Posted on 07/25/2013 8:04:26 AM PDT by kimtom
The U.S. Army is taking the expression “get the lead out” quite literally and switching to lead-free, environmentally-friendly bullets.
The Army’s Picatinny Arsenal is working on a “green” version of the M80A1 7.62 mm bullet, which troops are supposed to start being issued in 2014, according to an Army press release.
The Army has been looking to “green” small caliber ammo for some time now. In 2010, the Army switched to the greener 5.56 mm M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round. “The EPR replaces the lead slug with a copper slug,” said Lt. Col. Phil Clark, product manager for small caliber ammunition in the Program Executive Officer Ammunition. “This makes the projectile environmentally-friendly, while still giving soldiers the performance capabilities they need on the battlefield. So far we have eliminated 1,994 metric tons of lead from 5.56 ammunition production.”
“Thirty-two grains of lead are eliminated per M855A1 projectile, and 114.5 grains of lead will be eliminated per M80A1 projectile,” according to the Army.
The Army projects that the use of.....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Lead bullets are NOT the same type of lead say, in lead paint that people freak about. This is complete BS. It's a fallacy.
I repeat: This is Step 3 of the deliberate sabotage of our military.
So? I’ve known for the last forty years that the anti-lead panic was really to ban ammo.
For those interested, the FRENCH used solid bronze bullets about 100 years ago.
What’s next, GREEN Nuclear weapons? Geeez!
It doesn’t matter anyway. When the o finishes there will be less than one hundred infantry men/women/its left in the Army anyhow...and they can throw their powder puffs at the enemy.
I’m curious. What happens to a tree if a copper bullet lodges in it?
I think what the military is doing is a mistake, and a waste of copper, but the Barnes bullets I use for hunting give up nothing to lead. The Triple Shocks, with the three recessed rings, get better velocity with lighter loads than conventional lead bullets. I also use lighter grain weights with the copper bullets to avoid over penetration, and to get good expansion. That probably wouldn’t be a consideration for military purposes.
Or spitballs.
Agreed. An idiotic choice that will also affect performance majorly.
I’ve been trying to start that rumor for years with no success
Even tried to leak fake (but accurate) news stories
But it’s still fun to try
A copper-cored bullet has what plants crave: electrolytes.
Does anyone here think the Russians or chinee are concerned with “green” or a kinder gentler enviro encounter as they slaughter us? This is insanity defined. Under this kind of thinking, nukes are “environmentally unfriendly” ... no shiiite, buckwheat— war is, too!!
When I was a little boy we used to take a wooden match, cut the head off and replace it with a needle. We’d cut cross slots in the other end and attach two little paper fins. We could make those for them to throw in place of grenades. As long as they said, “Watch out for your eyes,” as they did it.
Great idea. Copper bullets. And now all the meth heads will be stealing them to sell for their habit.
This means the end of lead bullets, and the start of civilian ammo costing 5x what it does now, based on the price of copper vs lead.
Hard to hand-cast copper.
Bingo
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