Swaging solid copper

[trotterlg]

How about a thick copper jacket and a core from the material that a flexable refrigerator magnet is made from? Larry

[bcp]

Originally Posted by trotterlg

How about a thick copper jacket and a core from the material that a flexable refrigerator magnet is made from? Larry

Especially if the varmints have a diet high in iron.



Bruce

[trotterlg]

Perfect, ever seen a bullet shoot a curve? Larry

[reed1911]

every time I Pull the trigger the bullet flies in a curve, its just a vertical curve from the shooters perspective.....



I e-mailed Corbin and his response was to drill a hole about 1/2 way through the tip and that should reduce the pressure in the die enough to allow the bullet to form properly and will in effect be a solid. Still would have to use a hyd. press which is no issue.

Marty K at Twisted Barrel send some HP bullets, arrived yesterday so I'll be testing them later in the week.

[iiranger]

I never got deep enough into engineering to note the temps of iron, steel, aluminum when being worked but there are no end of film of iron being rolled and often it starts with the iron/steel red hot and "fresh" from the furnaces ...

Mr. Corbin, in his many writings, mentions using plain old corn starch as a place holder in bullets, between pieces of lead core in some instances. I read this about the time he came out with the plastic "bullet balls" he sells and hasn't seemed inclined to mention it much since. (SURPRISE.) Yes, plastic would work. Wood would work. Sawdust? writes of using a copper powder/filings... (for a non lead bullet). About anything would work. Working thick copper pipe takes some appropriate tools/tooling... As long as you don't want the weight/mass of lead. The materials with the same or more mass/weight than lead are a bit harder to work, a bit less common, and a bit more expensive... gold, silver, tungsten, uranium, etc. luck.

[StevenD]

I wonder if Bizmuth can be crushed or melted to form a core. I know it's brittle and hard when used as shot. But according to Wiki, it melts at 550 degrees. That's lower than lead, I think. I've never heard of anyone melting it though. I've only seen it in solid form as shot. Specific gravity is 9.78 vs lead that's at 11.34.

Can it be crushed to powder form and placed in copper tubing, then swaged?
It wouldn't be as heavy as if it were solid, but still probably have better sectional density than steel or easily better than aluminum cores.

It's non-toxic....at least for now.