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Magic Bullets

Johnny Pneumatic

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Oct 15, 2003
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Ok, for those of you who missed the old Mythbusters episode where they test the myth of water ice bullets being fired from a normal (read gunpower based) firearm the myth is busted, the bullet simply evaporates into a small puff of steam. This was after all the trouble they had simply making the bullet - water ice doesn't make good bullets. That water ice doesn't work very likely means dry ice won't work too; because it'd be even more susceptable to the heat that destroys the water ice bullet. Even if one used a pneumatic gun to fire the ice bullets, they're still brittle. The real idea killer is their low mass though. Even if they held together, a bullet made of ice, even going at a few times the speed og sound, likely couldn't be fatal. Some way to get it going *really* fast would be needed. But then atmospheric friction would destroy the bullet, so we're to it being impossible. So, now that we know you can't kill someone with an untraceable bullet made of water ice, if you were so inclined to do so, what could you use? I've thought of two possibilities:

Gallium. Melts at 29.78 C.(just a few more than normal human body temp.), specific gravity 5.907. Lead's is 11.35, so the bullet will have to travel faster to carry the same kinetic energy - unless you make the bullet bigger. But this will give it a larger cross section - unless the bullet is longer, but this will provide aerodynamic problems if done to too great a degree.

Mercury. Either frozen or as a supersonic liquid droplet. Mercury's specific gravity is about 13.5

Hybrid bullet - solid gallium shell filled with liquid mercury. It will melt even faster once entering the body and packs a far greater mass into a smaller area, thanks to the mercury. This removes the need for having a faster muzzle velocity as with a pure gallium bullet.

Yes, I have a weird hobby thinking up stuff like this, now don't I?
 
Even if the gallium/mercury bullets works, wouldn't the gallium and mercury leave gallium and mercury residue?
 
Or use a dagger made of ice.

Hmm...we're not helping, are we?

Athon
 
Johnny Pneumatic said:
Hybrid bullet - solid gallium shell filled with liquid mercury. It will melt even faster once entering the body and packs a far greater mass into a smaller area, thanks to the mercury.
Click to expand...

I think you meant to write: it will melt even faster in the barrel of the gun while being propelled by the expanding extremely hot gas and will spray to every direction after leaving the confined space.
 
Even Lead bullets that travel at higher rifle speeds need to be clad in copper or they will melt and vaporize. The lead used melts at in excess of 400 degrees. You have no hope of getting the job done, and then having the projectile melt away the forensics. Try a slingshot with an ice ball.
 
Go low-tech. Put a suitably-sized chunk of ice in a sling....

Here's a twist from an actual case. Mobster-type wanted to kill a rival and incriminate another fellow for the crime. He steals his intended patsy's gun, a .32 revolver, and fires a bunch of rounds into water, then replaces the gun.

He loads the recovered .32 caliber slugs into a shotgun shell, intending to shoot his victim, then rat out the patsy. Fortunately, the plot was discovered (yet another party squealed) and the fellow arrested.

The medical examiner said that had the plot been carried out, it would have been likely to be successful.
 
casebro said:
Even Lead bullets that travel at higher rifle speeds need to be clad in copper or they will melt and vaporize. The lead used melts at in excess of 400 degrees. You have no hope of getting the job done, and then having the projectile melt away the forensics. Try a slingshot with an ice ball.
Click to expand...

I've not heard this before - about lead bullets needing jackets to prevent melting and vaporizing. Can you provide a source, a link or something? I always thought that metal jackets, full or semi, served at least two purposes: 1) to prevent lead buildup in rifled barrels from the scraping off of lead on the rifling; 2) to change the penetration and deformation characteristics upon impact.
 
gdtbiker is correct, plain-lead bullets will not vaporize or disintegrate even at high velocities. The jacket (made of an alloy called gilding metal-mostly copper) performs a number of functions, including:

Reliably engaging the rifling at high velocities.

Preventing "leading" from partial melting of the base

allowing hunting bullets to use a softer lead alloy and thus expand on impact.
(cast-lead bullets, normally fired at lower velocities, are cast of a much harder alloy)

Another consideration is manufacture. Soft-lead alloys can be easily formed in automatic machinery, harder alloys usedin cast bullets cannot.
Cast bullets can be driven to significant velocities by use of a device called a gas-check. This is a small copper-alloy base crimped onto the base of the bullet during sizing; it protects the base from the powder gases.
 
casebro said:
Even Lead bullets that travel at higher rifle speeds need to be clad in copper or they will melt and vaporize. The lead used melts at in excess of 400 degrees. You have no hope of getting the job done, and then having the projectile melt away the forensics. Try a slingshot with an ice ball.
Click to expand...

It was proven by a wildcatter in the 40's. One of the guys making "improved" cartridges that held more than the standard amount of powder. Swedish name? I'll come up with it- my bookshelf at my arms length away from my computer has every Gun Digest from 1944 to the 90's. Seems he could fire the gun and miss the target from 50 feet, unheard of in that class of shooter. It wasn't til the 40's that sporting ammo started coming with copper jackets. That was when WWII veterans wanteds to shoot varmints (very small kill zone) at looong range. The original copper jackets were made at home from empty 22 caliber shells. The hand operated press that was sold then (and still today) was the RCBS- Rock Chucker Bullet Swage press.

One Wildcat was the "Ear-gesplitzen-Louden-Boomer", a .50 Browning machine gun cartridge necked down to .17 caliber (that's BB size). Somebody is always looking for something to tinker with.

ETA:
Remember that bullets get spun for stability, and that at one turn in 10 inchs, and 4200 feet per second, you do the math, like 200,000 rpms? Lots of centrifical force on molten lead...

I think Ackley was the name...

P.O. Ackley, to be exact: http://gun-talk.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=001262
scroll down about 3/4, to "Archie",posted 11-13-2005 11:25 AM If that is too hearsay, I suggest you buy Ackley's book to study.
 
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