It depends on the use of the bullet. Armor-penetrating rounds use metals like tungsten to help penetrate. They want the round to keep its shape on impact to focus the energy on a small area. But tungsten is expensive and hard to work with. You could use aluminum, but that is very light. So air resistance will have a significantly higher effect, reducing range and accuracy. The lighter weight also means it will impact the target with less energy (assuming same velocity as a lead round). Lead is commonly used because its cheap, dense, and malleable. When shooting an unarmored target, like when hunting, you want the round to deform when it hits to better transfer energy and cause damage. You are trying to kill the animal as quickly as possible so it a) doesn’t suffer and b) doesn’t run making you have to track it down and then carry the carcass that much farther. You also have to consider barrel wear. A hard metal will scrape and wear down the barrel faster, making it less accurate and lose power. Even armor-penetrating round usually have a softer metal like copper as a jacket to reduce barrel wear.
Latest Answers