Copper Bullets

[Sommerled]

I just bought a bunch of solid copper grounding rods from an electrical supply house for their value as scrap. (they are going out of business) I will mainly use them for making various bits and bobs for my furniture hobby but got to thinking that they could be made into bullets too.

My hardness tester for lead shows them to be roughly similar in hardness to commercial copper bullets that I bought to compare to ( MagTech) so they should slide down the barrel without an issue.

It will just be an exercize for a bit of fun on my Myford lathe but was curious if anyone else has been making bullets in this manner and could make some suggestions or comments. I was thinking about .357 dia with a drilled out hollowpoint and try to get the weight close to 150gr. or simply make a wadcutter style.

Any thoughts guys?

 

[VegasOPM]

If you have the material and tools- knock yourself out. I can't imagine that it will be cost effective or as accurate as the factory made stuff. The one wild card is the fact that the factory stuff is punched vs turned. Theoretically the force would drive out any voids and make the material more dense. I have heard of guys that turn their own bullets out of brass for use in .50 cals. I know a guy that turns oil impregnated bronze 20mm projectiles for his black powder gun, built from a 20mm cannon barrel.

 

[Griz44]

Most electrical ground rods have a steel core in them. Let us know when you cut one of them.

 

[PCJim]

Griz, I'm with you. I can't see a solid copper grounding rod being strong enough to pound into 8-10 feed of earth. Copper isn't that strong a material.

Good luck with the project, Sommerled.

 

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

I get stock of Nylon here and there at my place, wish I could get a lathe to turn it down into .400 or .401 diameter .

 

[86thecat]

Check in this forum, there is info on ground rod lathe turned bullets.

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3621043/m/177109731

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3621043/m/188109851

 

[Sommerled]

I cut one of the rods and it is solid copper, hope the rest are. I'm going to make ten or so bullets this weekend and load them in 38spl and will post what happens. Just for fun!

BTW According to my electrician buddy, one doesn't pound the rods into the ground at all. He says he "water drills" them in and simply pushes them in all the way by hand. He explained this makes better ground contact. One pushes the rod in as far as it will go, withdraw, pour water in the hole it makes, push it in again, and repeat. Guess I'll have to see that.

Thanks for the interesting link 86the cat!

 

[griz]

I made one (1) bullet out of copper bar stock. It was pretty basic, just a truncated cone with a HP drilled with a center drill. I shot it into water or phone books, or something where I could recover the bullet. (long time ago, don't remember for sure) It didn't expand at all, probably because it wasn't a very big hollow point. It was such a pain to make, and I realized it would be hard to get any consistancy, so I gave up on the idea.

 

[Griz44]

BTW According to my electrician buddy, one doesn't pound the rods into the ground at all. He says he "water drills" them in and simply pushes them in all the way by hand.

I am a master electrician and have been for 36 years. I have heard stories about water setting rods all my career. I have a standing steak dinner bet, show me. I have eaten many a steak on somebody else's nickel. Have never had to buy one. I love Texas soils....

Have you made any bullets yet? I am anxious to see some. If they come out good, might want to try it myself.

 

[CU74]

"Water Setting" - meh. I wish I could use that method. The problem here in eastern Kansas is ROCKS. Where you want the ground rods and where you put the ground rods aren't necessarily the same.

I'm interested in the results of the copper-rod-to-bullet exercise as well. I have several bent rods - don't ask how I got them............