Griz44Mag
70 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2017
- Messages
- 4,326
- Reaction score
- 4,385
- Location
- Republic of Texas, District of Krum
That is something that many learn the hard way. I take the jacketed ones and smack them with a hammer to crack them open.As a lifetime lead scrounger, I learned a lesson today. At the range I picked up some "powder coated" pistol bullets and some FMJ and plated bullets. I decided to melt them down to see if they were soft enough to use. As usual, the FMJs had their cores melt and run out the hole in the bottom. The powder coated bullets melted off the coating, which then caught fire and became dust. The jackets and dust was skimmed off.
The real surprise was the plated bullets. With no hole to run out of, their melted cores came out wherever the plating was weakest, as a thin stream of molten lead. In some cases, that was right straight at me.
Be careful if you melt plated bullets, as there is no knowing where that stream of lead will shoot. As they are lighter and float to the surface, that stream may be coming right at you.
ADK Bigfoot
The coated ones are coated with a high temp poly. Basically you are melting and burning plastic. Just don't breathe the fumes.