Using/making aluminum bullets?

[gunrun45]

So, say a guy was sitting on a bunch of aluminum...
I know the prices to recycle the stuff make this a little cost prohibitive but is it possible? Adviseable? anybody ever try it?

I was looking at my stockpile of Aguila IQ ammo today and started to wonder how easy it would be to cast some of my own in FMJ...

God knows I have lots of CCI casings laying around at various ranges. Could somebody melt them down and "roll their own"?

Sorry if this is an FNG question.

[tteng]

I'll take a stab (w/ no prior experiences),

Let's look at density and melt-point of three materials (for comparison): lead, brass, and aluminum.

Lead: 11340 (kg/m3), 621 (F).
brass: 8400, 1800.
AL: 2700, 1220.

So to melt brass or AL, your furnace has to get going.

Say, if you have the furnace, would your steel mold work (heat dissipation, material-to-material adhesion)? To experiment, you might mill a pocket on a steel blank and pour some molten metal in it and see how fast it cools and how easy to get it out.

Say, you dealt w/ the mold property. What size of mold do you need? I look at the mass ratio of Lead/AL (or lead/brass): 1/0.24 ( 1/0.75). So for brass bullet, a typical-sized mold for lead bullet will, more or less, work too. Whereas a similar sized AL bullet will weight 1/4 as much as a lead bullet. Too light, may be? (You could bump up the bullet length 4x to match the weight)

Would brass(like FMJ) or AL bullets go down a steel barrel? Probably yes (verify material hardness first).

Before I go on(and I'm skipping a lot of details here), I have to ask myself: do I feel comfortable w/ the physics and engineering aspects of this experiment (educated guesses & trial-error) and time/material spent?

If I were to make brass or AL bullets (you know, hunting in no-lead zone), I might try lathing them from blank bar first, and a lot of reloading/test-firing.

[30Cal]

Isn't the surface going to be Aluminum Oxide (which they make sandpaper from)?

[hung380]

its better to just run it out of round stock through a cnc screw machine or lathe with an automatic bar feed. pouring aluminum into a mold will not give you the rite dimensions because of the parting line/ burrs. Bullet dimensions are met after running them through a lathe/screw machine. Im no pro and this is JMHO.

[gunrun45]

Wow...
Lots of info for a FNG to reloading!
So how do you guys think somebody like Aguila does it?

[Fjold]

As cast, the diameter of the aluminum bullets will differ significantly from lead bullets out of the same molds.

[ar15barrels]

its better to just run it out of round stock through a cnc screw machine or lathe with an automatic bar feed. pouring aluminum into a mold will not give you the rite dimensions because of the parting line/ burrs. Bullet dimensions are met after running them through a lathe/screw machine. Im no pro and this is JMHO.

Do you happen to run cnc screw machines?
I'm looking for someone to run me some bullets...

[BillCA]

Isn't the surface going to be Aluminum Oxide (which they make sandpaper from)?

Short answer - yes, especially if you cast them.

If you turn them from barstock, I'd think it would take a little while for new oxide to coat the bullet.

Either way, you're gonna have a heck of an abrasive bullet. You'd have to lube the snot out of 'em I'd think.

[Rob P.]

One thing which should be brought to the surface here.

BRASS bullets are illegal. You can use copper, alum, etc., but NOT BRASS. (or beryllium copper, and a few other metals). There was a link here to the US code on this a few days ago but I'm too tired to look for it.

[ar15barrels]

There was a link here to the US code on this a few days ago but I'm too tired to look for it.

When you wake up enough, I would like to see it.
Does it have to do with armor piercing ability or something?

[Scarecrow Repair]

I think your biggest problem would be the light weight. His figures show aluminum having 1/4 the density of lead; a 55gr bullet would weigh 14gr in aluminum. I think it would have pretty distinctive ballistics. I suppose it would start out real fast, would it be twice as fast for 1/4 the weight (momentum = mv**2 I think) adjusted downwards for the gases not expanding fully? and then it would slow down like it was dragging a parachute.

[tteng]

Just saw a pic. of Aguila IQ bullet (and base on its description): zinc-alloy w/ three vertical slits on the outside. Since it'll penetrate hard target and split hitting soft. My guess: there might be a circumference-cut inside the hollow, so when the soft-tissue squirts in, it exert a side pressure to peel-out/break-off the side. The three vertical slits allows peel-cracks to form.

Imagine 1/3 of outside as an individual vertical tree-trunk w/ a horizontal cut half way thru. Hitting a hard target will be like pushing down the trunk and it'll hold. Hitting soft is like pushing it sideway and it'll topple.

Anybody know how it really works?

[gazzavc]

What about pewter ?

Or an additive to the lead to make it into a different compound/alloy?

Something to think about for the budding chemists out here.....

[6079Winston]

I remember brass being a no-no for handgun bullets, but O.K. for rifles. Not sure which alloy to use for your .50BMG, but Midway has Winchester primed brass to load it into. I'm sure you could use Aluminum for bullets, but it probably wouldn't be cost effective compared to lead when tooling and energy costs were factored in. I would sell the aluminum and buy lead.

[scrat]

Aluminum. a few things. Weight would be too light. Thus your loads are going to be totally experimental. Then due to the weight the accuracy would suck. Now lubing would be an issue. Copper, brass have natural lubricant properties in them. Aluminum does not. My guess is that the alluminum would leave a lot of deposits down the barrel. However they would be easy to brush out. Just your accuracy would suck.

Now someone mentioned pewter. Pewter has lead in it. However i believe one of the ingreadiants is also zinc. Thus pewter toys figurines all look great. However you would have problems trying to fill out the mold and just plain dealing with pewter. Then the cost is subsatially higher. So im not too sure where i see the benefit in either one of them.