Picatinny ammunition goes from regular to unleaded

From the Article said:
That's a lot of lead that won't make its way into the environment, thanks to Picatinny Arsenal scientists and engineers.
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Ridiculous. It's not like lead is a chemical synthesized by humans. It comes from the environment in the first place, and what's more to the point, the forms it normally takes in nature, since they are water soluble, have more potential to be harmful than purified metallic lead which is quite inert.

Hard to say exactly what the effect on ammunition prices will be. Lead demand will obviously go down while copper demand goes up.
 
Copper prices are very much so linked to the housing and technology industries, you think its bad now with a panic in place imagine thats going to happen when scrap copper is @ $6/lb again. From a hedging ones bets standpoint if you could buy a bunch of these rounds cheap I would, if/when housing bounces back its going to be worth a lot more.

Heck you might hear of thieves stealing ammo to sell for scrap
;)
 
This will greatly improve the 5.56 ammo's performance on human targets. Hunters figured out long ago that the solid copper bullets in all calibers penetrate much better and offer better performance on game. Smaller, faster bullets benefit much more than slower heavier bullets.
 
copper is more reactive to the environment than lead. It was found many years ago that copper coins thrown into springs and wells took so much oxygen out of the water through oxidation that it killed cave fish, crawdads and other water breathers.

lead has no effect on the environment so long as it is not airborne. Plants do not absorb lead into their root system. Lead is only toxic when animals breathe in lead particles.
 
I have not seen any studies on DTIC about the effect of copper in the environment, if anyone has found one, please reference it, but there are plenty of reports about lead contamination.

You guys are now used to steel shot, getting used to “monolithic” bullets (all copper or bronze), it is only a matter of time till all lead bullet use is banned in one form or another.

And it will make shooting a lot more expensive.
 
jmr, the new bullets are not all copper.

The round's new bullet design features a copper jacket and exposed hardened steel penetrator.
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The M855 came along to improve the 5.56 penetration at longer ranges, by using a steel penetrator inside the bullet. Now it will be visible. I haven't seen anything to say this will be better or worse in combat effectiveness.

But I will monitor for some participation by Bartholomew Roberts. If anybody knows, it is he.

Bart Noir
 
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