Depleted Uranium Ammo

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I have a piece of DU on my Frizzen on my flintlock rifle. They used to sell this
many years ago for this purpose. I have been using this for over 45 years with
no ill effects. I'm 72. It sure do make the sparks!

HammTest3.gif
 
It wouldn't really be feasible for small arms for numerous reasons. It would be prohibitively expensive to produce due to the precautions and special equipment. It would require a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to manufacture and distribute commercially and I guarantee you that's not going to happen. DU was used widely years ago as counterweights on aircraft years ago but not so much anymore. Tungsten is more common now for counterweights since it is not radioactive and does not corrode like uranium does. As others have mentioned, it's not that particularly hazardous (on par with lead) but the fact that is radioactive puts it into a whole different regime from a handling, clean up and regulatory perspective.
 
> just the keel

And the fix was in for them to get it; even depleted uranium is basically available only to defense contractors. I tried to buy some a few years ago and couldn't even get a "go away" response from the vendors handling it.

BTW, back when metallurgists found out about using chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten to make exotic high strength steel alloys, they also did a bunch of work on uranium steels. That all stopped after WWII as far as I know.
 
atomchaser the .gov spent untold amounts of money to get mercury out of the loop just to make you buy it back in these spaghetti bulbs. eh whats a little uranium laying around?
 
DU core rounds are well-documented in 7.62x51, and they do appear on the collector market from time to time. They currently sell in the neighborhood of $200 each.
 
Sunray said:
"...the APDSFS darts that big tank guns..." Yep, but it ain't just 120's and up. Used in L7 105's too.
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You are correct, I should not have limited it to 120+mm and I suspect the Russians may have DU rounds for AT guns smaller than 105mm.
 
There's no point to making it in smaller calibers since it is 1.75 the density of lead
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Definitely not practical due to cost and toxicity issues, but you have to admit that a 115-125gr .223 load would be awesome for long range paper punching. :D

Given the regulatory environment, it would probably be easier and cheaper to construct them out of gold, though...
 
IIRC, there was a showing on the Military Channel a few years back where they demonstrated a 50 cal. sniper rifle using assorted rounds. One of them was a depleted uranium round.
 
Many years ago, I read an article from, IIRC, Corbin - the bullet swaging supplier - where the claim was made that bullets could be swaged with a DU core. Now, I'm assuming they meant a jacket could be swaged around a core of correct diameter, but the context was that you could make a sporting bullet with a dense, hard core and a lead nose which would expand, but still penetrate.

The article left me puzzled - first, as already stated, DU is a heavy metal, and nasty if ingested. (Perhaps worse than lead?)

And secondly - where the heck would you GET DU, let alone in a form already in the correct size and shape?

I sure wouldn't want to be the one turning down DU rod in a lathe!
 
The Gatling gun used in the Vulcan Phalanx anti missile system used DU bullets to shoot down incoming cruise missiles. Most all capital ships have the system installed.
 
Back in the 80s, I was working for a company that made radiopharmaceuticals. Some were used for diagnostic tests and some were for treatments. Most of the shipping containers we used were lead but some of the more "active" compounds had to use the DU to prevent leakage of radiation. Lead was not dense enough to prevent such leakage.
At the time, I tried to get a piece of one of the broken canisters as I was getting in to reloading. But I was told the company had to account for every one to the NRC because of the regulations involved.

Reading about the various "special properties" here makes me think I was lucky I didn't get any of it! ;)
 
Yep!

I sure wouldn't want to try melting it in the basement at 2,070 degrees to cast bullets!

Depleted or not, it might make your teeth glow in the dark!
But the heat from the casting pot would set your house on fire for sure!

rc
 
Back in the '70's I dated a girl whose dad worked for Olin. He showed me a 20mm sabot round that contained a .50 cal DU projectile that they were experimenting with. It was suppose to extend the effective range of the 20mm a long way. I don't know if it ever went into production.
 
Depleted Uranium is controversial as it remains hazardous at the target long after it is destroyed. I seriously doubt Depleted Uranium will ever be used as a projectile with small arms or crew served weapons because there is a hazard associated with a DU round leaving the barrel.
I can see On the much heavier calibers like 25mm, 30, mm and 120mm rounds. The Depleted Uranium is heated to an extent where it becomes hazardous within the close proximity of the weapon being fired. I am not so sure if this applies to small arms or crew served weapons. It's well known that radiation sickness, cancer and deformed childbirth occur due to the fact of contamination at the target area.
 
My understanding in the use of it is that it is extremely dense and non malleable. As a result there is a huge kinetic energy dump. .5 mv squared goes to heat. Tungsten would most likely have similar properties since it is near the density of gold.
 
My understanding in the use of it is that it is extremely dense and non malleable.
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I have read that the best DU alloys are comparable in strength and hardness to fine tool steel, but with uranium's incredible density.
 
DU is pyrophoric.
It actually burns when hitting a hard target as the KE is converted to enough heat to get it started.

When a DU penetrator hits armor it sprays molten burning uranium on the other side.
In a closed space the volume is heavily contaminated.
The hazard is NOT from the radiation.
Uranium is a very potent heavy metal poison.
 
"I seriously doubt Depleted Uranium will ever be used as a projectile with small arms or crew served weapons"

It already has.
 
DU core rounds are well-documented in 7.62x51, and they do appear on the collector market from time to time. They currently sell in the neighborhood of $200 each.
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That is something I believe. Anything made of an exotic material is going to be extremely pricey. They probably cost the taxpayer (i.e., you and me) about 10x that.
 
I have a piece of DU on my Frizzen on my flintlock rifle. They used to sell this
many years ago for this purpose. I have been using this for over 45 years with
no ill effects. I'm 72. It sure do make the sparks!
Click to expand...
Same here -- cutting it to fit the frizzen sure produced the sparks, too!
 
DU is used frequently for balance weights in both commercial and general aviation. Wikipedia claims that a 747-100 has from 400 to 1,500 kg of depleted uranium.

Naturally occurring uranium contains about 0.73% radioactive isotopes. DU is "depleted" generally have 0.2% or less than natural uranium (as found in the ground). The 4.7 MeV [strike]neutrons[/strike] alpha particle emitted from uranium won't penetrate more than a few CM of air, the outer dead layers of skin, or one sheet of paper. It is completely safe to hold even weapon's grade uranium in your hand.

Mike
 
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desidog said:
Some years ago i was in a shipyard that had hosted the Louis Vuitton Cup, which decides the contender for the America's Cup. Off to one side was a keel used by one of the contenders, French IIRC, that was purportedly made of depleted Uranium... it had been discarded after the syndicate lost and didn't have the loot to ship it home with the rest of the gear. I was thinking it would be cool to make cast bullets with it, but alas, the yard wouldn't part with it for any price...
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_Duick

The 22.25m ketch Pen Duick VI was built in 1973 to an André Mauric design. She entered the 1973-74 Whitbread Round the World Race, but endured mast breakage on two occasions. Tabarly also entered Pen Duick VI in the 1976 Plymouth to Newport Singlehanded Transatlantic Race, which he won, although the boat was designed for a crew of twelve and competitors endured five consecutive ocean storms. Pen Duick VI later competed against the carbonfiber-masted Heath's Condor in the 1977-78 Whitbread Round the World Race (see Volvo Ocean Race as an unofficial entrant, due to its own exotic material - Depleted uranium ballasted keel.)
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