I was picking up bullets and boolits to add to my lead supply I noticed these(pic).
We have had fires start at the range from bullets landing in the dry grass beyond the berms (dirt hillside no rocks).
I'm wondering if the lead got hot enough to come out of the jacket like in the picture?
The jackets don't have any major dents to cause the lead to squeeze out.
I think someone was shooting HV
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Take a round lead ball, or a cool cast boolit. walk over to your anvil, vise, grab a hefty hammer, smack it about 3-4 times, pick it up. Its HOT.
Impact will I suspect heat the bullet more than firing it.
But I agree with Leeggen, I think high velocity is playing a part.
My guess is the bullet absorbed water and froze over the winter, pushing the lead out of the jacket.
How hot is a bullet when fired?
That varies depending on the cartridge, and how far the bullet is from the firearm in flight. Bullets are heated both from the explosion of gunpowder, and friction as they are forced up the barrel, but begin to cool very quickly. A physics group made a study of measuring the temperature of a bullet in flight using high speed cameras that could measure temperatures from the infrared light emitted by a hot object. Using a 5.56mm firearm (similar to the M16) they found that the bullet was about 513 degrees F measured about 10 ft from the muzzle.
I did the research for that when I was investigating powder coating.
I agree looks like temp change caused it to pop out like a can of Pillsbury dough.
I'm thinking it wasn't freezing that did it. The lead is hardly oxidized.
I picked these up behind the berm about 20ft. I keep this area cleaned up 4-5 times a year.
A lot of the bullets and boolits are oxidized from being there 2 months and maybe 3 rain storms.
This is why I was thinking it was the heat that caused the jackets to (give birth).
I doubt they were ever any hotter than when they were first fired. Laying them in a hot summer sun may make them hot but still below boiling point. As the bullets heat the jackets will expand more than the cores. It is obvious the cores were not hot enough to melt and flow so what pushed them out? Frost can split mighty boulders and around here it pushes up a new crop of fresh rocks every year. I am thinking frost is the best explanation.
We haven't had a frost since March or early April. The lead is barely oxidized leading me to believe they haven't been there through the winter.
So that's what's leading me to believe heat had something to do with it.
That's wierd alright, I ain't NEVER seen no bullets do that!
Bullets tumbling and impacting backwards? Softest part of the jacket at the base? Just a thought here.
How hot are they?
I don't know, have never fired one into my hand to check and see.
They certainly don't melt. The Dacron used as a filler comes out as fluffy as it was when it went in, no melted mass of plastic. If plastic fiber doesn't melt then lead sure won't.
I think most of the heat in a fired bullet is from friction, not heat transfer from powder gases.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
(I think most of the heat in a fired bullet is from friction, not heat transfer from powder gases. ) Yes, I'm with ya.Originally Posted by btroj
If Bullets tumbling and impacting backwards the soft lead would show more deformation?
I know from experience pulling targets on an old WWII range that the steel core from a M1 round is hotter than the hinges of hell after impact. It will burn a trail from your collar to your waist in a second. I suspect, but don't know that a bullet will be hot from friction of the barrel and possibly the air. Meterors burn from the friction of the atmosphere.
maybe thy shot them so fast that the cores couldn't keep up.
Lead is a dead metal. Little or no springback once compressed. Copper jacket springs back after compression. Bullet thru bore is compressed. Both jacket and core. Core stays compressed, jacket springs back.
That is why Bullet companies use a bonding agent between core and outer shell.
Something happened to drive those loose cores out of their case. I think temperature change.
This makes the most sense to me.
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You guys just crack me up.!
Soft lead is a dead metal. Harden it with some Sb and it will spring back some.
Size bullets from different alloys with same sizer and they will not all be the same size after sizing.
You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.
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