Quoted: So, mercury as a "solid" isnt really dangerous but only as a gas? So, I could play with mercury for a little while and be ok so long as I didnt breathe the fumes? Cause playin with mercury is FUN.

Any time I read or hear anything about mercury poisoning, I'm reminded of the very interesting (especially if you've never heard it before) true story behind the common expression "mad as a hatter." (No, it didn't originate with the Lewis Carroll character...):

Few people who use the phrase today realise that there’s a story of human suffering behind it; the term actually derives from an early industrial occupational disease. Felt hats were once very popular in North America and Europe; an example is the top hat. The best sorts were made from beaver fur, but cheaper ones used furs such as rabbit instead. A complicated set of processes was needed to turn the fur into a finished hat. With the cheaper sorts of fur, an early step was to brush a solution of a mercury compound—usually mercurous nitrate—on to the fur to roughen the fibres and make them mat more easily, a process called carroting because it made the fur turn orange. Beaver fur had natural serrated edges that made this unnecessary, one reason why it was preferred, but the cost and scarcity of beaver meant that other furs had to be used. Whatever the source of the fur, the fibres were then shaved off the skin and turned into felt; this was later immersed in a boiling acid solution to thicken and harden it. Finishing processes included steaming the hat to shape and ironing it. In all these steps, hatters working in poorly ventilated workshops would breathe in the mercury compounds and accumulate the metal in their bodies. We now know that mercury is a cumulative poison that causes kidney and brain damage. Physical symptoms include trembling (known at the time as hatter’s shakes), loosening of teeth, loss of co-ordination, and slurred speech; mental ones include irritability, loss of memory, depression, anxiety, and other personality changes. This was called mad hatter syndrome. It’s been a very long time since mercury was used in making hats, and now all that remains is a relic phrase that links to a nasty period in manufacturing history. But mad hatter syndrome remains common as a description of the symptoms of mercury poisoning.

Taken from www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mad2.htm

Wow, lots of input on this.

I would sure feel bad if OP sent this through the BOT and was poisoned.  Personally, I don't really believe that there would be any great result with the mercury, but I wanted to try it out when I was younger.  Just curious if anyone else was fed the same info I was.

Quoted: Ok, here is what I read... don't know how true this is. You drill from the base of the bullet and fill it with mercury, cap with lead.  When the bullet hits the target and de-accelerates, the mercuries momentum carries it forward and the pressure causes the bullet to fragment violently (explode).   It has nothing to do with putting mercury in the nose of the bullet.  That does not make sense.

Doesn't the same thing also happen in reverse when you fire the bullet?  The bullet accellerates while the mercury tends to stay still.  

BTW, when I first heard this story oh so many years ago it was supposed to be the heat causing the mercury to expand that made the large wounds.

Quoted: Quoted: Ok, here is what I read... don't know how true this is. You drill from the base of the bullet and fill it with mercury, cap with lead.  When the bullet hits the target and de-accelerates, the mercuries momentum carries it forward and the pressure causes the bullet to fragment violently (explode).   It has nothing to do with putting mercury in the nose of the bullet.  That does not make sense. Doesn't the same thing also happen in reverse when you fire the bullet?  The bullet accellerates while the mercury tends to stay still.   BTW, when I first heard this story oh so many years ago it was supposed to be the heat causing the mercury to expand that made the large wounds.

Hell, I don't know.  I wouldn't want to try it first, though.

If I remember my chemistry, the lead absorbs the mercury, all you've done is increase weight.
I dilled out some IMI die-cut 124gr. dropped in 3- #6 lead shotgun pellets, sealed the top with a small amount of epoxy. Total expansion .76" the jacket seperated, completely peeled back and razor sharp. I have no idea where the pellets went. The target was 2 1-gallon milk jugs filled with water, the first split wide open the second one basically exploded, splitting and shattering. I found the lead and jacket in the remains of the bottom of the jug.
Note; Do not use this round for CCW even if you have witnesses and it's a justified shoot, you'll be in a world of legal shit. If your doing a hit, well, you figure it out.

Quoted: I would sure feel bad if OP sent this through the BOT and was poisoned.

You ain't the only one.

But don't worry.  I'm crazy, but I'm not stupid.

Quoted: Dirty Harry was the one to have success....It's the movies.

Nope, it was the original Jackal.

Quoted: So, mercury as a "solid" isnt really dangerous but only as a gas? So, I could play with mercury for a little while and be ok so long as I didnt breathe the fumes? Cause playin with mercury is FUN.

You absorb the mercury through your skin.

Quoted: I would sure feel bad if OP sent this through the BOT and was poisoned.

Yeah, poisoning's always a risk, especially with OP nursing a boo-boo on his hand right now...