Fancy bullets?

[BT Sniper]

I have spent a lot of time making many different things from bullets (of course), RC airplanes, gun stocks and grips, custom fishing poles and even tyed my own fishing flies. It took me 2 years to finally catch a fish on a fly poll by the way so I've had my share of frustration too.

So I got to thinking, just how fancy could a bullet be? Think of some of the commercial offerings avialble and what comes to mind? Fail safe rifle bullets, maybe with their multi layer core? Barnes latest tipped x bullet? Partitions? Just how fancy/expensive of a bullet could we make? Now I have seen the diamond jewelry bullets and that's not what I'm talking about. What would make a bullet so phenomenal that a customer would pay say $5-$10 a piece for them? Far fetched you say?? How about a fishing fly that costs over $100.

JOCK SCOTT SALMON FLY

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/jockscottsalmonfly.jpg

There are people out there that just got to have it. What will be the next got to have bullet?

It is a great looking fly no doubt and I certanly need to get out an do some fishing. I just wanted to spark a bit of thought into anyone listening and wonder just what kind of bullets might we come up with next? Anything is possible!

Swage On!

BT

[63 Shiloh]

What will be the next got to have bullet?


I have thought about this myself mate.

I reckon if a custom bullet maker offered a mechanical type projectile he might just make some cash.

The type I am thinking of would be a projectile that mechanically opened 4 of so sharp blades, like a broad head. Kind of like how a missile opens its stabilising fins after launch.

It would cost a wad of cash, yet I think there would be enough people after them if they could be made accurate.

Mike

[BT Sniper]

Interesting?? This could be a fun thread. Just how imaginative can we be?

BT

[Mountain Prepper]

Interesting?? This could be a fun thread. Just how imaginative can we be?

BT

I cannot think of a single example of a commercial offering that did not start with the small hobby or low-production swaging folks... I will use the work “us” to indicate the small swaging community.

Partitioned bullets - us

Frangible bullets - us

Solid material bullets - us

Ballistic tips - us

Special application bullets for African big game - us

We rock!

Take that you corporate mass production nerds - copycats! [smilie=f:

[thehouseproduct]

I think these are pretty fancy:
http://guns.connect.fi/gow/peputkil.gif
I'd like to experiment with them. These are pretty fancy too:
http://www.lehighbullets.com/prodimages/510-500.jpg

[jixxerbill]

that fly really cost 100 bucks ??? just wondering...i dont fish, i was just wondering if you were serious about the cost. ??

[garym1a2]

Swage a bullet with a small steel disc in the bottom so I can use a big magnetic and make it easy to recover and remelt the slug after its shot. Currently its a lot of work to dig the slugs out of my dirt hill and remelt them.

[BT Sniper]

The fly is tyed with some special golden phesant quills (I think) and other rare material (feathers). I have not seen any offered in fly shops but it is said to cost over $100. I did find a display of this fly with a glass bubble over it for $150

BT

[BwBrown]

that fly really cost 100 bucks ??? just wondering...i dont fish, i was just wondering if you were serious about the cost. ??

My son worked while in college for a well known fly tying and rod building materials dealer, mostly catalog and internet, but also quite a bit of off the street traffic. He tied all of their ornamental flies and made a bunch of money for them. Now he is off to grad. school and only does it for the fun of it for himself and a few friends.

Many of the ornamental flies can sell for 50-100 bucks. Put two under glass in a shadow box frame with some matting and a nice label for each and you're talking 250 or more.

There are some serious collectors out there.

[303Guy]

I design my boolits more on appearance than practicality. I do have to let go sometimes to achieve accuracy. My last attempt gave me accuracy and reasonable streamline as well as reasonable good looks.

[a.squibload]

Art is art.

I once saw a pair of cowboy boots with a white star on the front.
They were made of fiberglass, lit from the inside.
For display purposes only. Not cheap either!

[kombayotch]

What will be the next got to have bullet?
BT

There is a growing interest in subsonic bullets that expand and some people seem to be willing to pay a lot for them: http://outlawstatebullets.com/

I believe those brass bullets above were designed for that purpose...

I'm working on a copper plated segmented lead bullet for this purpose. Basically a bigger version of the CCI .22LR Segmented HP.

