I came across a short notice in your paper stating “Arsenic metal soars” (T.N.M., Feb. 5/90). The last sentence reads: “The main use for arsenic metal is as an alloy with lead to make shot for bullets.” It seems that you may have stumbled upon a novel idea for bullets. If the shock and destruction due to bullet penetration does not bring your target down, then certainly arsenic poison will.
It is antimony, not arsenic, that is used in lead alloys for bullets used in rifles and shot used in shotguns. Antimony-lead alloy hardens the shot to resist deformation. More than half of the world’s antimony reserves are estimated to occur in China.
It would seem that you either got confused about the metal (antimony versus arsenic) or you got the end use of arsenic wrong. John Scott Thunder Bay, Ont.
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