where can i buy lamas ltd blended metal ammo?how much?does it really work?someone around here’s played with it!
LeMas ammo is the Obama of the ammo world. All lies and media spin…utterly unable to deliver on it’s promises.
Do yourself a favor and stick to proven performers.
Church of Dirt–You may wish to read the following: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=19888
In early 2005 and again in early 2006, we obtained additional samples of LeMas ammunition.
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/modogBMT.jpg[/IMG]
February of 2006, we reported the following:
The 5.56 mm ammo shipped to us by modog consists bullets with an ave weight of 45.0 gr made using standard swaged copper jackets and lead-antimony cores–these molybdenum disulfide coated bullets are completely conventional in every way and use no blended metals, exotic materials, bonding, or other unusual construction. These bullets are identical in every respect, down to the elemental level, as commercially produced .223 varmint rifle bullets. Despite being labeled as “Land Warfare” their exposed lead noses classify them as JSP’s and would render them not legal for combat use under current JAG rules.
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/modogBMTsection.jpg[/IMG]Also shipped was .45 ACP ammunition that has bullets of an ave. weight of 83.5 gr made using a conventional copper jacket into which a lead-antimony nose and nylon core are placed. The exposed lead nose classifies these bullets as JSP’s. No blended metals, exotic materials, or bonding, is noted. Please note that the construction of these LeMas/RBCD .45 ACP handgun rounds, like other ones we have recently assessed, appears use an improved nylon material resulting in more consistent cores and less core-jacket structural defects than those we previously publicly illustrated at TF.
Finally, the 9 mm ammunition sent by modog consists of similar JSP bullets of an ave 59.2 gr weight that are similarly made using a conventional copper jacket housing a lead-antimony nose over a round nylon dual ball as noted in the earlier ammunition illustrated at the link above. Again, no blended metals, exotic materials, or bonding.
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/modogBMThandgun.jpg[/IMG]Of interest, the handgun bullets had an unusual exterior bump/hump/protrusion on the base of the copper jacket, possibly produced when the lead and nylon materials are compressed into the copper jacket.
As the purported unique composition has been one of the primary advertising gimmicks used by LeMas to market their “BMT” ammunition and try to differentiate it from “conventional” munitions, it deserves a significant amount of attention. LeMas repeatedly made false and inaccurate claims about their ammunition composition and construction. We have completed XRF and SEM testing on a dozen LeMas loads. NONE of the projectiles were made using blended metals, platinum or any other exotic metals; only one did not contain lead. Please note that our results are in congruence with several other research facilities that have independently tested the LeMas/RBCD bullets with exactly the same results–NO blended metals, NO platinum or other exotic materials, NO thermally reactive materials, and definitely NOT all lead free.
For example, the SEM’s below illustrate the molybdenum disulfide exterior coating, standard copper jacket, and conventional lead core construction of the LeMas 5.56 mm Land Warfare bullet:
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/Lemas_556_LandWarefare_SEM.jpg[/IMG]
Unlike the salesmen from LeMas, SEM and XRF do not lie…
Does it matter what the ammunition is made of? Yes, especially in light of international treaty obligations, environmental factors, basic scientific honesty, and simple truth in advertising.
The term “blended metal” is not just a “marketing” term as stated by Mr. Bulmer; it has factual meaning. As mentioned previously, one can look-up the U.S. military definition at: www.fbo.gov/spg/DON/NAVSEA/N00164/N0016404R4846/SynopsisR.html. The American Society of Metals (ASM) has a nearly identical definition, as do other recognized materials science organizations. The U.S. military has previously purchased and used ammunition made using blended metals. In fact, we have previously tested it in gelatin and Dr. Fackler wrote a paper discussing the terminal performance of these true blended metal rounds in living tissue (Fackler ML: Tungsten Frangible Bullet Wounds in Pig: Exam by Autopsy and X-Ray. Wound Ballistic Review. (4)3:33-34, Spring 2000). Fair-minded people expect a bullet described as being made using “Blended Metal Technology” to actually be made using blended metals and not just be a relabeled, misnamed bullet made using conventional construction methods. Again, all of the LeMas ammunition testing I am aware of to date, both at our facility and elsewhere, has demonstrated that NONE of the LeMas ammunition is made using blended metals; all are produced using conventional methods, and all but one contain lead.
