From: John De Armond
Subject: Re: Wooden Bullets
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.

George.N.Mills.Jr@dartmouth.edu (George N. Mills Jr.) writes:

#Just something that caught my eye.  I was just wondering along these
#same lines if anybody else on the 'Net has ever heard of using Ice
#bullets.  Some time ago a friend said something about the Isreali
#Mossad using Ice Bullets in their "wet works".  I guess the theory
#goes that the bullet penetrates the body and then dissovles leaving
#no bullet for evidence.  Is this plausable or just another idea dreamed
#up by fiction writiers?

I tried that once.  Didn't work.  I froze some round nose .30 cal
bullets for my .30-30 T/C pistol using a lymann mold (silicone grease
the mating surfaces to make it water-tite).  I then froze the gun,
the loading supplies and all the tools.  When I fired the round,
powdered ice came out the barrel.  I theorize that the barrel taper
fractured the brittle ice.  One might be able to make a cylinder
barrel that wouldn't fracture the bullet.  Even then, the bullet
would have very poor performance because water is so light.

What I've thought about is a mercury bullet.  Similar density
as lead and solid mercury is ductile.  There would still be a
mercury glob in the wound but there would surely be no
ballistics evidence.

John