One of the flaws in using a conventional bullet in a long barrel (>20"), with a subsonic loading, is that the powder finishes burning long before it exits, and the friction causes velocities to be erratic. If the barrel cools, the first round usually hits much lower than the following shots. These guys mention it: http://www.ebr-inc.net/articles_subsonics-do-not-like-long-barrels.html

You can get around this by lubing the bore lightly with oil and rubbing a bit of oil on each bullet, but that's a pain. People don't want lube in the bore of their precision rifles because then it has to be cleaned out and fouled before it'll give match accuracy again with regular ammo (can't alternate). Using lead bullets is not desirable for the same reason (residual lube/lead). Lapua makes a jacketed bullet that is intended for subsonic loadings, and it doesn't suffer from this problem. The way they get around it is that most of the body of the bullet is a diameter that just fits the lands and they have a few driving bands that seal the gases. This reduces the bearing surface considerably. You generally want to use a heavy bullet for subsonic loadings and those typically have long bearing surfaces.

I'm going to try using the driving band approach so that the bullet works out of rifles with conventional length barrels (24-26"). Powders like Trailboss have made it easy to develop subsonic loads for just about anything. I've been using it to fireform brass for my 6mm Crusader (similar to 6mmAI) with subsonic loads because they don't put much wear on the barrel and it's a heck of lot more fun than blowing out shoulders with COW .

[williamwaco]

Swage a bullet with a small steel disc in the bottom so I can use a big magnetic and make it easy to recover and remelt the slug after its shot. Currently its a lot of work to dig the slugs out of my dirt hill and remelt them.



That is a good idea. You could reuse the steel disks practically forever.

[MakeMineA10mm]

Brian,
You ask this question every few months or so... Let me tease you with some comments from a big-time bullet designer about what he feels was his best design ever:


With respect to [deleted] bullet, I believe that in its present form, it’s the most devastating round extant as far as it’s ability to cause profuse hemorrhaging. Many deer have been killed with this round in five calibers. On one occasion, a .44 Mag. round literally removed a lung and blew three inches of it through the 2-inch+ entrance hole (a bizarre spectacle). Something unusual is happening in there!

When the 12-ga slug version was tested [by a federal agency], many mouths were agape. The LARGE gel blocks, even though restrained with duct tape, were blown up in the air 3 feet (off the test table) and downrange, 7-8 feet. The circle of dispersion was, in some cases, greater than the width of the block. The 3 temporary cavities were immense. The round displayed a “coring” effect which amounted to the dislodging of a 5-inch long, three-inch-wide, triangular-shaped section of gel from the entrance area.

The man who developed this bullet also developed the Hydra-Shok, Star-Fire, Black Talon, and EFMJ. The bullet he feels is the most-devastating/effective is the QUICK-SHOK.

These bullets were made by Hornady for Triton, who has gone out of business, several years ago. The 22 LR version is still being made and sold, and I think I saw the 12ga slugs for sale still, but no one is making the pistol bullets anymore. Definitely something the swaging community can and should step in and do.

This will take a little more involved production equipment, but it is do-able.

[MakeMineA10mm]

BTW, when he and I were e-mailing back-and-forth, I was asking about the possibility of making a JSP-FN in 30-cal @ 110grs or so for use in the 30 Carbine. (I was assuming for the M1 Carbine, it would be like making a SP version of the pistol HPs, and he agreed with that assessment.) He said it was definitely workable, and the softpoint would have a smaller circle of dispersion and slightly deeper penetration, but he was very tied up doing the prototyping of the 308 Win. spire-point Quick-Shok... That bullet (and any/all rifle versions of the QS) never came out because of Triton going toes up.

I see this as a potentially big market for BT Swaging. Bullet that can't be bought. Performs better than all the commercial offerings. Potential growth into areas where it never was before (rifles).
[smilie=1:

[BT Sniper]

Yep just trying to encourage a bit of thought process and ideas here.

Those bullets sound great. I'll have to look into it a bit.

TNX

BT

[DDriller]

3 pieces of lead wire, swaged in a 45 ACP case, hollow pointed with BT's dies, launched out of a .458 SOCOM. May not penetrate too well but would be a big thump.