For
cops in urban areas, a ricocheted bullet fired from a service
gun could mean the ultimate nightmare. Steel, concrete, and
other hard surfaces can send a slug careening off randomly to
hit a civilian or another police officer. Now, metallurgists
at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have devised a
way to prevent this nightmare, using a substitute for the
traditional lead bullet.
The new bullets are molded by a simple process
called “cold welding,” in which powdered metals are mixed and
subjected to high pressure at room temperature. The bonding
process and materials, say Oak Ridge scientists, can be made
to accurately mimic the densities and mechanical properties of
lead bullets. However, the new bullets boast several
advantages.
For one, they can be easily customized for
density and weight distribution to achieve optimum
performance. One way in which this is accomplished is by
mixing high-density metals, such as tungsten, with lighter
metals like tin.
Unlike lead, tin and tungsten are considered
environmentally friendly. While so-called “green bullets” have
garnered more than their fair share of jokes, costly cleanups
of lead-contaminated firing ranges are no laughing matter.
The new bullets may be even more valuable to
urban police. Using the new manufacturing process, the bullets
can be made frangible—meaning that they will fragment into
small particles on impact with hard surfaces. Initial testing
has indicated a very low ricochet rate with frangible bullets.
