My brother in law told me that his father would load bullets with sugar and that the gunshot would be much more quieter yet still have the velocity and power of regular subsonic ammo. I've never held such a thing and research bought me here. I would ask his father but he passed away sometime ago. Logically I think it might work. Before I decide to buy the equipment and learn how to load(not just for the sugar), has anyone heard or know anything about sugar bullets?
That would be SWEET! Really? I'm calling B/S on that one. Sugar will have no effect on the sound of the discharge.
"My brother in law told me that his father would load bullets with sugar and that the gunshot would be much more quieter yet still have the velocity and power of regular subsonic ammo. " It won't work in any case (pun) but I'm not sure I understand all that your BIL means. It's amusing to consider tho. Was his father supposed to be putting sugar in the bullets or the cartridges? I mean, was it supposed to be a sweet addition to a hollow point maybe, or was he supposed to be using sugar for a gun powder? If it would work at all, which it won't, burnt sugar would leave a badly fouled barrel, not sweet at all!
When your are reloading you have to pay close attention to cartridge pressure. I have yet to find a reloading recipe that calls for sugar in any of my reloading manuals. I checked gunloads.com, no sugar there either. Mis-loading a metallic cartridge or shot shell can have a deadly impact on you and people around you. It is all about pressure. Stay Safe and Shoot Straight, Hunter Joe
His dad would load the cartridges and I don't think he used all sugar. He probably mixed it with gunpowder. Reason I think it might work is because my brother makes smoke bombs from sugar and stump remover(kno3) and those smoke like crazy.
Google brings up at least a couple of "gunpowder substitute" formulas out there that use sugar as one component.
Fillers of several types can be used in cartride cases. Usually they are tufts of polyester, or wool, some type of filler that would hold the powder in place. I have read of filler being used in straight wall pistol cases and in several black powder loadings where you DON'T want any empty space in the case. Never in a bottleneck case. I suppose sugar could be used on top of a charge of powder but not mixed in with it. Though it sounds do-able in theory, sugar is probably not a good idea.
Sugar (fuel) and an oxidizer (I will NOT specify) CAN be a (poor) substitute for gunpowder. If they were quieter, it was because they were driving the bullet a LOT slower, with a lot less energy. If you are planning to get into reloading, please do one of two things- 1. Read the reloading manuals, and follow instructions PRECISELY- that means NO substitutions of bullet weight/type, powder, or primers- OR- 2. Take out a large life insurance policy. I have worked in explosives for over 45 years, and yes, I know of field expedient substitutes for gunpowder. However, those are used only in military circumstances where I am cut off from normal channels of supply. They are sure as heck not used as a matter of convenience or cost. Today I was at the range shooting .357 Mag handloads that are putting out about 700 ft lbs of energy. Carefully developed, used only in one weapon (not the average 357) AND developed from standard loading data. If sugar was a good substitute, I sure as heck would not be spending money buying Bullseye, Blue Dot, and 2400!
If you want a filler you need to use cream of wheat. That is what guys use for low charges of fast powder in big cases.
One time in the war of 1812 the British were using barrels of sugar as cover for their artillery. The barrels got blown up and the liquid sugar got all over the bores of the artillery pieces, rendering them useless. The same thing would probably happen if you put sugar inside a case and fire it.
Have heard of using cream of wheat or even cornmeal as a filler for large capacity cases to fill them up, for either black powder or a slow burning rifle powder and I would suspect sugar would be more expensive. But none of them would make the report quieter. I do know using corn meal will make it smell like someone baking cornbread.
actually i always liked brown sugar in my cream of wheat...but this is an interesting little read....from sugar to cream of wheat and corn bread mix.... if the only constant is the bullet wt./gr.(mass), then the energy and velocity have to vary according to each other per that equation posted earlier in the muzzle energy thread ENERGY=0.5*(MASS)*(VELOCITY)^2 i could see where someone might be firing two different loads, a regular and a sweet, and if they're both blowing thru 1/2" plywood at 100yds....the assumption maybe that both rounds have the same energy behind them, when in fact it may be the plywood only requires 200ft lbs to penetrate and one round is hitting at 600 and the other at 400 and more quietly out the muzzle....that would be my explanation for the original assumption. I always wondered what purpose dripping wax on hollow points served as done by Roy Schieder in Jaws.....
Mack now there are issues where the case needs to be filled like when loading with black powder in a large case, the bullet needs to be seated against the powder. Also if shooting a large capacity case like a .45/70 or anything like that where the powder charge is so reduced that there is a large air pocket in the case and the powder all lies flat on one side of the case, causing the flame from the primer to light the top of all of the powder at once. Have seen many discussions on this before, and hey why pay the extra money for corn bread mix when corn meal is much cheaper.
