Lead on both ends of a bullet??

The only bullets without an exposed lead base are TMJs or bullet that don't have lead cores. I believe jackets are bonded to the core.

There are brands of bullet that basically have a H style heavy copper jacket that has lead in the front and back that will shoot well without leaving the jacket in the bore. Think of laying the H on it's side and swaging a lead core in both the top and bottom areas. This gives good expansion with boat tail weight retention in the back provides great bullet performance.
Nosler Partition bullets are one of these that have been available since the 50's.

I have been cutting & drilling on bullets for years & have never had one come apart, & yes I have heard the stories, all I can say is (I am from Missouri) ie; Show Me, picture proof............

Eric M said:

The only bullets without an exposed lead base are TMJs or bullet that don't have lead cores. I believe jackets are bonded to the core.

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Actually Remington/UMC makes a "leadless" jacketed bullet with the lead in front. It's basically an FMJ but with the lead end in front and rounded to feed properly. Combined with lead-free primers and it basically eliminates airborne lead indoors.

Well I did not under stand your question I guess. If you take a piece of heavy walled copper gliding metal and fill it with lead using a process with flux similar to soldering to provide good bonding, swage it to the proper shape and provide a cannalure just to be sure, it will probably stay in one piece when fired. I am willing to bet that it is the cheapest way to make a semi accurate projectile with the least expensive materials if it is from Tula/Wolf. I have used soft drawn copper refrigeration tubing to make bullets and filled them with melted lead. Then swaged them to size, loaded them and shot em. I produced some wild looking .357 wad cutters that were on the light side that shot OK but were not so accurate as cast bullets IIRC. So I stopped the experiments then and there. YMMV

Actually Remington/UMC makes a "leadless" jacketed bullet with the lead in front. It's basically an FMJ but with the lead end in front and rounded to feed properly. Combined with lead-free primers and it basically eliminates airborne lead indoors.

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I think the bullets flying down range would count as airborne lead.

FIVETWOSEVEN said:

I think the bullets flying down range would count as airborne lead.

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O Snap................

haaa!

I was going to type "aerosolized" but thought that might get me yelled at by some scientist-type.

I would be willing to bet that Tula bullets were made on Cold War FMJ tooling and the hollowpoints drilled. Let the Americans take the risk of the cores blowing through.

The cavities look small, how well do they expand on game?

Original Barnes softpoints are made out of copper tubing. The jacket bottom is rolled over so that there is only a small spot of lead exposed and nobody has complained of their cores blowing through.


I expect that the cases of cores blowing through cut FMJs happened to people who thought that if a little lead exposure at the nose was good, a lot would be better. So they cut way back and left a nearly straight tube with no ogive to hold the core in.

Jim Watson said:

I would be willing to bet that Tula bullets were made on Cold War FMJ tooling and the hollowpoints drilled. Let the Americans take the risk of the cores blowing through.

The cavities look small, how well do they expand on game?

Original Barnes softpoints are made out of copper tubing. The jacket bottom is rolled over so that there is only a small spot of lead exposed and nobody has complained of their cores blowing through.


I expect that the cases of cores blowing through cut FMJs happened to people who thought that if a little lead exposure at the nose was good, a lot would be better. So they cut way back and left a nearly straight tube with no ogive to hold the core in.

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YEAH, What he said..........

Especially with lower power rounds and longer barrels the resistance of the jacket against the bore can overcome the inertia of the round. The jacket sticks and the core seperates. Instant blockage.

I saw it happen once with a .38 revolver and Speer JSPs. No through hole for gas pressure to blow the core out, the jacket just stopped from friction on a too-light load and the core kept going. It even hit the target, so the shooter fired again and bulged his barrel.