Is it safe to cut a bullet?

[Dubstar112]

Is it safe to cut a bullet with a hand pipe cutter? The kind you clamp tighter and score radialy?(cuting mid shell.)

I want to take the tip out of a 50 cal (LIVE AMMO!) and get rid of the powder.

[sharpshooter1286]

i want to say no, but i really want to say ne thing because i am in no way sure. this is really somethin u would wanna be 100% sure about tho..

[Dubstar112]

uhh too late. curiosity got a hold of me. I cut it. no problems, I was sure to go slow to avoid any heat. What do I do with a handfull of powder now :)? lol .... opps

[Fred]

I'm NOT an expert... and as such I'd call a gunsmith and ask...

I would NOT try to cut it with anything... with the right tool you should probably be able to pull the bullet right out of the casing.

It'd be worth your life to pay a gunsmith or someone who knows how to load ammo to do it for you... you need to remove the primer from the casing as well.

---Fred

[Archangel Kid]

why don't you just go on ebay like my dad =D... My dad used to buy casings and then the bullets for 50 cal. gun, Granted they were dummy rounds and his 50 cal. is blocked. but its still cool to see the rounds going into the 50 cal. when its on his duece 1/2.

[Cryer]

Use an acetylene torch

[Dubstar112]

Originally posted by Cryer
Use an acetylene torch

:p

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/2599/Bullit.jpg

[trains are bad]

Go to a gunshow, get all the empty shells and bullets you want.

OR

Take it to a gunsmith, have him pull the bullet. Remember, You still have the primer in thier then which needs to be fired in order to have a dummy!

I don't understand how you cut it either.

The best thing to do with the powder is take it out and burn it.

[Dubstar112]

Who are you callin a dummy?(:p)

Im not making a dummy, just pulling the bullet apart.

I used a pipe cutter to cut the shell near the tip. Then the brass peeled away via some pliers.

[rehme]

well nothing would really happen if the poweder ingited remeber there as to be pressure for the bullet to go out the barrel. so the powder would just inginte and there is quit a bit of powder so it could catch somthing on fire.

[Dubstar112]

Yeah, but say if the powder were to ignite from massive amounts of heat, the bullet would still be in the shell. Shrapnel/burns.

:( I didnt pull the bullet out, i simply cut the whole cartridge in half. The crimping is too strong to be pulled out without deforming the bullit. Then i snipped it all the way up.

[WicKeD_WaYz]

I used to do it all the time. Nothing bad happened, but I was cutting 12 gauge shells. The powder makes for good fireworks.


One time though my friend threw a rifle shell on the ground and it went off. Scary.

[-Jôker-]

i do it all the time... just stay away from the primer if you ever do it again...and watch those rimfires.

[HOMOCIDAL2]

Originally posted by rehme
well nothing would really happen if the poweder ingited remeber there as to be pressure for the bullet to go out the barrel. so the powder would just inginte and there is quit a bit of powder so it could catch somthing on fire.

A firearm is a device"that expels a projectile by the means of an explosion". And yes there would be an explosion, especially with a .50cal. Next time just use a knetic bullet puller, its easy and cheap. Not to mention safer.

[trains are bad]

Actually, smokeless nitrocellulose based powder does not explode. It is a propellant. If you definition is correct, I have a lot of non-firearms around here.;)

[lopxtc]

This description would more fit a black powder device as opposed to a more modern cased ammuntion device. And black-powder rifles/pistols are not considered firearms by normal standards since you can order them through the mail. I have friends that are into the civil war re-enactments (sp?) and before they started making their own rifles and pistols they used to order whole ones from various cataloges.

Rehme is correct in that the way modern firearms work is that the powder is ignited by the primer which builds up pressure and forces the bullet down range. Which is why too many beginner re-loaders (at least in my area) tend to destroy their pistols by trying to pack too much powder into a round. Watch a guy at a range get taken to the hospital after his .357 basically blew up, seems he had taken to hot loading and was playing with how much could he get out of each casing.

Aaron


Originally posted by HOMOCIDAL2
A firearm is a device"that expels a projectile by the means of an explosion". And yes there would be an explosion, especially with a .50cal. Next time just use a knetic bullet puller, its easy and cheap. Not to mention safer.

[Rebel46_99]

Originally posted by lopxtc
Watch a guy at a range get taken to the hospital after his .357 basically blew up, seems he had taken to hot loading and was playing with how much could he get out of each casing.

Aaron



Probably the same guy that was sighting in his rifle near me at Busch Wildlife a few years ago. He was shooting a scoped 30-06. Came back from the 25 yd target with a "group" of approximately 12 inches. Hey, they were all in the colored part! :rolleyes: And made the comment, "Well.... That ought to get a deer."

While this was going on, I'm shooting an open-sighted antique Winchester 94 (circa 1900)at 100 yds with 6-inch groups, trying to make them smaller.

DW

[lopxtc]

LMAO .. oh man, my .45 group at 45 yards is way less than 12" ...

I can beat that though, when I was still active duty I shot a couple rounds of the base intramurals (sp?) for pistol and rifle. Well during regular qualifications for the pistol, you had a leg where it was rapid fire from the 3 yard line. Typically it was 1 round double action, then 2 rounds single action (first shot with the hammer forwards, the remaining with the hammer back) within five seconds I believe. We would actually have Marines get nervous and fail to hit the target at 3 yards (9 feet!) because they would yank trigger thinking they didnt have enough time to get all three rounds off.

Aaron


Originally posted by Rebel46_99
Probably the same guy that was sighting in his rifle near me at Busch Wildlife a few years ago. He was shooting a scoped 30-06. Came back from the 25 yd target with a "group" of approximately 12 inches. Hey, they were all in the colored part! :rolleyes: And made the comment, "Well.... That ought to get a deer."

While this was going on, I'm shooting an open-sighted antique Winchester 94 (circa 1900)at 100 yds with 6-inch groups, trying to make them smaller.

DW