycle of Hurting against Infected players in Versus led to it being removed from spawning in said mode sometime in the Summer of 2010
- Marvel Rivals: The Punisher's Culling Turrent fires explosive shells that, if they hit the ground and not a target, cause splash damage that can damage anyone caught in the explosion. Of course, it's better to hit the target head-on rather than hitting the ground as the damage increases.
- Mass Effect 1 makes this available as an Equipment Upgrade, granting increased damage and knockback at the cost of massively increased heat generation — shotguns and sniper rifles will overheat from a single shot, but that one shot will be enough for most enemies.
- No More Heroes: The ironically named "Doctor Peace" is the 9th-ranked assassin and a crooked cop with a long and sordid past. Doctor Peace fights with a pair of revolvers and explosive bullets that will send Travis flying. As evident in his first cutscene, where Travis tries to knock away Dr. Peace's first shot, only for it to explode and hit him with enough force to slam him into a wall on the other side of the stadium.
- Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando: The Pulse Rifle, the game's sniper rifle, gains explosive rounds upon being upgraded to the Vaporizer. This not only boosts its damage, it also gives it an area of effect on each hit.
- Red Dead:
- Red Dead Redemption: The Liars and Cheats DLC introduced the Explosive Rifle, a unique Sniper Rifle with limited ammo and a slow rate of fire. It does, however, fire powerful explosive rounds which will reduce a target to Ludicrous Gibs on a direct hit, and can achieve a One-Hit Kill through Splash Damage alone, which can be used to kill enemies in cover.
- Red Dead Redemption 2: Explosive Cartridges/Shotgun Shells can be obtained only through crafting, combining premium ammunition (Express cartridges or Slug shells) with Animal Fat. They are particularly useful for hunting Legendary Animals which boast high health (due to their unique nature, these can be used without ruining the pelt), and can also be used to blast open safes.
- Rust: An explosive variant of the 5.56 round used by all rifles in the game can be crafted, and boasts increased damage as well as a small Area of Effect... However, in this game, it is coveted for its anti-structure properties, and is an extremely popular tool for raiding enemy players' bases.
- Saints Row: The final upgrade for the Shepard .45 in Saints Row The Third and the heavy pistol in Saints Rows IV, is explosive ammunition that gives the pistols the punch to damage vehicles as well as people.
- Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion allows TEC Rebels to research "High-Order Explosives" as a late-game upgrade to their Autocannons that adds a bomb to the bullets to deal extra damage.
- Sniper Elite: Resistance introduces High-Explosive rounds to the series, which deal area-of-effect damage at the cost of being very loud.
- Terraria: These can be crafted once Hard Mode begins, combining Empty Bullets from the Gunsmith with Explosive Powder from the Demolitionist, and have strong knockback alongside dealing a small amount of extra Splash Damage. The Party Bullets, similarly obtained through crafting, arguably also count — though in their case the explosion is one of confetti, which doesn't deal any additional damage.
- Unreal series:
- The Chaos UT ascended mod for Unreal Tournament has the CAS12 Shotgun, which contains explosive shells as one of its firemodes.
- Unreal Mission Pack: Return to Na Pali and Unreal II: The Awakening have the Combat Assault Rifle. It's your run-of-the-mill rapid-fire assault rifle, but the secondary fire gives the bullets explosive properties. In the latter game, it can be used to ignite napalm and trigger explosions.
Web Animation
- RWBY: Yang's gauntlet-guns Ember Celica have explosive shotgun shells that can explode on impact (though sometimes easily confused with the setting's overall anime physics). In Atlas, she upgrades them to fire sticky bombs that can be remotely activated as well.
Webcomics
- Grrl Power: Cora uses what's called an "unwinder round" on a supervillain who kidnapped Halo. The result is kept offscreen but a traumatized and bloodstained Halo later describes it as like a human-sized bag of lasagna being shot by a bullet that explodes and spreads lasagna over a fifty-foot radius. The comments note that the effect is reminiscent of a bolt round mixed with a Harlequin's Kiss.
Web Videos
- Doctor Who Poop: As the Dalek advances on Rose, Adam, and a guard in Dalek, the guard shoots the Dalek with one bullet, which causes it to violently explode into pieces.
Western Animation
- In Archer, Archer brings explosive shotgun shells to fight Barry, who — as a Cyborg — has proven to be immune to regular bullets. Pam is the one who actually uses them, though, to devastating effect.
- In Darkwing Duck, our hero only shoots gas cartridges from his gun, but when Gosalyn is sent to the future and he goes crazy, the gas cartridges are replaced with micro-rockets. Of course normal guns would be a big no-no for a Disney show at the time (at least until Gargoyles).
Real Life
- Incendiary ammunition first saw significant use during World War One, where incendiary bullets were provided to British Royal Flying Corps airplanes for use against German Zeppelins and observation balloons (which were filled with flammable hydrogen). Due to the St Petersburg Declaration, pilots were only permitted to use them against these targets.
- The Raufoss Mk. 211 is an explosive armor-piercing .50 BMG round produced by Norwegian state-owned defence company Nammo, and one of the more prominent examples of this trope in the modern day. Its military use has not been uncontentious, with The Red Cross calling for it to be banned under the Saint Petersburg Declaration, but its makers have argued it is intended only to be used in heavy machine guns and anti-materiel Sniper Rifles against vehicles and other equipment, not human targets.
- "Devastator" bullets have lead azide-filled centers within lacquer-sealed aluminum tips and are specifically designed to explode a second time inside a victim. They were infamously used during the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, but fortunately the bullet that struck him failed to detonate.
