Aluminum bullet????

caporal

caporal

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Hi everyone

Not sure it will be a great thing but i'v got an idea

Yesterday I had to go to the machine shop of the company that I work & i saw something that give me a silly idea. Let me explain, on the CNC lathe they were turning a large amount of small aluminum part that one end closely resemble to a hand gun bullet.

A flash immediatly start in my head, why not turning some real bullet?

I ask the operator if it is possible to do so & he told me that with a bar feeder it could turn easily 5/16" alum. rod into .32 cal bullet, 3/8" into 9mm or 1/2" into .45,

Sound interesting we discuss a lot more about it & roughly he think it could be possible to turn 250 to 500 bullet per hour depending of the exact shape.

Now

Could it be safe?

Will it cause fouling in barrel?

any help

Thanks

Larry"Corporal"Marcotte
 
The aluminum is too light to make a good bullet. Any decent weight bullet would be so long it would not stabilize.

Now if you want the guy to turn you some brass, copper, or bronze bullets they would work but it would be a costly venture.
 
Depends. Are you using them in a railgun?:)
I think it's be to light to be ballistically stable, but that's just a guess. Might not be good for the barrel as aluminium is harder than normal bullet jackets, also, to get the appropriate grain wieght in aliminium compared to lead it'd be a pretty large bullet, right?

Just off the top of my head. I could be wrong.
 
I'll need some silver bullets for this years upcomming Warren Zevon memorial werewolf hunt....
 
I have seen aluminum bullets used in light loads on an indoor range.

They make a bright green flash when they hit metal targets.
 
One thing that is not good about aluminum is the oxide. If the surface oxidizes at all, the result is a very hard abrasive that would definitely be detrimental to a rifle bore. If they were plated with something, that might eliminate such a risk. No aluminum bullets will see any of my rifle/pistol bores. Regards, Eagleye.
 
I agree with Maynard, if galling occurred it would make cleaning a leaded barrel look like a picnic, aluminum may make a good mat'l. for tips of bullets, like silvertips, or plastic tips.
 
Aluminum

Spanish Army experimented with aluminum bts in the 50s. They put a GM driving band on it to get around the abrasive problem mentioned above. an 8mm 105 gr bt was about 1 1/2" long.
 
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'Boo said:
Now if you want the guy to turn you some brass, copper, or bronze bullets they would work but it would be a costly venture.
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My work has the capabilities to do this. Brass for sure, we run it all the time in the CNCs. Would this actually make a decent bullet material?
 
Brass makes a pretty good bullet material. I remember reading about a guy who used a .300gr solid slug in a .44. Passed right through a black bear, I imagine it would get expensive pretty fast though.
 
B said:
Brass makes a pretty good bullet material. I remember reading about a guy who used a .300gr solid slug in a .44. Passed right through a black bear, I imagine it would get expensive pretty fast though.
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Interesting. I'll inquire tomorrow. I've had samples for things made up for nothing, and working there I can get material and things done for very cheap.
 
I read something about one of ernest hemmingways companions casting bronze bullets at the campfire, in preparration for the nes days big game hunt. Coul be BS, or I could have the name wrong, but from what I understand, bronze makes a great heavy game bullet.

I understand that bronze is used rather than lead because it is heavy enough and yet harder than lead, so it will penetrate thick masses of hide, bone, and muscle.
 
Cerdan said:
Wouldn't brass be hard on the rifling though? Seems a bit too hard.
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I was thinking that too. But people recommend brass as a rod to pop out a squib, or brass cleaning rods, etc.

Does anyone know if the hardness of brass varies based on composition?
 
It would definitely accelerate wear, but I doubt you have enough money to burn out a bareel with brass bullets. It'd still be in the tens of thousands IMO. But hey what do I know?
 
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