I heard a story about a hunter that shot a moose with a .220 Swift loaded hot. The bullet vaporized against the moose and the only harm to the moose was some singed fur. I believe this because I have seen a bullet leave a lead trail through the air as it melted due to friction.

No. Bullets do not disintegrate. It might fragment on impact, but not disintegrate.

The melting point of led is over 620 degrees Fahrenheit or 320 Centigrade. Fired from any handgun it is not going to melt because of friction with the air and there is no way that a round is going to leave a trail of molten metal in the air because of friction.

Way back when the high-velocity .220 Swift (over 4000 fps) came out, certain folks in the firearms press were overly enthusiastic about it's capabilities and felt it would be suitable for big game.

However, detractors such as Elmer Kieth (who felt that big, heavy bullets were the best for big game) were disparaging, claiming that the light bullets would "blow up" on impact with heavily built game.

There was probably some truth to this, as the original bullets available for the round were intended (as would be proper) for "varmit" shooting, and were rather lightly constructed.

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The melting point of led is over 620 degrees Fahrenheit or 320 Centigrade. Fired from any handgun it is not going to melt because of friction with the air and there is no way that a round is going to leave a trail of molten metal in the air because of friction.

First off, the .220 Swift is not a handgun round, although I'm sure some single shot handguns have been chambered for it.

High speed bullets often leave a vapor trail, when conditions are right. Go to http://www.dogbegone.com and watch some of the videos and you'll see what I mean.

Some lightly constructed bullets will disintegrate shortly after leaving the barrel when fired at higher velocity and twist than they were designed for.

In order for a bullet to cause a humane kill it must hold together long enough to penetrate to vital organs. Varmint bullets are not designed to do this, they are designed to fragment explosively. Thus they may fail to penetrate much more than skin. This is probably what happened in the OP's story.

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Originally posted by maxman:
No. Bullets do not disintegrate. It might fragment on impact, but not disintegrate.

Sort of. It depends on the bullet construction. Frangible bullets (essentially powdered medal pressed into a bullet shape) are designed to disintegrate into dust when they hit something hard.

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Originally posted by blackpowderpulp:
High speed bullets often leave a vapor trail, when conditions are right.

A vapor trail is not the same thing as a trail of vaporized led from the round.

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I have seen a bullet leave a lead trail through the air as it melted due to friction.

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High speed bullets often leave a vapor trail, when conditions are right.

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A vapor trail is not the same thing as a trail of vaporized led from the round.

I'm pretty sure that a lead bullet doesn't melt in flight,as has been said.

If the velocity of a lead bullet was that high, it would strip the rifling, and start tumbling as soon as it left the muzzle.

I'm also pretty sure that BBP was commenting that the OP might have been mistaken when he said that he had seen a bullet vaporize in flight, and that perhaps the OP had seen a vapor trail.

I have seen bullets in flight, as have others.

Usually, it is with a handgun, with the sun at your back.

You see a short gray flash, but not the complete flight.

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Some lightly constructed bullets will disintegrate shortly after leaving the barrel when fired at higher velocity and twist than they were designed for.

Quite true, I have personally done this. I loaded some leftover 170gr. 30-30 bullets in .308 Win. cases with the same powder charge used for 168gr. BTHP bullets and got a puff of grey smoke as they disintegrated downrange. When I downloaded them to 30-30 velocities, I got pretty respectable accuracy out of them.

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Some lightly constructed bullets will disintegrate shortly after leaving the barrel when fired at higher velocity and twist than they were designed for.

This usually happens with "varmint" type thin jacketed smaller caliber stuff, IIRC.

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I loaded some leftover 170gr. 30-30 bullets in .308 Win. cases with the same powder charge used for 168gr. BTHP bullets and got a puff of grey smoke as they disintegrated downrange.

This surprises me.

I would have thought that the jacket thickness would have been thick enough that you could shoot the 170 gr. flat point about as fast as you could the 168 gr. bullet....


Learn something new every day, I guess.

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I would have thought that the jacket thickness would have been thick enough that you could shoot the 170 gr. flat point about as fast as you could the 168 gr. bullet....

I did too but apparently 2750fps spins them up just a little too fast. The jackets might be a little thinner to allow for expansion at the lower velocities of the 30-30.