Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

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Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by gherx » 18 Mar 2014, 10:13 am

I read (and has been commented on the forum here a bit) about the last lead smelting plant closing in the US and someone mentioned that the price of copper is pretty high, more expensive than lead anyway, and so you might expect bullet costs to go up in the future.

There are the all copper hunting bullets like the Barnes stuff which still expands like lead.

Is cost the main reason they were using lead in the past? Is copper a better bullet, but more expensive?
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by Chronos » 18 Mar 2014, 10:22 am

In general lead is used because its dense, and of the dense metals it's cheap.

You can get cheaper metals but they're not as dense. You can get cheaper metals but they won't be as dense.

Solid copper alloys will probably win this battle but they will be more expensive, another loss for shooters and a win for "environmentalists" who don't care about anything including the truth

The stupid thing is that once the lead hits the dirt and oxidises it becomes inert and isn't a risk to the environment. After all where do they think it came from?

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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by remnt » 18 Mar 2014, 10:40 am

It must be cheaper to work with as well.

Pouring hot lead must be easier than milling bits of copper.

Less tools required, less wear and all that. On an mass production level it's probably a lot of $$$
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by gherx » 11 Apr 2014, 12:08 pm

Chronos wrote:The stupid thing is that once the lead hits the dirt and oxidises it becomes inert and isn't a risk to the environment. After all where do they think it came from?


It's just an ore too right? Not a compound.

So shooting is really giving it back to nature :D
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by Jessie » 11 Apr 2014, 12:09 pm

Good luck getting the greens on-side with that argument :lol:
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by Monty » 11 Apr 2014, 12:11 pm

gherx wrote:It's just an ore too right?


It is. Fresh out of the ground just like nature intended.

Galena is the name of iron ore by the way, just a bit of trivia...
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by Gregg » 11 Apr 2014, 12:28 pm

Monty wrote:It is. Fresh out of the ground just like nature intended.


So nature makes lead, lead is bad, nature must be bad!

Lets tell the greens so they can try to ban nature as it might poison us all.

Also, need to wedge in something about "the children" into that argument somewhere.
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by chodeman » 11 Apr 2014, 1:08 pm

The reason lead is used for bullets is because it is both dense and has a low melting point. You don't need crazy hot temperatures to melt lead. But yes the reason is because the production of lead into bullet form is cheap and lead is readily available.
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by Yelp » 11 Apr 2014, 2:11 pm

Just cry out "save the children" in a frantic tone and they'll ban anything.
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Re: Are bullets made with lead mostly to be cheap?

Post by Tinked » 11 Apr 2014, 2:19 pm

chodeman wrote:But yes the reason is because the production of lead into bullet form is cheap and lead is readily available.


For now.

As the OP said his post was written after the closure of the last lead plant in the USA.

I read somewhere too that the US military are aiming to be lead-free in their ammo by 2020 or something.

How much longer will it be readily available for given that they just shut the last plant over there?
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