Posted on 07/26/2013 10:29:53 PM PDT by neverdem
The Daily Caller website just published a short article by Michael Bastasch titled "Getting the lead out, literally: US Army plans switch to 'green' bullets".
Green bullets? It appears that the Obama administration is once more pandering to rabid environmentalists by requiring the Army to re-engineer the bullets our men and women in the field use in combat to be more "environmentally friendly". To accomplish this, the military is replacing the lead in bullets with copper. Because the Army doesn't believe in half measures, the Program Executive Officer, Col. Phil Clark has said that they have already eliminated 1,994 metric tons of lead from the military's 5.56mm rounds, and as this program expands to the 7.62mm round, he reports that the total lead reduction in our small arms munitions 3,683 metric tons between 2013 and 2018. A metric ton is 1,000kg, or about 2,200 pounds, so 3,683 metric tons is approximately 8.1 million pounds of lead is the amount the Army will remove from its ammunition over the next five years.
Naturally, the idea of reducing all that lead, which is of course a toxic substance, from the environment is an admirable goal. Almost any time we, as a society can reduce the unnecessary dispersion of toxins, we should consider it a win.
However, the current spot price of lead is $0.94 per pound. The current spot price of copper, on the other hand, is $3.21 per pound. That is a difference of $2.27, or to look at it another way, copper is 341% more costly than lead.
When that cost differential is applied to the additional 3,683 metric tons of copper that must be acquired to replace the lead component of these small arms rounds, the total is $18,431,000.
Nearly twenty million dollars, not to improve the effectiveness of...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
More BS, inorganic, elemental lead has minimal toxicity. This isn't just for the econazis. Gun grabbers like the ammo that costs more.
Another stupid Obama idea.
Green morons.
More idiocy...
Copper may be going up...
Would the government like me to turn in my lead?
I’ve handled enough lead in my day to be six feet under already.
Obama’s an expert. I’m trying to figure out what he was a pert in.
OK, how about copper jacketed carbon steel projectiles instead? That’s very ecologically friendly.
Lead is significantly denser than copper (11.30 g/cc vs. 8.93 g/cc). For Jim’s benefit; that means that lead is 26.54 percent denser than copper. Copper bullets will therefore have considerably different ballistic qualities than lead bullets. That’s got to matter on the front line.
At a specific gravity of 10.49, the density of silver is closer to that of lead. It would also be effective against vampires and werewolves. OTOH, it is considerably more expensive than either lead or copper — not that that seems to matter to anyone.
On the other hand, copper, being less dense than lead (8.93 gm/cc vs. 11.3) so, at the same velocity pure copper will have only 80% of the momentum and muzzle energy that pure lead has. In decomposing, many copper compounds are quite toxic.
These are important but undiscussed factors in most news articles, like this one.
For more bang for the buck, why not use spent uranium and tungsten, as we do in tank rounds? At the same velocity they would have about 70% greater impact energy, and could burn through hard surfaces like armor steel in a trice. They are not easily soluble and are of much less lethal toxicity. One tank round would make an awful lot of 5.56mm bullets. (/sarc)
Of course that decree will be an epic fail because lead is easily available from millions of car batteries, and enterprising hand loaders will find a way around material shortages.
Of course, because lead is so bad for the “environment” of the battlefield. Never mind about the dead bodies. My God, these people are sick. I mean, the irony. Just black hearted sick.
Copper with its reduction in mass per caliber and lousy ballistic coefficient is gonna’ suck at longer ranges.
I accidentally ran a couple bullets through the washing machine last week. They came out a pretty iridescent green.
“Good” for the environment, and it will kill American soldiers - a double win by Obama standards.
At high velocity copper is just as toxic as lead is when it impacts its intended target.
Shooting blanks would be much more friendly.
Green bullets?? I would be excited by more effective bullets. For the time being however it’s probably a good idea though. There is probably a better than average chance that this new ammo could be used against the civilian population. I just hope they use the old ammo that was hoarded this last year for practice.
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