Copper alloy bullet jackets

An explosive/tracer rifle bullet is known and consists of a copper alloy bullet jacket and a steel core. There is an explosive charge at the top of the cavity which consists of 40% PETN, 45% lead azide, and 15% tetracene. Below the explosive charge is black powder or smokeless powder contained in a small metal cup followed by the tracer composition at the base. 

Copper alloy bullet jackets are by far the most common and coated iron jackets are also frequently employed. Lead is by far the most common bullet core material and is often hardened with antimony, but not as often as originally presumed, with antimony occurring in only 25% of the lead bullets examined. Only one of the bullets examined was hardened by tin. Some... 

Bullet jacket materials include gilding metal cupronickel cupronickel-coated steel nickel zinc-, chromium-, or copper-coated steel lacquered steel brass nickel- or chromium-plated brass copper bronze aluminum/alumi-num alloy Nylon (Nyclad), Teflon- and cadmium-coated steel (rare). Black Talon bullets have a black molybdenum disulfide coating over the metal bullet jacket which acts as a dry lubricant. Steel jackets are frequently coated both inside and outside as an anticorrosion measure. Gilding metal is by far the most common bullet jacket material. Tin is claimed to have lubricating properties and is sometimes incorporated in bullet jacket material. The alloy is known as Lubaloy or Nobaloy and contains 90% copper, 8% zinc, and 2% tin. 

The core of the bullet can be made from a variety of materials lead is by far the most common because of its high density and the fact that it is cheap, readily obtained, and easy to fabricate. But copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, steel (sometimes hardened by heat treatment), depleted uranium, zinc, iron, tungsten, rubber, and various plastics may also be encountered. (When most of the fissile radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed from natural uranium, the residue is called depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is 67% denser than lead, and it is an ideal bullet material and is very effective in an armor-piercing role, both in small arms and larger munitions components. Because of its residual radioactivity its use is controversial.) Bullets with a lead core and a copper alloy jacket are by far the most common. 

Cupronickels contain from 15 to 20 per cent of nickel, the remainder being copper. They can be cold-worked for example they can be cold-rolled from I inch down to 0-05 inch without annealing being necessary. They have been extensively used for bullet jackets. The 2 5 Ni, 75 Cu alloy used in coinage has already been mentioned. A 30 Ni, 70 Cu alloy is used for condenser tubes. Another useful alloy, sometimes known as constantan, has 40 Ni and 60 Cu. Owing to its high electrical resistance and low resistance temperature coefficient it is used for standard electrical resistances. 

Bullets and shot are usually lead or lead-antimony alloys of between 0.5% and 3% antimony to harden the lead (in rare cases tin can be the hardener). Bullets can also be semijacketed, tipped, or fully jacketed, with copper and copper alloys with zinc and/or tin being the most common materials. Bullet jackets... 

Armor-piercing (AP) ammunition has a projectile or projectile core constructed entirely from a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium. The most effective AP bullets are usually confined to rifle bullets, as velocity and range are important factors in AP requirements. Some revolver and pistol ammunition is described as metal piercing but, although it would be effective against vehicle bodywork and some body armor, it would be ineffective against heavy armor plate. AP bullets are, with very few exceptions, jacketed. 

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