Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How do you section bullets?

Thinking maybe grinding them in half? How do you hold on to those rascals against a grinding wheel? Vice grips?

Any other method? Thanks.

Put the bullet in a vice and file it to half way or close to it.

John

Carve a shallow half shape of the bullet in wood. Drive a small finishing nail where the base will lie. File towards the nail.

A file! OK, that makes sense, and sounds safer too.

Wire EDM

You could also use a band saw if you glued it to something and then removed the glue - once you cut the bullet in half.

You could mill it on a Bridgeport type knee mill.

Or you could make a mold impression and make a bullet mold of the same shape and then cut the mold in half with the bullet inside.
Once the cut is made - you can put as many bullets inside of it and cut them in half as long as they have the same shape and olgive.

I figured Douchebeer would simply use is heat ray vision...

Hold them with visegrips, cut with a bandsaw. Gonna take forever to file one in half

One method that works is to drill a slightly smaller hole in wood, more smaller in softer wood, less smaller in harder wood. (Soft is generally better.) [Press the bullet into the hole.] Then you can sand, slowly to avoid excess heat, into the bullet with a power sander. You can also cut partially through with a saw if you wish. (A chop saw can work if you're careful and use a large enough piece of wood for the holder.)

A disposable abrasive is better than many wheels which are often intended for cutting ferrous metals...IMO.

You can do most of the grunt work in two or three phases with a cutoff wheel in a Dremel, and a vise with soft jaws.
Most soft jaws will have a v notch in them. Put the bullet in tip first and make your slot as far down as you can on the shank. You need to be careful because if you push too hard you will melt the lead and plug yourself up.
Then you put some shim stock in the slot you cut, flip it over and cut from the tip end.
Finally, take a nice mill file, set it down on the bench, and file your surface flat. Viola!

I hold them in a small pair of visegrips and grind them on a belt grinder, course belt initially and then a finer one.

Go slow and cool often, the lead gets a bit soft and gummy if you don't.

I put the boolit in a vise and cut it with a hacksaw. Finish with a file.

I used to section lots of stuff for microscopic analysis. We used to cast the specimen into a block of epoxy, then cut it in half with a fine band saw and put it into a polishing machine.

Have a friend hold it and use a Dremel tool.



Definitely TIC.

Fixed it.

Another fix......

Better now.

Fixed it some more; why not just go all the way if you're going to throw family under the bus?

I love my wife. MIL, not so much.

I use the same technique as Aussie Gun Writer: put the bullet lengthwise in a bench vise and then file it halfway down.

It doesn't take very long to do this with a fairly coarse file. I haven't timed myself, but an average 180-grain .30 probably takes 2-3 minutes. Have done hundreds over the years that way.

If I want to take a photo of the sectioned, I then "polish" it with a fine sandpaper wheel on a drill. But that can also be done with some finer-grit paper and a sanding block, or even sandpaper wrapped around a fine file.

It ain't complicated.

Thanks all. Been wanting to do this for my own personal collection.