Steel Core Bullet Question?

[modelbuilder]

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the info. All the places I looked said the magnet test could not sort out if these bullets were steel core or steel jacketed.

I even called the Gun range to tell them my bullets are lead core with a full steel jacket and they pretty much said "come on down and fire them because the only way to know for sure is to cut them open."

I assumed they were lead core with all the research I did but was never able to find a definitive answer. May I ask how you figured they were lead core? Sorry for the continued questions but I am new to all this.

Joe

Don't confuse steel jacketed with steel core. They are not the same thing. The magnet test cannnot determine whether or not it is steel cored or steel jacketed. The ammunition you cataloged in post #1 is lead core, steel jacketed, with a copper wash. The bullets are tumbled or passed through an electrolisis process to attach a very thin copper coating to lessen wear as it travels down the bore. This also acts as a lubricant as steel on steel creates a number of problems. Both are capable of creating sparks if they strike the right materials.

The current issue battle round (5.56 mm) of the US is a copper jacketed lead bullet with a steel penetrator. Jacketing is sometimes referred to as gilding material. There are also bullets that are all copper or gilding material in the premium lines and in the really pricy stuff there are bullets that have lead stuffed into steel capsules for just the back of the bullets with the rest of the bullets copper with pre-form tips and coated with exotic materials to lessen friction even more.

The various ammunition manufactuered in any of the current or former soviet states to include China are produced to be cheap. Copper and lead are way more expensive then steel. It is like most things in life, you get what you pay for.

Steve

 

[wcdu]

Joe,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I hadn't surfed around this site in sometime.

I went to the ad you linked at the start of the thread. Sportsman Guide says that it is metal jacketed. That and the fact I have never seen or heard of Bulgarian 7.62 x 54 Rimmed as having steel cores. Steel cored ammo is a bit more expensive to manufacture and not normally seen outside 5.56mm nato.

Think about pulling one of the bullets out of the case and, depending on your tools, cut it in half or ground it down. You could also save the round by clipping the tip of the bullet but accuray would suffer compared to the other rounds. It would be good enough for plinking.

Steve