Talk:Silver bullet

Can anyone give a precise definition of where this term was coined? (Arguably in some early werewolf story, but which one)? Nixdorf 07:38, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC)

For the record, at a disambiguation page I bypassed, it was mentioned that: I don't know whether these warrant inclusion to the article. Aapo Laitinen 21:06, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Take a silver bullet means to make a sacrifice
 * Silver Bullet is also a Rollercoaster at Knott's Berry Farm
 * Never mind, having a disambiguation page was the right thing to do. Aapo Laitinen 22:19, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Authentic folklore?
If the vulnerability of werewolves to silver bullets is not authentic folklore, but was introduced in the 1940s, how could Potocki have known about it? Burschik 10:21, 14 March 2006 (UTC)


 * It actually is authentic folklore and comes from the legend of Beast of Gévaudan. I changed the article to reflect this.


 * According to the article about the Beast of Gévaudan, the silver bullet story was introduced by 20th century novelists (e.g. Chevalley, 1936). OTOH, this article claims but does not document a reference from around 1700.  I think we need a solid reference for this and added the fact template.  75.15.157.153 (talk) 09:23, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Someone should mention The Lone Ranger, as he used silver bullets. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.210.18.240 (talk) 17:00, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Silver bullets didn't get associated with werewolves (in the literature) until the 1880's from what I can tell. . And it didn't get associated with Jean Chastel and the Beast of Gevaudan until (probably) 1970 - but possibly 1962. The 1970 date is more likely, as the author (John Keel) is a much more frequently cited reference in paranormal lore. He's notable for making Mothman famous, for example. But since I tracked down all this stuff myself - does that make this original research? I dunno. I think it may make me ineligible to edit the pages?? But I provide links to all my sources in the write up. So anyone else can see that these sources are accurate. Trevor Sinclair (talk) 12:05, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Vampire
Isnt silver bullet used to kill vampire too?

Bram Stoker's Dracula, Chapter 18: "a sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him so that he be true dead"

Other stories contain references to vampires being killed by silver bullets, including Kohta Hirano's Hellsing, although that is a 20th century reference.

--I agree. Since vampires are folkloric, saying that vampires are not affected by silver bullets is silly, since each story has a slightly different version of vampires.167.206.48.220 (talk) 17:11, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

I disagree. Dracula is an 1897 novel, not medieval folklore, and the vampire article currently makes no mention of the metal silver at all. 75.15.157.153 (talk) 09:36, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Silver Bullet
It's also a pretty common type of sex toy - a small, silver (duh) bullet or egg shaped vibrator. Perhaps best for inclusion somewhere around the Martini/slang portion of the entry.

Lead vs Silver
"Functionally, however, silver is both lighter and harder than lead and makes inferior bullets, at least for modern firearms."

Silver has a Brinell hardness of 24.5 MPa (Source Wikipedia: Silver) Lead has a Brinell hardness of 38.3 MPa (Source Wikipedia: Lead). This would make lead a bit harder than silver.

Wouldn't a bullet being torn apart cause more damage than one that stayed whole? Regardless, I would like to call into question the reason for comparing Silver to Lead right in the middle of the folklore section. Is this really necessary or appropriately placed? It seems rather irrelevant either way. 159.242.252.197 (talk) 13:30, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

"It should be noted that actual silver bullets are less dense than lead bullets. As a result they have less momentum..." I would have thought if the energy of the explosive in the gun was constant, then the lighter silver bullet would have a higher velocity, and the momentum would therefore be the same. Mhkay (talk) 18:39, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

It may have a equal or higher initial velocity but it would quickly lose it.Think a baseball vs a ball from a ball pit thrown a equal velocity the baseball will travel further and farther and hit harder — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1004:B024:2A82:4049:4E89:F007:3355 (talk) 04:37, 14 April 2018 (UTC)
 * That's actually a good point. There are a number of subtleties to the ballistics here, and the material shouldn't be present without some referenced discussion of that. Mintrick (talk) 19:11, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Examples of use
Are entirely irrelevant. Honestly, the entire page's existence is questionable on Wikipedia; this is pure dictionary material. Mintrick (talk) 00:39, 26 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Then nominate it for deletion. Until then, those example ARE relevant. Just saying they are not is your POV and meaningless. You apparently are so busy deleting material you don't have 5 minutes to think about why you are deleting things other than vague hand waving. Be specific. Green Cardamom (talk) 04:18, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Reorganization
The article was previously about the idiom. I have reorganized it to focus on the folkloric use of silver bullets, with the appropriate nod to its general use as an idiom. Mintrick (talk) 13:26, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Origins of the Silver Bullet?
The silver bullet being used to kill werewolves did not start with Hollywood. There is at least one historical reference to this from 1767 when Jean Chastel used a silver bullet to kill the Beast of Le Gevaudan.

"Chastel said that he prepared himself according to certain ancient traditions. His double barrel musket was loaded with bullets made from a silver chalice which had been blessed by a priest." -The Werewolf Book written by Brad Steiger, and he was of course quoting older works.


 * I think this needs better documentation. See the "Authentic folklore?" question.  75.15.157.153 (talk) 09:42, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

I would love some more input about the ballistics of a silver bullet. I'm not expert, but I am an avid shooter, and I know my way around a gun. That bit about silver bullets being to hard to be effected by the rifling doesn't sound right. Silver is much softer than a full metal jacket round and our soldiers have been using these effectively for many decades. So what gives? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Solaris Argentum (talk • contribs) 15:02, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

As a note: Winchester makes a "silver-tip bullet" and it is available on their product line. However, I am unaware of any research supporting its integration. Twillisjr (talk) 16:18, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Grimm's fairy tales. Buttons vs. Bullets.
I was the one who originally added the sentence about Grimm, and it has now twice been changed to silver bullets fired from a gun(which is kind of redundant). In Jack Zipes' English translation it says "but the witch was protected against lead bullets... the huntsman knew just what to do: he took off three silver buttons from his jacket and loaded his gun with them, for her witchcraft was powerless against them"(Tale 60 - The Two Brothers). It's a minor thing, but the fact that my edits were first changed and then reverted without explanation offends me a little. If people had changed it to silver bullets while deleting fired from a gun I might be a little more understanding, perhaps it's useless details, but if we're keeping fired from a gun - there's no reason not to include the fact they're buttons. Jethro 82 (talk) 16:44, 5 May 2017 (UTC)


 * I didn't see any edit explanation and assumed it was vandalism. Thanks for explaining. Editor2020 (talk) 01:17, 6 May 2017 (UTC)

Antibacterial effects of Silver
Unintended coincidence in this article's first paragraph, or a curiously apt metaphor? — "penicillin was a silver bullet that allowed doctors to treat and successfully cure many bacterial infections" — Whole article here on Medical uses of silver. Fascinating. Rairden (talk) 06:58, 10 March 2020 (UTC)