Lucky
Member
Is there anything like this that a person could get to make bullets out of bronze rod? Sure would be easy, trim it, sharpen it, shoot it.
Pencil sharpener for making Bronze bullets?
- Thread starter Lucky
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Is there anything like this that a person could get to make bullets out of bronze rod? Sure would be easy, trim it, sharpen it, shoot it.
SciFiJim
Member
Because of the length of the bullets, you would probably have to sharpen before trimming. Have you sourced and priced bronze rod? How much does it run?
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I just googled it. If you use copper instead of bronze, round stock sized just above .308 runs about 21 cents an inch. It might be economically feasible. Hmm. An idea worth exploring.
.......
I just googled it. If you use copper instead of bronze, round stock sized just above .308 runs about 21 cents an inch. It might be economically feasible. Hmm. An idea worth exploring.
highorder
Member
you need to lathe turn bullets for concintricity.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
+1
Look at a sharpened lead pencil and you will almost always see one side has more removed then the other.
Plus, finding rod in the correct bullet diameter would be problematic at best.
Plus, you need driving bands machined into the bullet shank to give the rifling engraving some place to go when it gets squeezed out of the full-diameter bullet shank. Otherwise, you will have pressure and metal fouling problems.
I have made short / light .308 bullets out of brass rod on a lathe many years ago in an effort to see how fast I could get a 30-06 to shoot.
It isn't worth the trouble.
Trust me!
rc
Look at a sharpened lead pencil and you will almost always see one side has more removed then the other.
Plus, finding rod in the correct bullet diameter would be problematic at best.
Plus, you need driving bands machined into the bullet shank to give the rifling engraving some place to go when it gets squeezed out of the full-diameter bullet shank. Otherwise, you will have pressure and metal fouling problems.
I have made short / light .308 bullets out of brass rod on a lathe many years ago in an effort to see how fast I could get a 30-06 to shoot.
It isn't worth the trouble.
Trust me!
rc
Chawbaccer
Member
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I think that hand cranking out bullets, whether they were accurate or not would be an awful toil on the hands.
Not that I agree that this will work, but if your going to use a pencil sharpener, why not use an old 110V model. The old ones were geared down enough to eat your finger, I bet they would cut if you didn't force the subject.
On that note, I'm going to look into hooking up the old pencil sharpener to my brass trimmer....
On that note, I'm going to look into hooking up the old pencil sharpener to my brass trimmer....
Lucky
Member
RC how long per bullet? And does the process compare to the .408Chetacs? Any sort of CAM lathes today that would pop them off lickity split?
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Barnes is using CAM equipment to make the solid copper X-bullets.
Don't know what brand or anything else about them.
rc
Don't know what brand or anything else about them.
rc
Silverado6x6
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I would like this thread to continue in a direction such as what would we have to do to make bullets when bullets are not to be found.
Obviously a lathe is required to get an accurate bullet, Barnes is a front runner right now with several all copper bullets that are performers in ways unheard of when compared to traditional lead jacket bullets. The Triple shocks are awesome and pricy, I reload them in several calibers, recently I bought some Barnes tactical .40/10mm 155gr bullets but am having some problems getting a load worked up because these bullets are longer than a 200gr lead and are in the case very deep.
If a person uses solid copper it should have some bands cut into it like rings, it reduces the pressure on the rifling, barnes sent me a DVD showing some data on how they work.
Also having a lathe allows you to center drill the base to pour in lead also. Other than casting a lead bullet I would just make some decent copper or bronze solids for big bore hunting.
Obviously a lathe is required to get an accurate bullet, Barnes is a front runner right now with several all copper bullets that are performers in ways unheard of when compared to traditional lead jacket bullets. The Triple shocks are awesome and pricy, I reload them in several calibers, recently I bought some Barnes tactical .40/10mm 155gr bullets but am having some problems getting a load worked up because these bullets are longer than a 200gr lead and are in the case very deep.
If a person uses solid copper it should have some bands cut into it like rings, it reduces the pressure on the rifling, barnes sent me a DVD showing some data on how they work.
Also having a lathe allows you to center drill the base to pour in lead also. Other than casting a lead bullet I would just make some decent copper or bronze solids for big bore hunting.
Jim Watson
Member
The French made the solid bronze (or brass, I don't know the alloy) bullet work in 1898 as the 8mm Lebel Balle D. Surely they were lathe turned in large quantity until 1932. I have not seen one out of the case to know if it is grooved as is now considered desirable.
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