Powdered metal bullets

Guns Magazine, July, 2005 by Mike Partain

Q: The other night I watched the show "Modern Marvels" on the history of bullets on the History Channel. During the show they mentioned frangible bullets as being safe on the range because of their construction (i.e. compressed copper). They also alluded to them being good personal protection rounds, but did not go as far as I would hope on that end of the story. Has any story or study been done on this subject? If they were to be good for personal protection it would be certainly worth writing about.

Mike Partain

via e-mail

A: The technology has been out there for quite some time and it has gotten coverage. The firm that makes one of the better bullets--SinterFire, (200 Industrial Park Road, Kersey, PA 15846, 814/885-6672, www.sinterfire.com)--can control how the bullet disintegrates to custom tailor them for training or defense. Remington also makes such a round available through its law enforcement division under the brand name Disintegrator. It is designed for close quarters training using steel targets and reduces to powder upon hitting the target. Like the SinterFire bullet, it, too, is lead free and Remington loads its rounds with lead-free primers. Lead toxicity may be of little importance to even a high-volume shooter, but switching to non-toxic amino will be cheaper in the long run for government agencies and companies that might otherwise have to deal with lead as a "government-certified toxic element" in disability claims and later environmental clean up costs.