Mr. Economakis & the factory.

Frontier Metal Processing was established in 1994 by Nico Economakis and has since grown to a successful manufacturing business of lead and cmj bullets, distributing its products throughout the world. Our latest range of sport bullets is our very well received Spartan Premium Hunter bullets.

Nobody makes bullets better than a shooter who knows what he is looking for. The entire management team at Frontier consist of people who are passionate about shooting.

Frontier was founded by Nico as an extension of a passion in to a business venture. He is a keen IPSC shooter who used to cast his own bullets and also for friends. He soon started to manufacture commercially and eventually bought industrial bullet making machinery. Today Frontier is one of the leading manufacturers of complete metal jacketed bullets in the world.

Frontiers factory runs 24 hours, five days a week mainly to keep up with demand of its products but also to ensure the effectiveness of the manufacturing process.The testing, research and development of our products are done at the factory by shooters who are putting the bullets through extreme tests for accuracy at high velocities, resulting in a product for shooters designed by shooters.

CMJ v/s FMJ

The difference between Complete Metal Jacketed bullets and traditional Full Metal Jacketed bullets starts with the manufacturing process.

Full Metal Jacketed bullets are manufactured by means of pressing ("swaging") a lead core into a copper jacket while the jacket of a CMJ is electroplated onto the lead core, covering the core completely. Through the years this process has been refined continuously to improve core-bonding, smooth plating and other factors, resulting in a premier product. Among the many advantages of CMJ bullets is the fact that the lead core is completely covered with copper, eliminating the dangers of lead poisoning. The manufacturing process s more flexible, resulting in a product that is easier to customize for specialised use.

Overexposure

The extended use of lead bullets and full metal jacketed projectiles is a well-known health concern to shooters and authorities around the world.

Overexposure to lead vapour can cause health problems such as infertility and lead poisoning, which can result in organ damage, hypertension, paralysis and in advanced cases, even death. Lead is a heavy metal which remains in the body for up to 35-40 years. The lead levels in the blood of shooters, especially those who make use of indoor ranges and shooters who load their own ammunition, have been shown to be unacceptably high. Exposure to lead is brought about by both physical handling of lead products and by airborne lead found on shooting ranges. When the lead core of a bullet is exposed, lead vapours are caused when a round is fired. On a shooting range where hundreds of rounds are fired, the build-up of lead vapours causes serious health risks for the users. Recent tests done with Frontier Bullets revealed that the use of CMJ bullets dramatically changes the levels of exposure to air borne lead.

Introduction

An assessment of the lead emissions from firing various types of rounds was carried out at the range on 9 March 2005. Three types of 38 special rounds were used in this assessment being;

normal (unjacketed, lead-containing primer) training rounds

unjacketed rounds with lead-free primer

• Complete Metal Jacketed rounds with lead-free primer All rounds were delivered from .38 Smith & Wesson revolvers with the firing range ventilation system turned off in order to allow for sufficient fume to be captured over the sampling period. One hundred and eighty rounds of each type was delivered over the sampling period with the inhalable dust sampler located approximately 1 metre directly over the gun muzzle.

Method

AIR MONITORING Static sampling for inhalable particulate was carried out in accordance with AS 3640-2004 Workplace atmospheres - Method for sampling and gravim

Results

Discussion

The results of lead emission testing of the various types of 38 mm rounds indicate that the use of lead -free primer reduces the amount of airborne lead captured by 35% compared with normal training rounds whilst the use of fully copper-jacketed rounds with lead-free primers reduced the airborne lead captured by 90% compared with normal training rounds.

Manufacturing process

At Frontier Metal Processing, two separate processes are used for the manufacturing of the lead cores. The casting process (the casting of bullets from a molten alloy) allows the manufacturing of a very hard core while our swaging process (the cold-pressing of bullets from lead wire) produces bullets which are very uniform in weight, with a softer core but a thicker jacket.

All manufacturing processes are done on site - from alloying to packaging; our plating process was developed and refined over many years. The experience of the management team, both in the field and the manufacturing process ensure a prime product.

The jackets of complete metal jacketed bullets cover the lead cores completely, eliminating the formation of lead vapours from bullets. It is also safe to handle while reloading, which reduces the risk of excessive exposure to lead over a prolonged period.