I could see where suddenly a person could get themselves into a lot of trouble if they made use of solid copper or bronze projectiles with the 308Winchester or the 223Remington.
If one of the first sections stating the construction of AP type ammo was to be strictly followed,[I]"(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper"[/I].
What would be the result to the typical shmoe out there who handloads with the available copper solids on the market?
Like the Barnes solids made of copper/zinc. I'm not sure what their hardness is but for awhile now I've been meaning to try the 165grn 30cal. spire point solid in my 300WinMag to compare it to known results of other bullets, I know what 190grn SMKs will do as well as, uh... other bullets fired from same 300WinMag. Also curious about their 110grn and 125grn copper solids at something rediculous like 3400-3500fps for the 125s and 3600-3700fps for the 110s, hmmmmmmmm.
I've got a 1 1/4 inch steel plate with some pretty wicked battle scars on it, the Barnes solids will be interesting. If that copper melts, like I'm thinking it will, it may put quite a nasty hole in the steel.
Checking Barnes website, they've got .224 offerings as well. These silly regs on construction and availability of handguns in these chamberings really makes you wonder.
Ofcourse these regs were meant for more typical low powered handgun rounds and the ability for the stupid things to defeat soft body armour thanks to special design/construction. We all know it won't make much of a difference if a 223Rem. or 308Win. chambered handgun was using lead core bullets or solid core true AP ammo.
Now I'm rambling for sure. It's just that this stuff fascinates me, it's cool to see just what can and cannot put a hole through might thick chunks of steel or through really hard plate. Then see how a little change in construction might lead to success as opposed to failure.