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Environmentally friendly munitions

Strange , that . Lead occurs naturally in many environements as Galena , lead sulphide . Most heavy metals occur in vast quantities in nature including Uranium as pitchblende & also , Thorium . All heavy metals are toxic but what can you do ? I find it hard to believe that copper coated lead bullets would make a lot of difference in the greater scheme of things but then what do I know.......!
 
The Koreans make bio degradable practice grenades.
DAG in Germany developed blank cartridges made of bio degradable plastic.

Also anything not containing heavy metals is considered to be "green" ammunition. So this also goes for DAG made 14.5x51R artillery trainer ammo made of brass instead of lead as it was in the old days. Not to mention all the SAA in various countries which is also going "lead free" (and is still not under full control since the ammo performs worse than the poisonous one).
 
The latest 5.56mm ball ammo currently being used by the US Army is lead-free: the M855A1 EPR (a steel penetrator with a copper slug behind it, held together by a semi-jacket). They are developing similar bullets in 7.62mm calibre for introduction in 2014.

In Europe, RUAG offers lead-free ammo in various military calibres, as well as Nammo.

It's interesting that the British Army spokeman said that they have no plans to introduce lead-free ammo. The UK is usually more cautious than the US when it comes to such matters (e.g. they are very unlikely to adopt the M855A1 because it's not FMJ and will fragment).
 
I can remember researching this for some lectures I did at the Defence Academy a few years ago. I was covering design elements of the ordnance engineering course and did some sessions on how to design more 'sustainably'. Picked up some research on the ability to recycle land mines (one factory in the Balkans creating toys from the plastic) and consideration of other environmental impacts.

Reducing toxicity in the manufacturing material was one of those activities that we discussed in some depth as an easy way of doing it. It was all about reducing the footprint a conflict leaves on a place.

Richard
 
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Don't know why, but the phrase "killing them with kindness" keeps wandering around in my head. Cheers, Bruce.
 
Just returned from the Defence Academy where they had some biodegradable practice mortar rounds. Currently, they are machined from rod, but production versions will be moulded.

Tim
 
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