Ice Bullet

derek1ee

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 23, 2017
398
408
What are some of the practical considerations of properly making and shooting an ice bullet? I've seen a few videos on YouTube about this but none actually load an ammo and shot at practical distance so I thought it might be an interesting video to make if possible.
  1. Lead is ~10x as dense as ice, so the bullet will be 1/10 the weight if I make a mold using an actual ice bullet.
    1. Make the ice bullet longer? But even at 2x the length it will still just be 1/5 of the weight.
    2. Use some other metal that's liquid at room temperature? Mercury?
  2. Regardless of which material is choosen, the ammo and probably also the barrelled action will need to be cooled with dry ice prior to firing.
  3. How does different in density (e.g. same shape but much lighter) affect the internal ballistic and thus load development?
  4. While the ability to stay intact during flight is important, I'm more concerened about the bullet stay intact before existing the barrel, will ice/solid mecury be able to do that?
  5. Maybe to keep it simple, start with making a 50cal slug for muzzleloader before making a complete modern cased cartiage?
  6. What else am I missing and why am I crazy for even considering this?
 
LARGE caliber, smooth bore round ball shooter. Then maybe.
So 37mm launcher with hand "cast" ice bullets. Or a "small" muzzle loading cannon.

(holy shit now I finally have a reason to buy one of the surplus gas guns I'm always looking at! "I didn't break your car window, I'm all the way over here!")
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: buffalowinter
On the plus side it's easy to get the fouling out.

71220_W3.jpg
 
  • Haha
  • Love
Reactions: Darryle and Im2bent
What are some of the practical considerations of properly making and shooting an ice bullet? I've seen a few videos on YouTube about this but none actually load an ammo and shot at practical distance so I thought it might be an interesting video to make if possible.
  1. Lead is ~10x as dense as ice, so the bullet will be 1/10 the weight if I make a mold using an actual ice bullet.
    1. Make the ice bullet longer? But even at 2x the length it will still just be 1/5 of the weight.
    2. Use some other metal that's liquid at room temperature? Mercury?
  2. Regardless of which material is choosen, the ammo and probably also the barrelled action will need to be cooled with dry ice prior to firing.
  3. How does different in density (e.g. same shape but much lighter) affect the internal ballistic and thus load development?
  4. While the ability to stay intact during flight is important, I'm more concerened about the bullet stay intact before existing the barrel, will ice/solid mecury be able to do that?
  5. Maybe to keep it simple, start with making a 50cal slug for muzzleloader before making a complete modern cased cartiage?
  6. What else am I missing and why am I crazy for even considering this?
Ladies and gentlemen, the first eco friendly bullet
 
The density of dry ice is about 1.56 g / c m cubed

A typical frangible bullet has a density ranging from 6.9 to 7.5 g / c m cubed

The density of lead is 11.34 g / c m cubed
 
I would think using compressed air to fire the "bullet" would be more effective. The heat from ignition would cause some issues I would think.
Compressed air gets kinda hot. Pretty sure Daisy made a 22 rifle that used compressed air to set off the charges in a caseless round. The VL Hedden I believe
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: wvfarrier