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Post by cowhunter on Nov 27, 2011 14:52:10 GMT -5
A few years ago my brother, who lives by the Barnes plant in Utah, brought me 6 boxes of "MRX" 150 grain bullets with a tungsten core. I don't see that Barnes sells them anymore, which is probably why he got them on sale. I shoot the Barnes TSX all copper in both my 300WSM and my Lazzeroni Warbird (Sako version). I think he thought they were all copper. I shoot all copper, especially in the Warbird, with the idea that they will not blow up on contact. What is the tungsten core good for? They were apparently expensive, coming only 20 in a box.
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Post by wilmsmeyer on Nov 27, 2011 16:02:01 GMT -5
If you have to shoot thru your truck to kill a deer, I would get those.
Or just wait for a decent shot. ;D
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Post by rossman40 on Nov 27, 2011 23:43:21 GMT -5
The price of tugsten has doubled in just the last year and probly 5 times in the last 5 years. It is up over $30 a pound now. The reason being we started buying from China back in the 1980s because it was dirt cheap. So all of our mines shut down and turned into ghost towns. Now China, which now controls 83% of the tungsten production, has decided to limit exports. The US government buys about 2 million pounds a year just for a strategic reserve. Not just for penetrators in ammunition but for tooling to make everything else. Supposedly it will take a few more years before mines in North America (2 in Canada) come back up fully if they do. Some say it is better to sit on what we have.
The tungsten used in bullets are usually a lead replacement for use in "green" bullets. It is usually a powdered form mixed with tin and sintered in or mixed with just epoxy. If used as a armor penetrator it is usually in the form of a tungsten carbide rod.
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Post by cowhunter on Nov 28, 2011 14:34:44 GMT -5
Rossman40, good discourse on why tungsten is so expensive. I wondered why the Hevi-shot we were using for goose hunting went up so much.
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