Bullet copper jacket discolouration

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Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by Lorgar » 10 Jan 2018, 8:23 pm

Just curious as to what this is:

bullet-discolouration.jpg
bullet-discolouration.jpg (275.09 KiB) Viewed 3198 times


The two on the left, compared to a normal bullet on the right.

These are my regular loads; 140gr Nosler Ballistic tips.

I did a bit of reloading on the weekend and found 4-5 of these in the pack of 50. All in the same box, have all been packed in together for a year at least as that's how long they've been sitting in the safe.

It doesn't spread like rust would between 2 steel items, it seems limited to the affected projectiles so I'm assuming it's something in production rather than something which happens over time like corrosion.

Almost like over-filled lead has leaked... What's the story?
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by No1Mk3 » 11 Jan 2018, 6:51 am

Simple oxidation of the copper in the jacket. Just because 2 projectiles are in the same packet does not mean the cups were punched from the same strip, or indeed from the same batch of materials nor even that the strips were produced in the same year. Cheers.
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by straightshooter » 12 Jan 2018, 6:20 am

Funny that.
Recently I opened a couple of 30+ year old boxes of Hornady 6mm projectiles and there were 3 or 4 that were still fairly shiny unlike the rest that were dull and oxidised.
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by Tinked » 18 Jan 2018, 9:51 am

Interesting.

It must be due to different batches of materials to be so drastic I suppose. Some impurity in the copper the left couple were made from?
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by dustin » 23 Jan 2018, 12:39 pm

Looks like they've been up a deers.... :silent:

:lol:
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by Xerox » 15 Feb 2018, 1:34 pm

dustin wrote:Looks like they've been up a deers.... :silent:

:lol:


Bloody good weight retention, the look perfect for going through..... oh..... "up".... :lol:
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by nightforcenxs » 16 Feb 2018, 3:22 pm

ive found if i touch a projectile then put it back and come back a week later it will go that colour i have chip fingers syndrome where if i touch something it rusts real bad
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by Lorgar » 16 Feb 2018, 4:43 pm

I would have handled a couple of them previously so that could be a part of it.
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by Tripod » 16 Feb 2018, 4:52 pm

It is a sign that you aren't doing enough shooting. :lol:
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Re: Bullet copper jacket discolouration

Post by Gwion » 16 Feb 2018, 10:06 pm

Tripod wrote:It is a sign that you aren't doing enough shooting. :lol:


Haahaha.. i like your logic.

Maybe it's a QC issue with passivatiin???
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