Anyone else’s head go here?
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I totally did! Diese Pistole hat keine “Expecto” Patronen.
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I’ve only heard “Kugel” in German (in films and tv shows) to refer to bullets. “Patronen” refers to the cartridge, according to dict.cc: dict.cc | Patronen | English Dictionary
So, I guess that “Kugel” and “Patronen” are the equivalents of “bullet” (the part that flies towards the target) and “cartridge” (the containing vessel that has gunpowder, primer charge, and the bullet all together in one unit) in English.
In casual speech (in English anyway) it’s very, very common for people to refer to cartridges as “bullets” even though that’s technically inaccurate. It’s like people referring to the loading device as a “clip” when it’s technically a “magazine”. I wonder if such mistakes are also common with German firearms terminology.
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Yes, Germans will also say sometimes “Kugeln” when they mean “Patronen” and I guess most people will not even be aware of the difference between “Ladestreifen” (often also “clip” in German) and “Magazin”.
However, maybe it’s a good sign that most people in Europe are not so familar with firearms and their terminology 
.
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