Greek 30-06
- Thread starter 4V50 Gary
- Start date
That is easily tested, though perhaps not prior to an online purchase.4V50 Gary said:
The Greek surplus I bought from CMP, shipped in November of '08, lot 1062-HXP-65, DOES NOT attract a magnet. YMMV.
(I ran into a guy at the range who claimed his HXP ammo attracts a magnet. Sure enough, the magnet jumped right to the M1 clip when he demonstrated. The ammo itself? No reaction at all.
)I have two lots of HXP 77, one with red paint filling in the lettering, the other without. Magnets stick directly to the bullets in both. While copper and other metals have slight reactions to magnetic fields (copper is actually repelled a tiny bit by either pole, IIRC), readily magnetic alloys all contain iron, nickel, or cobalt. Often a combination of those is in use in specialty transformer core materials. However, when it comes to bullets, in raw material terms, cobalt is currently $13.83/lb, nickel is currently $8.45/lb, and iron pellets from ore are currently $0.064/lb. So, given that information, I expect you can guess which one of those three is most likely to be found in ball ammo projectiles.
Because of the above, if you have a magnet stick to a ball ammo bullet, it is safe to say there is some form of iron in it. Without dissection, you may be unable to tell whether its got a copper plated soft steel jacket (most common) or a steel penetrator inside. But, either way, if it has iron in it, it can make sparks.
I did pull a a similar bullet off some S&B surplus originally made on contract for South Africa in 1982. I set it into some KG-12 and etched all the copper off, revealing the steel jacket. It mic'd 0.308" before etching, and 0.304" after etching, so the plating was 0.002" thick. I don't know if that's typical, but I don't know why it wouldn't be, either.
Because of the above, if you have a magnet stick to a ball ammo bullet, it is safe to say there is some form of iron in it. Without dissection, you may be unable to tell whether its got a copper plated soft steel jacket (most common) or a steel penetrator inside. But, either way, if it has iron in it, it can make sparks.
I did pull a a similar bullet off some S&B surplus originally made on contract for South Africa in 1982. I set it into some KG-12 and etched all the copper off, revealing the steel jacket. It mic'd 0.308" before etching, and 0.304" after etching, so the plating was 0.002" thick. I don't know if that's typical, but I don't know why it wouldn't be, either.
Mike Irwin
Staff
If a magnet sticks to the bullet, and you're worried about possibly starting a forest fire, then it doesn't matter if it has a mild steel jacket or a steel core.
You should not be shooting it anywhere other than a range.
You should not be shooting it anywhere other than a range.