all copper bullet?

[mattinPA]

hello
I am thinking of getting into bullet making but would like to know if I can do this with just copper and if the molds for lead would work for this?
I am a electrician and get alot of scrap copper from work and would like to melt it down to make bullets. If I can do this I could save $$$

thanks for any help
matt

[Graybeard]

The melting point of copper is 1984.32 °F which is darn nearly three times that of lead. I don't see much hope of using normal lead casting equipment for such an endeavor. I think you're best bet would be to sell the copper for scrap prices which are quite high and use the money to do what you want using lead or just buy them someone else has made as you wish.

[Lloyd Smale]

aint going to work. Copper is cast with pressure

[mattinPA]

thanks for the quick replies.
I do sale copper for cash at the scrap yard for my gun habit So I still want to make bullets but with led and lyman has a master casting kit . Would this be a good start?
thanks matt

[iiranger]

Just to "stir the pot"... Mr. Dave Corbin offers swaging equipment for making bullets without all the heat... Just high pressures. POINT: He sells a form of copper "dust"/"powder" that permits you to squeeze (swage) a bullet that is all copper with or without a jacket. He also sells the powder/dust. I guess this is an attempt to make a "lead free" bullet for indoor ranges and the like. No idea how this fits in your plans, but a visit to his site (corbins.com) cannot hurt you except, maybe, a headache from all the information. luck/happy trails.

[totallycustom]

Copper is very difficult to cast, has to have other chemicals added in and removed before casting and even then the results are sub par, pressure does help some.   I did a lot of metal-smithing in college and studied the process a lot and never had much success with copper for casting.

[Lloyd Smale]

another thing to keep in mind is a solid copper bullet in a handgun isnt legal. Thats why the punch bullets from belt mountain have a small lead core to them

[safari]

another thing to keep in mind is a solid copper bullet in a handgun isnt legal. Thats why the punch bullets from belt mountain have a small lead core to them

Lloyd, are you serious?  Does this mean that all the Barnes DPX handgun bullets are illegal? Someone needs to alert Barnes that they are marketing an illegal product if this is true.  I realize you prefer cast bullets for your handgun endeavors, but I cannot let this one go by with out a rebuttal. Please, I'm not trying to be quip or sarcastic by any means, but let  me know where an all copper handgun bullet is illegal, so I won't make the mistake of hunting there with the wrong bullets-

[Lloyd Smale]

im talking a solid copper bullet not a copper hollow point bullet.

[totallycustom]

Well it seems that there is a gray area regarding the BATFE regulations outlawing armor piercing bullets in handguns in regard to these solid copper bullets.  I am not totally familiar myself, but I know that .223 pentrator type bullets are illegal in handguns. 

Maybe someone a little more knowledgeable about such things could fill us all in.

-TC-

[totallycustom]

I did some more snooping and found the BATFE website regarding this information, follow the link and decide for yourselves. 

It actually doesnt say anything about copper only "beryllium copper"

http://www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/legal/armor.htm

[Lloyd Smale]

I know when Kelye first made his all copper punch bullets the batf balked at then and called them a solid bullet and illegal. What he did was drill them out and insert a very small amout of lead wiht a tiny hp that is filled even with the top of the bullet to get around it. The way he did it it works as well as the solids did anyway.

[totallycustom]

This is confusing, it doesn't say anything about solid  pure  copper bullets, but it does have a rule about the weight of the jacket.

Quote from the ATF

" Under Title 18, UNITED STATES CODE, CHAPTER 44 as amended by Public Law 103-322
The Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (enacted September 13, 1994) 18 U.S.C. CHAPTER 44 § 921(a)(17)(B) the term 'armor piercing ammunition' means --

(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or

(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.

(C) The term 'armor piercing ammunition' does not include shotgun shot required by Federal or State environmental or game regulations for hunting purposes, a frangible projectile designed for target shooting, a projectile which the Secretary finds is primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes, or any other projectile or projectile core which the Secretary finds is intended to be used for industrial purposes, including a charge used in an oil and gas well perforating device.


§ 922(a) It shall be unlawful -- "