Tin practice boolits

[tyler_d]

I have a home-built bullet trap with a 1/4" steel backplate, and steel floor. I've used it for .22lr and it works great, no denting and few marks. I want to use it for 9mm practice now, but I don't think it will hold up to jacketed bullets.


Would it be feasible to cast bullets out of 99% pure tin? For a given mould, it would reduce bullet weight by around 35% or more. It would let me get energy down so I don't tear up my trap.


I don't mind the price of tin, I can recover the spent bullets from the trap so I imagine a few pounds of tin would last me practically forever. Are there any glaring issues to this that would make it not work, or a bad idea?

[shotman]

Tin is harder than lead. Would not use it The glue lets work good inside and a mag primer will put then through drywall!. That was not my testing. If you shot into a trap like that, they could be reused Ricky P can tell you how to do it
Oh wellcome didnt see you are new here. rick

[docone31]

Yah, Gluelets.
Tin can be suprisingly perforating!
With the 9mm, Speer makes rubber practice bullets in .357. Ought to work, maybe. Mag primer for sure.
You would have to use your spent cases for practice loads.

[tyler_d]

Thanks for the welcome.

Is tin's 51 MPa Brinell hardness an issue, over lead's 38 MPa? I mean, people think nothing of shooting copper jackets down their barrels all day an that's 874 MPa!

Thanks for the tip on the glueblits. One of the great invetions of the new age, truly. That's why I joined this site! I could use that in a cardboard box with magazines though, the 1/4" steel would be totally unnecessary.

[mooman76]

I don't understand why you want to use 99% tin. Tin is expensive and much more valuable than lead. You should be wanting to use 99% pure lead instaed which is a lot cheaper. If you want to get energy down use a lighter bullet. I would think using about a 105g bullet or less with a light load should work good and not ruin your bullet trap.

[tyler_d]

Well, I was planning on using a Lyman mould for a 90gr bullet. I crunched the numbers, with tin the bullet would be 64gr. That's over 100 bullets from a single pound of tin, for $10. And it can be reused. So I figure why not, especially since it cuts down on my exposure to lead? With a 3gr of bullseye I would expect a very mild round.

[Freightman]

I shoot a .457 round ball at a tree trunk piece I have in my shop (also take a few tree rats) out of my 45/70 with 3gr Unique and poly fill at 400fps, quite, fun and will go plumb through a tree rat. bounces off the log into a box in front of it and I re-use. Some stay in the log and just pry them out with a knife. Loads of fun when it is to cold to get to the range. My grand kids think I am funny and my wife thinks I am going through my second childhood but she is wrong I aint through with my first one yet!HA!
I just use lead not a big deal and sure not going to use something that is $6 #and up.

[Willbird]

My dad told me when he was a teenager he and a bud got a crane counterweight, it weighed several hundred pounds, they cast it into bullets for P38's and Lugers and shot most of it up before they discovered it was pure Tin. He said the bullets would bounce off an engine block and be almost undamaged :-).

Bill

[tyler_d]

Ha yeah wouldn't that make life easy? Shoot it, resize it, shoot it again.