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Old July 29, 2012, 02:05 AM   #80
ofitg
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Join Date: May 19, 2010
Posts: 102
Quote:
I'm fairly sure the of the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. Are steel core, or AP bullets as components available? If they are is it illegal to manufacture rounds from them? Alternately would it be feasible to design a mold for a 7.62 mm bullet intended to be used in the pistol round that was pointed and cast it in hard lead or copper?
Scrubcedar, here is the legal definition of "armor piercing bullets", outlawed in 1986 -

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/18C44.txt

(B) The term "armor piercing ammunition" means -
(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a
handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence
of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of
tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or
depleted uranium; or
(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber
designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a
weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the
projectile.

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For what you want to do, I would suggest casting trunctated cone bullets from zinc - zinc is not on the list of prohibited materials, zinc's melting temperature is within the range of commercial equipment like LEE Production Pots, and zinc hardness approaches that of brass or sintered iron.

Be advised, zinc's specific gravity is about 2/3 the density of lead - a mold designed for 120 gr. lead bullets will drop zinc bullets weighing ~ 80 gr.
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