Are bullets only jacketed with copper?

[Reddot]

I was sorting through some range lead and found that some of the spent bullets seemed to have a gold colored jacket. Is this still a copper jacket or brass?

[MtGun44]

"Copper" jackets are typically guilding metal, copper tin alloy with 5% tin. Golder
Sabers use brass jackets, some rifle jackets are nickel alloys. Silvertip pistol bullets
were aluminum jacketed, current ones look like they are nickel plated. Lots of
possibilities, but gulding metal is the most common alloy for US civilian bullets.
7.62 NATO Lake City ammo uses steel jackets coated with a thin layer of guilding
metal.

Bill

[S.R.Custom]

Silvertip pistol bullets were aluminum jacketed, current ones look like they are nickel plated.

Oh Gawd, I remember those. I fouled the barrel of a .380 Walther PPK with thosed damned things once about 10 years ago, and I almost ruined the barrel getting the aluminum out.

Revolver bullets --at least the .357 & .44s-- always were nickel plated. (Nickel plated what, I don't know.) Actually, it's more accurate to say that I've never seen those in aluminum.

[snaggdit]

I got some 40 S&W Gold Sabers in a bunch of HP bullets I recently bought. They have a brass jacket and are supposed to be more slippery than copper jackets (if you can believe what you read). Trying to find out if they react to loads the same as XTPs, since there is no specific load data in any of my books for them. I loaded some up the other day, and hope that my chrono will tell me when I get to the range this week.

[Tom W.]

I received some Norma bullets in a care package once. I can pick these bullets up with a magnet. They are 7mm .283 diameter 150 grain bullets. I e-mailed Norma and they said that these bullets are about 30 years old. I shot a few and they did just fine....

[high standard 40]

I got some 40 S&W Gold Sabers in a bunch of HP bullets I recently bought. They have a brass jacket and are supposed to be more slippery than copper jackets (if you can believe what you read). Trying to find out if they react to loads the same as XTPs, since there is no specific load data in any of my books for them. I loaded some up the other day, and hope that my chrono will tell me when I get to the range this week.


snaggdit,
Keep us posted on your results. I've got some of those also.

[jonk]

A lot of older ammo was loaded with cupro-nickel alloy instead of cupro-tin. Silvery color jacket. Getting the nickel out can be a pain, but not un-doable.

[Boerrancher]

Oh Gawd, I remember those. I fouled the barrel of a .380 Walther PPK with thosed damned things once about 10 years ago, and I almost ruined the barrel getting the aluminum out.

Revolver bullets --at least the .357 & .44s-- always were nickel plated. (Nickel plated what, I don't know.) Actually, it's more accurate to say that I've never seen those in aluminum.

I learned a long time ago, that any time I changed brands of bullets or boolit alloys, I would always make sure that my bore was completely clean and free of any fouling. Many of the bullet mfgs use different alloys in their copper jackets, which can cause some nasty copper build up when changing bullet brands. I have even noticed minor leading with cast boolits at times when changing alloys and not giving the bore a good scrubbing before shooting the new mix.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[mike in co]

I got some 40 S&W Gold Sabers in a bunch of HP bullets I recently bought. They have a brass jacket and are supposed to be more slippery than copper jackets (if you can believe what you read). Trying to find out if they react to loads the same as XTPs, since there is no specific load data in any of my books for them. I loaded some up the other day, and hope that my chrono will tell me when I get to the range this week.


dont know where the "slippery" line came from. the guy that developed the rem golden sabres, did the original design of the winchester black tallons. he claimed the golden saber was a better design than the tallon. as far as slipery..i believe the brass is tuffer than the copper jacket, to compensate, the golden sabers are two diameter with a narrow driving band at the rear....less full bore contact.........

mike in co

[Ricochet]

"Commercial bronze," a red brass with 90% Cu, 10% Zn, and "Gilding metal," 95% Cu, 5% Zn, are the most common jacket materials in modern times. Cupronickel alloys were the most common in the early days. Lots of military bullets and some Commie bloc commercial ones have jackets of soft iron (much softer than barrel steel) with a light copper wash, and old German and Turkish 8mm ammo often had bullets with iron jackets coated with cupronickel. That's what Swiss GP-11 uses, too. I've often wondered why 70/30 cartridge brass wasn't used more often for bullet jackets. Reading the posts about .22 bullets swaged with brass .22 LR cases for jackets, it sounds like they are much LESS "slippery" than gilding metal or commercial bronze and tend to cause more metal fouling.

[madman]

Magtech jbullets have a brass colored jacket on them I have not gone down range to pick any of them up yet but I have fired quite a few of them.