Mr. Bulmer wrote at Lightfighter.net, “That there are no historical DOD JAG rulings that would prohibit the BMT non ballistic tipped rifle ammunition to be used by US active duty personnel in a declared conventional war”. Yet this is not true. Since the LeMas/RBCD ammunition has now been proven to be of lead core construction, the exposed lead at the tip of the LeMas bullets, for example on the misnamed Land Warfare rifle ammunition, is clearly a violation of the Hague convention. Likewise, the exposed lead at the tip of the LeMas/RBCD 9 mm and .45 ACP handgun ammunition is also in violation of the Hague Convention, while the radiolucent nylon polymer core in the handgun bullets and the plastic tip of the Urban Warfare and TFSP rifle bullets are prohibited by Protocol I of the 1980 UN Conventional Weapons Convention.
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/RBCD_xray.jpg[/IMG]
As a result, the US DOD JAG has ruled that the LeMas/RBCD ammunition is illegal for use in international armed conflict–whether by military personnel or private contractors hired by the U.S. government to perform security work.
Mr. Bulmer and LeMas frequently crow about the LeMas “BMT” armor penetration ability and brag about its ability to perforate AR500 steel; in our testing, we were also able to shoot the LeMas 5.56 mm Land Warfare bullets through 0.25” AR500 steel–not an unusual outcome given the high projectile velocity. But how does the LeMas “BMT” ammo do against actual Level III or IV armor? In our testing, multiple shots of the same 5.56 mm LeMas Land Warfare loads that zipped through steel were stopped cold by plain ordinary Level III hard Dyneema (3.2 lb/sq ft) armor plates made by AMI. On the other hand, M995 rips through these same level III plates like they are not there–so much for the “superior” LeMas “BMT” armor piercing capability…
What happens when one pulls LeMas “BMT” rifle bullets and substitutes conventional lead-core, swaged copper jacket commercially produced varmint bullets? In our testing, when we replaced 5.56 mm LeMas “BMT” Land Warfare bullets with “conventional” Sierra 45 gr JSP’s, nothing changed–the Sierra bullets behaved identically as the LeMas “BMT” bullets, with the same ability to punch through steel because of the high velocity and yet fragment in soft tissue because of the lightweight, varmint JSP construction. Hmmm….
Using stereomicroscopy comparative analysis and SEM data, AFTE affiliated forensic scientists were able to prove that each of the LeMas rifle loads tested actually used commercially produced conventional rifle bullets: for example, the LeMas 5.56 mm Urban Warfare load is actually a Nosler 40 gr Ballistic Tip #39510, while the LeMas 5.56 mm Land Warfare appears to be a Sierra 45 gr JSP Varminter #1310. Similarly the LeMas .308 Land Warfare turned out to be a Hornady 110 gr JSP #3010, while the LeMas .308 TFSP is really a Hornady 110 gr VMAX #23010, and the LeMas .308 Urban Warfare is a Nosler 125 gr Ballistic Tip #30125–oh, and the one lead-free LeMas rifle load we tested, the .308 SSSP/HARPPII, turned out to use Barnes Solid 125 gr all brass bullets #30812.
Several of the LeMas rifle loads appear to be purposefully mislabeled with respect to projectile weights in what is likely an attempt to deceive purchasers of the actual COTS bullets being used–for example, the early LeMas 5.56 mm “State Department” load (later re-named the Urban Warfare, perhaps because it was publicly revealed that the State Dept. did not actually use this load) described as using 39 gr bullets actually had 40 gr bullets; the LeMas .308 TFSP load, labeled as using 112 gr projectiles, turned out to be 110 gr bullets; while the LeMas .308 SSSP/HARPPII load purported to use 124 gr bullets, in fact uses 125 gr bullets.
Sectioned LeMas .308 bullets are depicted below–once one digs past the outer moly disguise and truly assesses bullet construction, it is obvious the LeMas bullets are conventional commercial bullets.
