I have shot plastic sabot rounds alot and using abs, pla, pom, nylon and polycarbonate. None of them fouled the barrel to any noticeable degree when using silicone lube. All three calibers actually cleaned the bore with sabots after there was some lead fouling. Shot with .357 using .223, .457 using .257 and the 20mm using .452 and .50 projectiles. Too much fussing and talking about how bad lead is, I call it BS from the eco people. We have shot cast and handled over a metric ton of lead and none of us have any measurable exposure that is to any degree unhealthy. Oh the birds eat it, and so on... lead sinks and is not so easily soluble to water as its too heavy, as for plastic well we have a plastic waste island floating in the ocean. How much does that kill fish and birds? Speak up on not banning lead and stop thinking about what to do with our hobby. Marko
Miles,While I participate in the sideline discussions in how to make projectiles from other metals, the bottom line is that lead is hard to beat, with tin as a reasonable non-toxic second.Bismuth is another non-toxic substitute that perhaps could be considered. I think bismuth is denser than tin, but has other shortcomings. It is used for shotgun pellets to reduce lead contamination of duck and goose habitats. It looks like 10 lbs of .18" diameter bismuth shot pellets is expensive, at $200. Turning that into slugs or pellets would probably double the cost:https://www.rotometals.com/bismuth-shot-bb-18-4-60mm-alloy-for-reloading-shells-10-made-in-usa/Here, bismuth pellets are fired from an airgun:I get the impression that pure bismuth is brittle. Perhaps a tin bismuth alloy could be considered:
Miles,While I participate in the sideline discussions in how to make projectiles from other metals, the bottom line is that lead is hard to beat, with tin as a reasonable non-toxic second.
If you read up on lead bullets used in firearms there is a limit to how fast you can push them before you get leading.
Quote from: Spacebus on September 27, 2021, 12:19:56 PMQuote from: rkr on September 27, 2021, 12:02:01 PMWhat if we took a bore riding copper bullet and gave it two or three coatings with powder coat? That should increase the diameter by some 0.005-6" allowing it to seal on grooves of most barrels.Is copper pipe suitable for casting copper bullets? I'm going to try and cast my own .45 ammo this winter. Wouldn't be a big deal to get a .452 (or whatever .005-6 undersize would be for my bore) mold and sizer and cast some undersized slugs. Someone else would have to do the powder coating, although I hope to be able to do that myself in the future. I'm also curious about trying my hand at casting tin, or maybe even a tin/lead mixture that won't fragment. I want to hunt game, but don't want to eat lead contaminated meat, or at least doing my part to not contaminate it further.We always get deer sausage and often find bullet particles in them with our teeth. That lead me to believe making deer sausage was a lot easier for the butcher than I thought it was.
Quote from: rkr on September 27, 2021, 12:02:01 PMWhat if we took a bore riding copper bullet and gave it two or three coatings with powder coat? That should increase the diameter by some 0.005-6" allowing it to seal on grooves of most barrels.Is copper pipe suitable for casting copper bullets? I'm going to try and cast my own .45 ammo this winter. Wouldn't be a big deal to get a .452 (or whatever .005-6 undersize would be for my bore) mold and sizer and cast some undersized slugs. Someone else would have to do the powder coating, although I hope to be able to do that myself in the future. I'm also curious about trying my hand at casting tin, or maybe even a tin/lead mixture that won't fragment. I want to hunt game, but don't want to eat lead contaminated meat, or at least doing my part to not contaminate it further.
What if we took a bore riding copper bullet and gave it two or three coatings with powder coat? That should increase the diameter by some 0.005-6" allowing it to seal on grooves of most barrels.
OT but, you dont butcher your own kills? There is no velocity limit on where leading will start to happen, it's going to be more related to the surface finish than anything else. Rough bores gather more lead no matter what the velocity is.Marko
Quote from: subscriber on September 28, 2021, 09:19:43 AMMiles,While I participate in the sideline discussions in how to make projectiles from other metals, the bottom line is that lead is hard to beat, with tin as a reasonable non-toxic second.Bismuth is another non-toxic substitute that perhaps could be considered. I think bismuth is denser than tin, but has other shortcomings. It is used for shotgun pellets to reduce lead contamination of duck and goose habitats. It looks like 10 lbs of .18" diameter bismuth shot pellets is expensive, at $200. Turning that into slugs or pellets would probably double the cost:https://www.rotometals.com/bismuth-shot-bb-18-4-60mm-alloy-for-reloading-shells-10-made-in-usa/Here, bismuth pellets are fired from an airgun:I get the impression that pure bismuth is brittle. Perhaps a tin bismuth alloy could be considered:When I get casting tools I would be willing to try.