i did 7yrs in infantry 84-91... and i just had a young man tell me his buddy  who just got out used du .50 cal ammo......i dont beleve it  any info out there for me ..thanks

Good question, one I would like to know the answer to too.  I would think the stuff is probably the highes regulated ammo in existance, and what little would be on the open market would have already been snapped up by collectors.

I saw a program on the History channel or maybe the Discovery channel that was about sniper weapons.  When they got to the M-82, they mentioned that depleted uranium projectiles where used against light armor (like a Soviet BMP troop transport).

DU is used in 7.62mm and .50 Cal SLAP rounds, as well as 20mm, 25mm, 30mm auto cannon rounds and 105mm and 120mm tank rounds as well as in some cluster bombs:

thanks for the info.......1 last thing when i was in i hadn't heard of 7.62 .50 DU , when did they become availabe for issue

It's all B.S.!!! He's probably thinking of the Mk 211 Mod 0 Raufoss. They don't make .50 BMG DU rounds, if they ever did it was probably experimental.

If you want real info, contact Keith Pagel from the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association.

SLAP= Sabot Light Armor Piercing which is a .30 caliber TUNGSTEN steel penetrator fitted into a .50 cal sleeve, it's not DU.

Mk211 was the round made in that foreign country with armor piercing incendinary doodad thingamajig.

SLAP rounds are just plain cool, I remember watching a video by the marines stating they dont use it in their m82a1.

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Mk211 bullets were designed in Norway and teh company's homepage is www.nammo.com

For some more FACTS about Mk211 see: www.nammo.com/medium_calibre/multipurpose.html and www.nammo.com/medium_calibre/12,7mm/127mm.html

Kieth Pagel and his brother have the most extensive collection of 50 BMG ammo in the world including some rounds which are the only examples in private hands. Keith once told me in an email that there were not ever any production DU 50 BMG rounds if I remember correctly. If you are a FCSA member you could email him and ask him and he will graciously answer. I could be remembering it wrong but I seem to remember him saying they were a "legend".

Pardon my ignorance but what are the benefits of DU?  I keep hearing about it but don't know what it is other than the fact that it's uranium that is depleted of radioactive isotopes.  What is it good for and why?  Thanks

the mass is greater for a givin volume therfor  you have the same  size projectile but a heavier projectile . it can be easly understood. in this light........take 2 projectiles one made of steel the other of lead....it can to seen that the that the heavier bullet will be ..if all things are equal except  the metal used along with the aerodynamic properties of bullet ( cd) and keep velocity same or near that the heavier bullet will have more energy avilable  down range or on impact..........ok?  

Thanks, that's what I thought.  But why not use lead then or tungsten carbide for that matter?  Why DU?  It must have some other properties or terminal ballistic characteristics that make it superior to standard projectiles that we are accustomed to.

ok re read my last post a couple of times ....:)....... du  over lead = more weight in same area.......throw a ping pong ball  then throw a golf ball what do you NOT want to be hit with.?...this of course is a exageration but you should then understand the logic

Quoted: ....it can to seen that the that the heavier bullet will be ..

Riddle me this.  WTF?! LOL!  And what do you mean when you say the t/carbide will "tip" the DU round.  Thanks for your patience.  I'll try to read it again after I get some sleep!  

when you " tip" a round what your doing is putting the hard penetrater ( tungston carbibe..etc) over the front that is the point of the projectile.so that it can penetrate the softer metal ..

tungsten has some very dense properties and is much harder than lead. lead is plenty dense by its own right but is soft. Depleted Uranium is denser than both but only harder than lead. Its ability to "spall" instead of break apart like lead does combined with its heavy qualities allows it to transfer a sickening amount of energy to and penitrate in a way the other two materials never could. Because of this "spalling" it can even penetrate light armor when the insult to the target is at a greater angle of attack than is preferred and penitrate where a normal bullet would simply ricochet. A 20mm is my smallest example of this. The Phalanx shipboard defense system is a good example of such technology. The nose caps of many missles especially the anti ship missiles use a very thick cone or cap of tungsten or titanium so as to penitrate very deeply into the confines of the ship before the delayed detonation. shooting them with a conventional bullet might only result in a series of ricochets. Imagine trying to shoot and make a hole in something that pointy at close range while its all sitting still. Then add the swaying of a ship and the missiles flight radar altimeter raising and lowering its altitude due to wave crests and the possibility of preprogrammed "jinking".