Depleted uranium bullets

Under federal law, silencers are treated in the same category as automatic weapons. Armor-piercing ammunition (popularly called cop-killer bullets) were banned in 1986, with an expanded definition of banned bullets in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that includes bullets made of tungsten, beryllium, depleted uranium, and other exotic materials. Other accessories can also cause a weapon to be banned (see Assault Weapons above). 

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. 

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. 

There is a Chinese tungsten carbide AP bullet with a discarding sabot which is very effective due to its very high velocity. The United States also produced an AP bullet with a discarding sabot using depleted uranium as the bullet core material.68... 

Fig. 2 30 mm bullet with depleted uranium collected at the targeted site... 

As uranium has a density almost 70% higher than that of lead, ammunition made from this metal is an effective anti-tank weapon. When used in combat, the uranium in the bullet ignites upon impact and a cloud of uranium oxide dust is formed. To reduce the radiation risk, depleted uranium (DU) is used in weapon systems of this type. It is obtained as a residue when natural uranium has been enriched in respect of uranium-235. DU is a substance that is only about half as radioactive as natural uranium. But due to its radioactivity - even if it is low - the dust can cause internal injuries if it is inhaled or ingested. 

Uranium metal is very dense and heavy. When it is depleted (DU), uranium is used by the military as shielding to protect Army tanks, and also in parts of bullets and missiles. The military also uses enriched uranium to power nuclear propelled Navy ships and submarines, and in nuclear weapons. Fuel used tor Naval reactors is typically highly enriched in U-235 (the exact values are classified information). In nuclear weapons uranium is also highly enriched, usually over 90% (again, the exact values are classified information). 

Maybe the easiest way to begin thinking about chemical weapons is to compare them to other types of armaments—to distinguish them from what they are not. Chemical weapons are in the first place different from kinetic weapons, such as bullets, other projectiles, and shrapnel, which create casualties using force of impact. The lethality of a kinetic weapon depends on its size and its force at impact, so dense materials like steel and lead (and, more recently, the even denser metal uranium, in depleted form) are the chosen materials. 

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