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/LeMas308section.jpg[/IMG]
Below is a SEM comparison of the 5.56 mm LeMas Urban Warfare with a Nosler 40 gr Ballistic Tip:
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/Lemas_556UW_vs_Nosler_SEM.jpg[/IMG]
Below is a SEM comparison of the 5.56 mm LeMas Land Warfare with a Sierra 45 gr JSP:
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/LeMas_556LW_vs_Sierra_SEM.jpg[/IMG]
Below is a SEM comparison of the .308 LeMas Land Warfare with a Hornady 110 gr JSP:
[IMG]http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/docgkr/myhomepage/LeMas_30LW_vs_Horn_SEM.jpg[/IMG]
Far from being a “non-comparable technology”, a “new generation of munitions”, a “paradigm of technological innovation”, “the single most significant advancement in small arms since the advent of the 20th century”, as Mr. Bulmer claims, the LeMas rifle ammunition is actually nothing but lightweight, repackaged varmint bullets disguised with a black coating of moly, and driven to higher than normal velocities with concomitantly higher than normal pressures. For example, the maximum pressure for 5.56 mm ammunition using the military case mouth test methodology is 58,700 psi. When tested using the military case mouth pressure method in a standard military 20” 1/7 twist test barrel, the LeMas 5.56 mm Land Warfare ammunition demonstrated a 10 shot ave pressure reading of 63,200 psi resulting in a 3907 fps ave velocity. Note that standard military 5.56 mm 62 gr M855 FMJ tested in the same fashion yielded an ave 50,080 psi pressure and an ave velocity of 2985 fps.
When lightweight, thin jacketed varmint bullets are shot from barrels with fast twists, they have been noted to break apart in flight, shortly after exiting the barrel. This phenomena was noted several times during pressure testing of the LeMas 5.56 mm Land Warfare load which uses the thin jacketed 45 gr Sierra Pro-Hunter Varminter JSP. On the target range this can be annoying; if bullets disintegrate in flight during combat, the projectiles cannot hit and incapacitate the enemy–a potentially disastrous consequence.
As noted above, in their written statements to the U.S. DOD, Mr. Bulmer and Mr. Hamilton of LeMas asserted: “The ballistic wound ‘maximum effective range’ potential from the Blended Metal Bullet designs in live tissue is not driven by the same limitations inherent in current ‘jacketed lead bullet’ constructs. BMT’s extended ‘maximum effective range’ tissue destruction capabilities are vastly superior to currently procured bullet designs.” As is now so painfully obvious, Bulmer and Hamilton were NOT telling the truth, since the LeMas “BMT” bullets are indeed “jacketed lead bullet constructs” and not the “revolutionary”, “pre-programmed”, “smart” bullets they falsely claimed in their slick attempt to defraud the U.S. military.
Mr. Bulmer has repeatedly claimed that LeMas ammunition could not be properly tested in ordnance gelatin because LeMas used new “BMT” bullet construction technology and materials–clearly this is now proven to be a bold-faced lie; one that is refuted by the engineers at Barnes, Hornady, Nosler, and Sierra who all report that they use ordnance gelatin to design and test the conventionally constructed, readily commercially available bullets surreptitiously being used by LeMas/RBCD. In fact these companies, as well as the forensic literature, adamantly state that over many years of hunting use, as well as in human shooting incidents, bullets of these types have been shown to have a close correlation between shots into living tissue and shots into properly prepared ordnance gelatin. Once again, the Bulmer/LeMas hype does not match factual, verifiable reality.
Unlike Bulmer and LeMas, I have NO financial interest in the success or failure of LeMas/RBCD or any other product, company, or commercial entity involved in any weapon or ammunition program. I want our troops to have the best possible munitions that meet current law of war legal requirements; as far as I can tell, Bulmer and LeMas are self-serving meretricious salesmen peddling a fraudulent product. Exactly who is the biased person in this equation???
