Sunday, January 25, 2009

Thermoset plastic bullets?

I have a relative who is selling some off a few firearms, a Chinese SKS, some deer rifles in everything from .243 to .30-06, and some handguns.

I've been keeping my eyes open for a .223 carbine to replace my .22lr plinker, since it's old and the barrel is almost unusable. I was going to use .22 pellets with the .223 primer pockets drilled out for magnum or shotgun primers for plinking, since I only get to the range every once in a while, and rarely hunt.

I know people use wax and glue bullets all the time to shoot in centerfire pistols and rifles. I'm a hobbyist and I've molded plastic parts for things using ABS granules... what I wondered is why not use them in a bullet mold?

ABS and other thermoset plastics can be bought in granules (tiny pellets) that melt easily and set hard. I have 9 pounds of the stuff left... I think they would easily make much more consistent bullets than hot glue or wax. You could probably seat to a correct OAL to feed in a semi (though you'd obviously still have to operate the bolt by hand)

If this could be done, it would make easy plinking with plastic bullets and primers. I wouldn't need to find a .223, I could buy up that SKS, or another long gun which would be great. My neighbor has an amazing reloading setup that he'd gladly let me use, since I let him use my workshop for his woodworking projects. I just don't want to go ruin any of his molds or dies experimenting with this if the experience reloaders here don't think it's a good idea.

I know I ask crazy things here, but I'm a "what if" kind of guy. If it's been done before it's just not fun!

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