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Copper Powder, 8-oz
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Quantity in Basket:
None
Catalog No.: CUP-8
Price: $11.00
Shipping Weight: 0.75 pounds
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CUP-8 Atomized Copper Powder is used to make non-lead bullets with a density
about 2/3 that of a lead core bullet. The copper powder
compresses well under moderate swaging pressures, and
forms a solid that can be handled. Typically the powder
is compressed inside a bullet jacket. If not, the compressed
bullet needs to be sintered (heated in an oven to fuse the
grains together). It will then shrink slightly, so the
original swaged bullet needs to be made over-sized. Exact
diameter control normally comes from running the sintered
bullet through a draw die as a final step.
California-compliant bullets (non-lead) are most easily made using a jacket, and filling it with copper powder, then seating it under pressure. A drop of wax or silicone sealant on top will keep the powder grains from being broken loose when you form the nose. An easy way to load the powder into the jacket is to use it like a cookie cutter, poking it into a layer of copper powder made in a small pill box or similar telescoping box (like a jewelry box) by tamping it flat and evenly high with inverted lid or base. The layer should be about half the jacket length so you can hold onto the jacket and get a consistent load of powder on each "poke". Seat the powder, which compresses it, and then poke it into the layer again, and repeat until you have as much copper in the jacket as desired. Or, a faster way is to use the Corbin powder metal funnel and punch unit. This is listed under specialty dies. It is made with a spout having the same wall thickness as the jacket you use. The funnel is placed in the core seat die, powder is measured and poured into it, and a long punch compresses the powder column all in one shot.
Copper powder tends to compress to less than half the original column height. With the funnel system, you can load in more than will fit into the jacket loosely poured. The funnel isn't required but it is handy. If you try to just pour powder into the die, the seating punch will let is leak around and fail to press all of it into the jacket. Loose powder in the die tends to cause jams and gets "pressure welded" to the sides of the die, gets between the internal punch and die wall, and generally isn't desirable. It is good practice to wipe out the die after making powder core bullets. The powder itself tends to form layers and break apart into disks when ejected, so it doesn't usually work to try to make a solid powder bullet without a jacket. Forming it in a SWC type die with a cavity in the nose punch can result in a hard slug of copper stuck in the punch cavity. But used properly, it works nicely. A poly ball seated on top of a powder core in a second pass is also an effective way to keep the powder in place as well as identifying the bullet at a glance (if you allow the ball to show somewhat at the end of the bullet jacket).
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