The incessant misinformation, deliberate obfuscation, and wanton disregard of basic physics and physiology by LeMas and Mr. Bulmer strains credulity: Ultimately, the veracity of LeMas and Mr. Bulmer in particular is untenable due to their numerous distortions, prevarications, and unsupported statements, along with their deliberately vague answers and outright lies in response to legitimate questions about their product. It appears that LeMas conspired to disguise readily available commercially produced bullets, fraudulently re-labeled them with bold, high-tech names, lied about the bullet material properties, made some amazing pseudo-scientific sounding yet unsubstantiated terminal performance claims, and then charged a substantially inflated fee for this “unprecedented technological innovation”. What a great marketing scam…if they had gotten away with it.
The big unanswered question is how could so many supposedly professional individuals in the military, law enforcement, medical, and media communities have been fooled for so long by LeMas? Were they all innocent duped bystanders, or did some of LeMas’s vocal supporters have financial ties to LeMas? Also, what was RBCD’s role in all this? Inquiring minds want to know…
Congress appropriated $1,050,000.00 in the FY03 budget for the government to conduct a comprehensive study of LeMas “BMT” ammunition and evaluate the remarkable claims made by LeMas. A 3 year, multi-agency testing effort was conducted and the results compiled and documented. The long awaited USSOCOM/ARDEC report on LeMas ammo is now available for distribution to authorized organizations. Virtually every single claim made by Mr. Bulmer and Mr. Hamilton regarding LeMas bullet design, manufacture, construction methodology and composition, pyrophoric and thermodynamic properties, behavior in tissue simulant, intermediate barrier capability, terminal performance in tissue were all determined to be FALSE. Hopefully this will put to rest any residual doubts about the fraudulent nature of LeMas “BMT”. Note that the USSOCOM/ARDEC report validates all the information we have released publicly to date above.
[i]We have been advised that to get the document you need to register with DTIC ( http://www.dtic.mil ) and request the document from them. You will then have to search for the document (“ARAET-TR-07009 Blended Metal Technology Review and Analysis” is the title in the system) and fill out a Form-55 which essentially is a who you are and why you need the document.
Log into: https://dtic-stinet.dtic.mil ; the dtic-stinet document number is ADB328709.
Registration: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/registration/
Form 55: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/registration/reg_forms.html [/i]
Doc Roberts,
I remember hearing much ado about their “ammo voodoo” and I am glad that you posted that info here. You guys obviously took them to task and scientifically raped them.
I don’t buy Doc’s claims!
I need to see more data! 
I wonder if OP’s question is driven by History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” series. Yesterday they aired an episode called “Bullets”; I don’t know if it was new or re-run. 1 hour show about evolution of modern small arms projectile design; I only caught last 20 minutes or so. LeMas stuff was prominently featured…
After reading DocGKR’s post on the subject and excellent testing, there should be quite a few law suits filed against Stan Bulmer and his company LeMas LTD. What a crock of shit. That research and testing should be published in every gun rag, news paper and forum out there. He should be sentenced to life in prison for that BS.
I have a copy of the USSOCOM/ARDEC report, but I had not seen your detailed write-up.
Very well done, DocGKR.
Mark
The History Channel–I shoulda known. THC is wonderful entertainment and often very informative, and does way more good than harm by presenting guns as normal, interesting, fun, and cool, unlike most of the rest of the media. But somehow, what makes it onto their gun shows seems to qualify by reverse Darwin–survival of the unfittest, even when half an hour of research, or reading books (remember those?) in the library (remember those?), would reveal the truth. This is, after all, the same channel where you find MonsterQuest and UFO Files.
Maybe “Mr. LeMas” shouldn’t spend life in prison, but he sure seems to be in violation of fair trade law. Here in NC, you get triple your money back plus court costs and attorney fees.
At least one “professional” forum heavily promoted LeMas bullets a couple years ago and when anybody asked how exactly this blended metal technology worked, the mods and other LeMas shills shouted them down, telling them if it works, why do you need to know how? If anybody were to push it, those personnel would be liable too, if anybody bought LeMas fraudulent bullets because of what they read there. I don’t associate any more with that professional forum or its soldiers. hint dropped