Casting bullets from beer cans? Can it be done?

[Awesome]

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I've never done any bullet molding but I was thinking/wondering if you had a situation where you were almost completely out of supplies. Could you melt and cast bullets from soda/ beer cans and expect them to hold up as a bullet?
Or is this a completely crazy idea?



And I was just wondering for those of you who mold your own bullets can you make bullets for an AR? I can't say that I have ever seen an AR load that was mostly lead. Would you need to use an alloy that has a lot of tin in it or something? Pure lead wouldn’t work would it?

[Skyowl's Wife]

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Since no one is answering this, I'll relate a story.

We went to visit an aluminum plant where several of my family worked.

Working the aluminum took HUGELY high heat and electricity. I had very long hair and used long bobby pins to hold it up. There was so much magnetism caused by the electricity in the "pot room", that it pulled out my bobby pins and they danced upright on the floor.

Suspect you would not be able to do this without a VERY large amount of electricity.

Now, tire weights... you can make bullets out of those!

[prkchp76]

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theoretically yes but it would not be feasable because aluminium is so light it would be a really super light weight bullet but it could be done as a mixture with some lead or other heavy metal

[cwconnertx]

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Aluminum has limited applications for casting bullets. The things would lake the density to hold a large amount of energy.

There are very few rounds I can think of that have aluminum in them. The only ones that come to mind are certain rounds for the FN 5.7 applications liek the FiveSeveN pistol and the P90 or PS90. There bullets are in the 27 grain range.

I think you would have problems and would need to be very careful in your loadings not to create pressure too high. Even then the performance would be noticiable inferior to lead.

[ryantx23]

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You can use several malleable metals to create alloys for bullets. When casting, I prefer to use tire weights. They make nice bullets and most tire stores throw away hundreds of pounds of these weights a month. Can't beat free lead....

[prkchp76]

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yes true but he was asking of aluminum

[Dracos]

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No........

[rsanders]

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You can use several malleable metals to create alloys for bullets. When casting, I prefer to use tire weights. They make nice bullets and most tire stores throw away hundreds of pounds of these weights a month. Can't beat free lead....

I cast alot of fishing jigs,and use wheel weights to do so,but as for tire stores throwing them away , not around here. Since the price of all scrap metals have skyrocketed the past year, every tire shop I talk to tells me that they actually load up every month or so and make the trip down to the recycling yard. Having said that , I now turn my attention to batteries, the store charges a $5.00 core charge when buying a new battery if you don't turn in the lod one , OK, where else can you buy 25 - 40 pounds of lead for $5.00 , depending on the size of the battery ? Lead has a melting point of 621.43 degrees fahrenheite, aluminum melts at 1220.666, about double the temp. but it could be melted over an open fire.

[lunicy]

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OK, I'll take a stab at this. Aluminum oxide is a very harsh abrasive. It is oxidized aluminum. I wouldn't want to send that down my gun barrel. I don't want to sand down my rifling.

Batteries: The chemicals in the batteries are horrible. The electrolyte combines with the lead to make some horrible stuff. There isn't 40lbs of lead in a battery. There grids inside arent all lead. There isn't alot of lead in them. It isn't worth burning them. (do cut off the terminals)

[Big_Saw]

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yes true but he was asking of aluminum

Actually, he said "BEER CANS".......hello, people! Let's figure out how to do this, dammit! I have THOUSANDS of rounds worth of BEER CANS just layin' 'round.......