How much of a bullet is lead?

Question

Like a percentage (50%, 20%)? Could you also include a source of where you got the answer. Thanks.

Answer 1

about 85-90 percent is lead and the rest is copper coated

unless its all lead and not copper coated

Answer 2

Some bullets are all lead, some are lead jacketed with a copper alloy shell, some even have a steel core and some have zero lead in them.  

Answer 3

up to 100% ... but "bullet lead" is a mix of lead, tin antimony and whatever else the caster feels he needs to get a certain hardness.

Too soft it stays in the the bore and fouls

Answer 4

If a bullet is jacketed, its fair to say the majority is lead. Although some hunting bullets are solid copper some are solid lead. It really depends on the bullet and what its made for. So it could range from 0% to 100%

Answer 5

That depends on the bullet, the Barnes TSX does not have lead at all, 99% or better weight retention.  The bullet is made for deep penetration and great knock down energy and still peels back well (nice looking petals).  The Federal Fusion has mostly lead, the company doesn't tell us how much lead, but does give us great information on how the bullet is made.  There is a copper jacket that is fused to the lead with a laser, one molecule at a time.

Remington's Core-lokt and Winchester's super X have a lot of lead in the bullets with a copper jacket.

If you look at the Federal Nosler Partition, that bullet has a copper jacket with lead inside, but at the base of the bullet, there is a heavy copper jacket seperating a smaller lead to give the bullet deeper penetration with greater energy for distance shots on big game animals.  Again, these companies don't give us a lot of information on the exact amount of lead.

I am the ammo man for a large sporting goods store in Mich.

Answer 6

However much the manufacturer thinks is appropriate for its design purposes. Pure lead is very soft but occasionally has its purposes. A typical homemade bullet might be 4% tin and 12% antimony. On the other extreme are the Barnes X-bullets of pure copper.  

Answer 7

Your question is a little vague for a lot of the folks on this group. I am going to assume you are talking about lead bullets as in pistol bullets. most of the swagged bullets (as in factory loads) are almost pure lead, very little tin or antimony in it. For cast bullets the lead content can range from 80 to 90 percent with the balance being tin and antimony. Antimony is used with the lead to give it more strength, to make it harder, and the tin is used to make the molten mixture flow better and fill in the nooks and crannies of the bullet mold.

Looking at an old reloading book from the NRA I find mixtures of 95% lead-5% antimony, 85% lead-10% antimony and 5% tin, 90%-lead, 5%-antimony and 5% tin. To each their own mixture it looks like.

Answer 8

Depending on the Bullet.

If a Full metal Jacketed bullet... the majority is lead, but there is a copper jacket over the bullet... bot sure how much of the weight is attributable to that

If a Lead bullet... depends on if there are any additional alloys included to increase the hardness.

a 100% lead bullet will be VERY soft and can lead to "lead fouling" in weapons. I shoot hard cast bullets from Rogers Better Bullets, and have not had an issue. I'm sure it is a ancient chinese secret how much and what he uses as a hardener...

Answer 9

It really depends on the bullet.

It's kind of like asking "how much of a car is plastic"

I'd say for a common 9mm Full Metal Jacket 115 grain ball round about 60% lead core and 40 % copper jacket as a guesstimate.