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Posted: 2/16/2011 3:23:04 PM EDT
| My buddy has about a hundred pounds of copper he's gonig to recycle. I think to myself "Let's figure out how to make bullets out of it." So, can you cast solid copper bullets or is it not worth the trouble? I have no experience casting nor the equipment. Please enlighten me. |
barnes makes copper bullets not arfcom guys.
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Quoted:
Definitely sell the copper and buy lead. You'll likely get 300-400 bucks for that copper with prices where they are right now. Closer to half that last time I checked the scrap yard here actually. Buying lead is gonna run you pretty close to a buck a pound from maintstream sources. |
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The solid copper bullets you see from Barnes and the like are usually swagged using hydraulic presses. Others are turned on a CNC lathe.
You could conceivably machine some high pressure dies where you sandwich some copper in between and run it through a pneumatic press. If the copper were cast, there would likely be trapped air pockets once it cooled down and would dramatically affect accuracy. |
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Turning pure copper pieces into bullets would work for a short while.... they will copper foul teh hell out of your barrel.
Sell that stuff and buy some good factory bullets! Barnes and Hornady use gilding metal in their "all copper" bullets, not pure copper. -ZA |
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Quoted: The solid copper bullets you see from Barnes and the like are usually swagged using hydraulic presses. I would bet they are turned. Copper is way to hard to swage. Copper bullets are made by screw machining copper rod. The Barnes bullets I have appear to be turned. very slight chatter marks in the relief grooves. |
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Definitely sell the copper and buy lead. You'll likely get 300-400 bucks for that copper with prices where they are right now. Closer to half that last time I checked the scrap yard here actually. Buying lead is gonna run you pretty close to a buck a pound from maintstream sources. Then you obviously haven't checked lately. Just a little over a week ago I turned in 110 lbs of copper jackets left over from range scrap that I smelted and walked out with $302. That was at the lower end of the scale since it was dirty range scrap. Clean copper was selling for $4.50/lb. |
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Definitely sell the copper and buy lead. You'll likely get 300-400 bucks for that copper with prices where they are right now. Closer to half that last time I checked the scrap yard here actually. Buying lead is gonna run you pretty close to a buck a pound from maintstream sources. Then you obviously haven't checked lately. Just a little over a week ago I turned in 110 lbs of copper jackets left over from range scrap that I smelted and walked out with $302. That was at the lower end of the scale since it was dirty range scrap. Clean copper was selling for $4.50/lb. Last week I checked. Copper over here is only running about $2.25 a pound clean. Different locations vary though. |
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Quoted: I'm looking at the Barnes XPB handgun bullets and the hollow cavity is formed by a die. http://www.gunblast.com/images/Taurus_500/MVC-769F.jpg Assuming they are formed, a punch formed the cavity. A die may have been used to close it up though. Sorry...force of habit. Correct terminology is one of my pet peeves. At work, the tool cribs use names for things that aren't even related to the item or are the opposite of the item. Example: There are no mandrels, everything is an arbor. it was hell trying to get stuff for the first few months I worked there.  |
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Case Brass is the best brass for making bullets and they are easier to make being turned on a lathe.
Brass bullets |
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Quoted:
I'm looking at the Barnes XPB handgun bullets and the hollow cavity is formed by a die. http://www.gunblast.com/images/Taurus_500/MVC-769F.jpg I would bet they are drilled and then a punch to form the inside and a die to maintain the outside dimensions. Even dead soft copper does not flow like lead under swaging. |
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