Lead free environmentally friendly bullets

[john]

Archived from groups: uk.rec.shooting.game (More info?)

Hi all,

I was amazed at the Lapua lead free expanding bullets.
Has anyone used these?
Basically these bullets are made from a copper (presumably
alloy) that will retain 99.8% of its original weight. The
bullets do not break up in the wound channel and they will not
splinter on bone. They will mushroom to twice the original
diameter and will cause less contamination to the meat due to
the lead free status.
Is this the next step in making shooting lead free, will other
manufactures follow suit, will all bullets one day be lead
free? Your guess is as good as mine but these Lapua bullets
act surprisingly efficient.

John

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: uk.rec.shooting.game (More info?)

In message <Xns955B56633855EOEcopyremovedheaders@130.133.1.4>, John
<zero_one34@hotmail.com> writes

>Basically these bullets are made from a copper (presumably
>alloy) that will retain 99.8% of its original weight.

I'd take that with a pinch of salt. They claim 97% for the MEGA bullet,
which I've used on roe. One recovered bullet had shed its core, leaving
only the jacket under the hide. Fair enough, the bullet had transited
along about 9 inches of spine (angling shot) but that's no tougher than
the bones in a boar or moose. One a red deer hind's shourlder, the MEGA
erupted and destroyed the entire foreleg. (Destroyed meaning bloodshot
and unfit for human consumption.) The MEGA is a good bullet
nonetheless, but treat marketing hype for what it is. A shot fired into
ballistic gelatin at the optimum velocity may produce impressive-looking
mushroomed and intact bullets, but it doesn't replicate real world shots
or their results. I'm not knocking Lapua, all the bullet manufacturers
produce nice images and blurb to persuade us to buy their product.

>The
>bullets do not break up in the wound channel and they will not
>splinter on bone. They will mushroom to twice the original
>diameter and will cause less contamination to the meat due to
>the lead free status.

That's the marketing blurb at work again, no doubt. But I expect
they'll have their followers, advantages, and disadvantages just like
anything else in life.

>Is this the next step in making shooting lead free,

Very little in firearms technology is new. Are monolithic bullets new?
No. For example:

http://www.barnesbullets.com/

>Your guess is as good as mine but these Lapua bullets
>act surprisingly efficient.

Whatever you do, do NOT use load data for traditional lead bullets. The
pure copper/pure brass bullets are (obviously) less dense are require
their own load data. Being less dense, they have poorer ballistic
coefficients and are more affected by side winds. And being round nosed
they'll have fairly poor external ballistics to start wind. Note that
they are intended for large tough game only, not roe or fox.

--
--Jonathan

"Justice is open to everybody in the same way as the Ritz Hotel."
Judge Sturgess, 22 July 1928