Posted: 1/24/2003 8:15:53 PM EDT
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Any of you have any experience with powdered tungsten bullets? I got one of those Corbin bullet swage presses. I have been playing around with some 6mm designs in lead in the last week. All I have to say is neat!! I have read that powdered tungsten is 1.7 times heaver than lead. So I picked up a small bottle from Corbin. So I'm using 22 cases as the jacket and 59.5 grains of tungsten, for a total weight of 70 gr. Well I'm ending up with a bullet the same length as a .224 55gr FMJ. So my question is.... What do they look like when you hit something?? [img]webpages.charter.net/FatMcNasty/bulle002.jpg[/img] These are my first attempts the two on the right are 50 gr lead. The two on the left are 70 grain tungsten. I haven't had a chance to get any loaded so I cannot speak of the accuracy. If this post dosnt fit here please move to proper area. |
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My sister works sales in the sintered metal industry. They've been approached by several bullet manufacturers, including Olin (Winchester) concerning the use of sintered (powdered) metals in bullets. So far, there's been a lot of talk but they haven't made the sales. Sintered/powdered tungsten in bullets would increase the mass (weight) but would retain frangibility that one solid (jacketed) projectile would not. Edited to add: The reason that sintered tungsten is suggested is that machining a rod of tungsten into bullet shape is prohibitively expensive, and melting tungsten into shape would be very difficult, if not impossible. Under pressure, sintered tungsten would come close to solid density, but without becoming one solid block. |
| The reason I'm making these is where I varmint hunt there is a lot of irrigation pipes. I'm looking for something that wont ricochet. But that has enough hit to splat the critters. The jacket material is .015 thick. A standard varmint bullet jacket is .030-.032. I have been told by David Corbin that the fastest I can drive them is 3300. Any thing faster they explode in mid air. With the tungsten you en up with a bullet that's 20-25% smaller than the lead version. Imagine a 80rg 223 REM that you can feed from a mag that likes the regular barrel twist. MMMM that would be cool! |
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Congrats! Welcome to the world of bullet swaging! That 3300 fps is a moving target. I am not using your jackets and never used anything but 3/16 lead wire or #9 shot, but if you have any problems you should drop velocity. .015 jackets and non-one piece cores might be asking a bit much for 3300 fps. EDIT: I used my 22RF jackets and #9 shot on popcans filled with water, and just little jacket fragments hit the other side when hit in the center 1/3. On a milk jug filled with water, NOTHING hit the other side. :)You haven't tried out 22RF jackets? If you have a high frustration threshold, go ahead! |
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I would be interested in hearing about the accuracy you see with your powdered tungsten bullets. Please shoot some 5 shot groups, then let me know. I have shot the 87 grain and 103 grain PT bullets from Powell River Labs; the 87 gr shoots great, the 103's just okay. |
| Just a thought here. Would a small amount of powdered lead mixed with the tungsten help fill any small voids when swaged into the jacket? i know that the tungsten powder wont deform and completely fill all voids but with a small amount of lead you might get a more consistant ballistic coeficient. My .02 |