Iron Content of Rifle Ammo (SS109/M855, M59, M61, M80, M855A1, etc.)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

if you can chemically and electrically isolate the iron from the environment, this should work. The main issue is that if you have any hole in the coating you can get an electrical connection and the iron can start donating electrons to other things. This leads to corrosion, which is generally considered bad. The main solution is to pair the iron up with something that is even more happy to donate electrons than the iron is, as a sacrificial electrode. Hence, zinc.

I'm not really sure how the graphene gets around this, just that some laboratory results showed increased corrosion resistance.

Luke

Ah, I see.

Well, what about simply issuing the ammunition in tightly sealed zinc cans?

Would that provide protection during storage?

I'm aware that once the cans were opened and the ammunition loaded, the iron would corrode fast, but perhaps that would be acceptable to the Vatican-backed hunters if it meant that the bullets were totally pure cold-forged iron and that no jacket of other materials interfered with the delivery of iron to their supernatural foes.