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aluminum bullet

Bamavol
Has anyone done research on light weight bullets? Maybe aluminum.
It would seem that, all things equal, a light bullet would have a higher muzzel velocity. This should have an advantage in a snub nose 38 at close range. I can see that it would not be good for a rifle at 200 yards because a low density bullet would not hold velocity. I have not done any calculations but if I 1/2 the weight and 2X the velocity I can deliver more terminal energy.
True? Why not?
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Comments

11 comments

Date Votes
  • tsr1965
    Bamavol,

    It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish...deliver energy or momentum. That depends on the type of targets you are engaging too. Energy, itself can be a fictitious number when it comes to the terminal performance of any given bullet. Especially performance on big critters that can get you.

    The aluminum would not loose as much sped as you think at all, in a rifle. It would be longer and have a higher BC than the standard construction like we know it. The Barnes line of "X" bullets are similar in theory, being all copper. They do show a higher BC normally weight for weight.

    I am somewhat sure that somewhere along the line the experimentation with light alloys has been done. We remain at the best compromise.

    Best
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  • Hawk Carse
    It has been done.
    There was a copper jacketed aluminum cored bullet in the CETME line of development. It was a very long sharp boattail spitzer and just looked mean. I have not seen any shooting report on it and they did not stick with it; simpler just to go along with the NATO gang and shoot copper, lead, and steel.

    I once read an article about a shooter who loaded plain lathe turned aluminum bullets in .30 carbine and shot them out of a rolling block pistol. Velocity was very high, accuracy was very poor.

    There has been a fair amount of work done with zinc bullets. Heavier than aluminum but easier to work with, it can be cast in ordinary equipment, and still a lot lighter than lead. I am pretty sure the Aquila IQ bullet was zinc.

    The question is, is high energy enough? Can you deliver it to the target in an effective manner? Aluminum is hard enough not to expand at even high pistol velocity. I expect a hollowpoint would either not expand at all or would fragment. The Aquila IQ was scored so as to break into three pieces, often four as the base separated from the petals. Not much used here but thought a nasty projectile in Latin America.
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  • Txs
    quote:Originally posted by Bamavol
    I can see that it would not be good for a rifle at 200 yards because a low density bullet would not hold velocity.It also wouldn't hold velocity upon entering any medium.

    Such a soft material combined with very light weight would result in a very shallow wound.

    Take a look at CorBon ammo for a good balance using very light weight/very high velocity bullets.
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  • MrOrange
    There was a line of handgun ammo with lightweight bullets made of brass, I believe, that looked basically like a short section of tubing, with the leading edge beveled and a plastic plug at the base to let the gases drive it that fell off after the bullet left the muzzle.

    It had very high velocity and impressive energy numbers, but instead of producing AWESOME, DEVASTATING WOUND CHANNELS!! it simply drilled through targets and had about the same incapacitation ability as an ice pick.

    I remember testing years ago that came to the conclusion that in order to get any shock effect simply from velocity, a projectile needs to get into the 2,000 fps range.

    There was also Uncle Elmer's experiments w-a-a-y back when "hydrostatic shock" was the latest pop firearms science. A friend of his machined some solid brass bullets with artillery-like driving bands for, IIRC, .220 Swift. These would hopefully stay in one piece to eliminate any fragmentation damage effects. Elmer loaded them up to 4,000+ fps and shot some jack rabbits. The first one was feeding when he hit it right in the lungs broadside. Instead of kersploding in a red mist, it sat up, scratched it's side with a rear leg, looked around, and went back to feeding.

    Calculated energy numbers are one thing, but you want a bullet to be able to do some work on a target.

    Mass is constant, velocity is effervescent.
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  • BGHillbilly
    Based on the price of ammo, I think they must be experiminting with gold or silver. Gold should be pretty comparable balistically to lead.
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  • BHAVIN
    Aqulia made and may still make handgun ammo called the "IQ" touted as "The First Intelligent Bullet" with an aluminum bullet. The 45 ACP was 117g & the 9mm was 65g. Huge hollow point but they fed well. I know they made 9mm, 40 S&W and 45acp.
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  • 11b6r
    Did some experimenting with lathe turned aluminum .357 bullets about 25 yrs ago. Goal at the time was self defense load with very sharply limited overpenetration, limited range. IIRC, they weighed out at about 40 grains with the alloy we were testing. Came out of the tube with a KER-RACK that was similar to a tank firing sabot. Unfortunately accuracy was horrible- while soft, the alloy was much harder than lead, and at those velocities, tended to strip thru the rifling. BTW, that "cookie cutter" that MrOrange mentioned managed to make the ATFs list of forbidden ammo- tended to clip neat holes thru kevlar.
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  • Mr. Perfect
    quote:Originally posted by 11b6r
    Did some experimenting with lathe turned aluminum .357 bullets about 25 yrs ago. Goal at the time was self defense load with very sharply limited overpenetration, limited range. IIRC, they weighed out at about 40 grains with the alloy we were testing. Came out of the tube with a KER-RACK that was similar to a tank firing sabot. Unfortunately accuracy was horrible- while soft, the alloy was much harder than lead, and at those velocities, tended to strip thru the rifling. BTW, that "cookie cutter" that MrOrange mentioned managed to make the ATFs list of forbidden ammo- tended to clip neat holes thru kevlar.

    with the wrong alloy they'd have been work hardened beyond belief. I wouldn't think AL bullets would be desirable in any way that I can think of. For starters the material is super expensive when compared to traditional bullet materials, and likely you'd need a specialized alloy further driving up cost.
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  • leeblackman
    Don't the 9mm Nato Armor Piercing bullets have aluminum cores? Something to do with getting them to a high enough velocity to defeat woven body armor, but still retain density after penetration.

    If I'm not mistaken aluminum is harder than lead and copper, but alot lighter. So it would make sense. Maybe as hard as some steel but because of the light weight it can obtain way higher velocities without additional powder charge or barrel length.
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  • Bamavol
    Thanks for the replies. Lots of good info. I know that Al can be produced in a wide range of hardness. And even in dead soft it is still harder than lead. But not much. As in my post, I think this would work best in 38 or 44 special. It would not need to expand to hurt a lot. I also think that velocity would have to be in excess of 2000 fps. It may not be possible to tame accuracy issues. It may require special rifling, but at short range accuracy may be OK.
    I did not know Aquila did this of ammo. Thanks again.
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  • sandwarrior
    Bamavol,

    There was an aluminum tipped bullet used by the British around the turn of the last century. Shot from the Enfield it was named the Mk VII. The bullet had an aluminum tip but a lead/copper body. It was found it had an extreme tendency to tumble when it hit. Because the heavier lead/copper didn't want to follow the lighter aluminum (pronounced al-u-min-e-um by the Brits[:D]). As fars pur aluminum goes it hasn't been a workable alloy for bullets.
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