"Weird West Firearm/Bullet Question" Topic

Okay, weird Wild West setting.
Would it be possible to "field modify" a cartridge bullet to put a small bit of silver (actually dentists' mercury-silver amalgam) into a cavity dug in the head of the bullet? Say, dig out a small cavity in the lead bullet, press the amalgam into place, chamber the round and fire it?

Certainly.

Sure, but the cavity will obviously have to be sealed. Not sure what the ballistic effect would be if you wanted to be that granular.

I've read stories of folks drilling out a bullet, dropping in a bit of mercury and capping with hot lead. I've never actually tried it or seen the effects of doing so. But using silver would probably put a dent in some were-critter's day.

I thought it would work, but I'm not the kind to play around with bullets to find out!

Thanks, all!

This suggests to me a Weird Wild West con game with The Lone Ranger, Tonto, an indian shaman & a few Texas Rangers on a mission to clear out a small town taken over by a vampire master with a werewolf or 2 & a zombie gang while the locals & their priest are holed up in the church.

It's the Weird West… of course it's possible.

Well, there is that.

Of course it's possible. Great idea, actually.

It'd be the same as filling in a hollow point bullet. If you were hunting vampires, you could sub the silver for maybe a piece of wooden stake (but not sure if that would be effective. Might want to stick with a crossbow on that one… ;-)

As Zephyr mentions, hollow points already have the cavity. I've seen in people in the movies cover the liquid with candle wax too. And a friend of mine made me a silver bullet. They would work in a regular gun but would wear out the rifling very quickly.

You can do a lot in a horror/Sci-fi environment … whether you could do in "reality" or not …

Much better than that is:

Silver melts at 1,763°F
And lead at 621.5°F

So one could cast a lead shell around a silver core without too much fuss.
Say, bang some silver into a rod, cut off a chunk, and place it into the bullet mold.

Heat up your lead on a camp fire and pour yourself a silver core lead bullet for your gun.

Making your our bullets was common in the West. See the molds in these gun sets:

Guns were not too standardized at first, so the gunsmith would provide what you would need to make bullets for your particular gun.

In this case the gun is a Colt M51 Navy revolver converted to fire .45 cartridges (a fairly common practice, I understand). (Or it could be .44– can't recall which it is). The question is for a short story— Western horror, if you will.

Why not just cast a silver bullet like in movie, "Silver Bullet?" Consider that The Lone Ranger had such bullets back in late 1800's.

"Well pardner, we need silver for our bullets. So hand over them fillings…"

eek! ;-)

One reason not to cast pure silver bullets is the heat needed to melt silver.

An open fire, i.e. campfire, is only about 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit. And silver does not melt until 1,763°F. You would need a bellows and forge to melt silver. While one can easily melt lead on an open fire.

It's for a short story. The situation is tight and the resources limited— the hero has access to the bullet, the amalgam, a penknife and not much else— except the gun, of course. So while casting a silver bullet is a doable thing IRL (though it would likely damage the barrel), doing so isn't an option in the story. I needed a quick solution; I had this inspiration, but I wanted to make certain it could work, at least without a reader noting a glaring error. (You can only handwave so much in any story…)

The story is done, and I'm very pleased with the results.
So again, thanks to all for your thoughts!

PS: I noted later that a hollow-point "express" bullet of the day could work as well, but I'm not certain they were produced in a compatible caliber for the gun in the story. Besides, I like the element of carving it out himself better.

If the character is acquiring the amalgam from a dentist's office, wouldn't he have access to a dental drill for hollowing the bullet?

1851 Navy Colt was .36 caliber, Cartridge conversions were for .38 rimfire/.38 short. Don't think could be converted to .45/.44-40.

Yep, Had my calibers wrong. Not that I actually mention a caliber in the story, or even identify the gun as anything other than a "Colt revolver." So it can be any gun the reader imagines, more or less. I just had the M51 in mind, and mixed it up with other guns in my head.

The main combat action doesn't take place in or near a dentist's office, but a small bit of amalgam is available due to actions earlier in the story. So yes, had it been in the office, the drill would be available. But it's not, so moot point.

In any case, story done, and it works. We'll see what a publisher thinks…

You could also get away with silver filings. Silver coins were common back then, and you could shave off silver with a knife, then pack it into the hole. And amalgam doesn't have to come from a dentist, either. If you have a handy silver mine nearby, mercury was used to extract the silver from the ore. Lots of options available if you need them… ;-)