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Unusual 9mm Ammo
Ambrose
Member Posts: 3,164 ✭✭✭✭
Some years ago, a friend gave me 2 boxes (they were actually in a plastic bag) of these cartridges. I fired a few of them in a Blackhawk at a coffee can and, while I hit the can, the load didn't seem very robust. I broke one down and the bullet is 85 gr. of a material that doesn't seem to be lead. The material is quite hard and, considering the length of the bullet, it should weigh about 140 gr. if it was a lead alloy. The powder is a fine grain and the charge is 4 gr. These don't appear to me to be reloads, the cases are new R-P even though the exteriors have suffered from poor storage. Is this some kind of special purpose load? Has anyone encountered stuff like this? I haven't chronographed any yet and I guess my next step will be to see if I can crush the pulled bullet in the vise.
Comments
Wasted a bunch of my dinero. Not accurate or reliable at all, in a semi-auto. Probably OK, in a revolver though.
If they look like this? Don't try shooting them in a semi-auto. Dummie me, bought a bunch of this crap in 45 caliber last summer. They are way too brittle. The noses break off when feeding, or actually shooting. Sometimes there will be 2 holes from one shot on the target.
Wasted a bunch of my dinero. Not accurate or reliable at all, in a semi-auto. Probably OK, in a revolver though.
Those look like "sintered copper." I'd guess there was something wrong with the batch you purchased as I've had sintered copper rounds from a number of manufacturers -- all in 9mm -- and have never had a problem shooting them in various 9mm semi-autos.
If they look like this? Don't try shooting them in a semi-auto. Dummie me, bought a bunch of this crap in 45 caliber last summer. They are way too brittle. The noses break off when feeding, or actually shooting. Sometimes there will be 2 holes from one shot on the target.
Wasted a bunch of my dinero. Not accurate or reliable at all, in a semi-auto. Probably OK, in a revolver though.
Rufe,
Those look like sintered Zinc alloy. Chances are they didn't quite hit the temperature they were "shooting" for...pun intended.
Zinc, is a dirty metal, with a liquidous state around 787 degrees F. Once it becomes liquidous, it is a very "active", and can create micro worm holes in ferrous, and non ferrous alloys, alike. It has been used extensively in production brazing alloys, to try to offset the use of silver, to lower the eutectic liquidous point of the alloy. In other words, even when liquidous, it does not like to bond well.
At least things ended safely, and no kabooms from an obstructed barrel.
Ambrose,
From what you are saying, with the weight to length ratio, I would suspect those are made of a Zinc alloy, also.