Will adding sufficient dense meterial on round nose bullet tip increase penetrability largely on a fast round?

Question

hard dense meterial (titanium gold perhaps) then hard steel behind

Answer 1

Yes, you can construct a bullet with a hard penetrator core. There's very little reason to. When you're shooting into a soft tissue, a lead alloy is generally hard enough (except you might want to look at the design of solids for elephant hunting, as a counter-example). In practical terms, just using a heavier bullet of the same construction will give better penetration. That's why some of us look at sectional density of bullets we choose for hunting.

Also, if you're thinking about adding something to a factory-loaded cartridge, don't. TINSTAAFL, and heavier bullets require a reduction in propellant charge to avoid overpressure.

Answer 2

Just buy yourself a .70 military desert eagle or a .45 colt.

that will settle the olden days time?

Answer 3

If I understand you question, it seems that you want to know what effect adding a harder substance to the tip of a soft tipped bullet would be? It would decrease the penetration of the bullet because the harder/ denser material would start to flatten the lead core much too soon. This cold actually result in no penetration at all depending on the actual round fired.

Answer 4

Plating a bullet with titanium will doubtfully have the effect you desire. Penetration is accomplished by the force of the bullet, velocity and mass, and the hardness of the bullet material itself. You can buy hard cast bullets, a mixture of lead, tin and antimony. With the right mixture these bullets can be surprisingly, quite hard and provide deep penetration.

One can always use a full metal jacket to help prevent deformation to get deep penetration as well. Just putting a plating on these types of bullets will not get you better penetration.

If you look at the construction of "armor piercing" ammo it has a full metal jacket and a steel core to help penetrate the object. Steel being lighter than the usual lead core, these bullets typically have to be longer to make up the mass.

Answer 5

I am a ballistics expert.

Simply adding dense material on the front of the bullet will throw off the balance - cause it to wobble and tumble.  There is no way you can accomplish this with good results and maintain the ballistic coefecient without having a huge machine shop at your disposal.

That said - many of the 'high tech' bullets produced 50 years ago were indeed constructed on a lathe.  Going this route would be your best chance for sucess.  You would need to electrically bond your high strength alloy with a dense material, lathe to the proper dimensions, and use a Corbon kit in your desired caliber to add a copper jacket.

I live in Alaska and have a lot of experience taking grizzly bears and moose - some of the largest and most dangerous animals in North America.  The one thing you do not want to have is an untested bullet chambered when you target a large or dangerous animal - not unless you have a back-up hunter 'just in case' ready to fire.  

Most of the current high tech bullets are designed for medium thickness hides and then quick expansion.  Not a good choice for truly large animals.  I think you are better off with the tried and true standard round nose, or , perhaps move to the Nosler Partitian style - I prefer the Nosler Partitions.  

Good Luck and hope this helps.    

Answer 6

In other words, you are trying to make an armor-piercing round out of a standard hunting round... Right?  

Hunting in India with armor piercing bullets?  How do you plan to get them on the plane?  Or are you taking a boat there?  

By the way, if you are using a proper rifle/caliber to hunt "the largest land mammal" then you won't need the rounds to be armor piercing.

To answer your question - no.  Additional material at the tip of the bullet will not make it armor piercing.  It could throw its ballistic properties.  It could cause it to jam.  But it will not benefit the penetrating qualities of the bullet.

Your other options are 1) coat your bullets with teflon spray which is sold almost anywhere and is said to slightly increase bullet penetrability, or 2) buy armor piercing bullets from military surplus stores or websites and load your rounds with those.

Answer 7

I believe that "adding sufficient dense meterial on round nose bullet tip" is yet another exercise in futility.

You can't add material to an existing bullet, other than electroplating which would change the bullet's diameter.  And if you cast your own bullets of denser material, you'd run into several problems.

I won't even get into the technical problems of casting different materials into a single very small object, and will simply discuss the one insurmountable deal breaker.

Manufacture of, or possession of bullets designed to penetrate ballistic body armor is illegal.  Some years ago, Congress passed a law forbidding civilian ownership of bullest specifically designed to penetrate bullet-proof vests as a the so-called "Cop-Killer Bullet Ban."  Effected by this ban were the KTW Teflon coated all copper bullets, and several other bullet designs touted to be able to penetrate bullet-proof vests.

So even if you managed to overcome all the technical problems, you'd not be legally permitted to use the bullets yourself, and your only legal market would be the police and military.

Time to look for another project mate, this one can get you into a world of trouble.

Doc