You are correct on the Penny. The military still uses a lot of copper and zinc, just not how you are thinking. The “depleted uranium” rounds you are thinking of are anti-armor rounds. This is a fin stabilized sabot round that has a core penetrator made of DU instead of Tungsten, like the Russians use (we use some tungsten core rounds also). The US used these for the Bradley’s main 25mm Bushmaster auto cannon, M1 Abrams tank, 30mm fighter jet cannons and the big boy A-10 Brrrrt gun. Almost all small rounds, think infantry, use full metal jacket rounds. The core of the round (back then, now mostly steel) is made of lead. Then the lead is encased ( or jacketed) with copper. This would apply to 9mm pistol rounds(not used much in combat, if so, it is a bad day), M-16 5.56 rounds, .30 caliber machine gun, and .50 caliber machine and anti material rifles. Copper is used a lot in other areas also, primarily motor windings and generator windings. Zinc is used is almost everywhere as a galvanized coating on ammunition that is not jacketed and other things that have bare steel. The Bradley fires a standard round that is used more often than the DU sabot, called HEAT. This is an explosive round covered in steel with a jacket of zinc for corrosion resistance.
No problem. I have seen a lot of people think that the army was just tossing huge chunks of uranium around. The actual core made of depleted uranium is quite small, I believe it is less than 300grams in an Abrams 120mm shell. The cores are encased and not very radioactive, but I would bet they are still an environmental hazzard long after they are used. The US started using it when it proved harder of a penetrator than tungsten, and since it is a waste product, it was far cheaper.
What about galvanized steel though? You know, like traffic signs, light posts, some cars, various construction materials etc? You could use zinc in so many ways. I expect those applications would also take a lot more zinc than the pennies ever could.
The reason we continued to make the penny is to maintain zinc production, which is important for wartime manufacturing.
By ending penny production, it will save money, but may compromise our future ability to wage war.
So two wins
What portion of our zinc production goes to manufacturing pennies?
Do you have a source for this?
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historic-coin-production
This is the closest I could find and I really doubt that this means much in the 21st century.
I mean for fucks sake we were using depleted uranium rounds during the Iraq War, not copper.
You are correct on the Penny. The military still uses a lot of copper and zinc, just not how you are thinking. The “depleted uranium” rounds you are thinking of are anti-armor rounds. This is a fin stabilized sabot round that has a core penetrator made of DU instead of Tungsten, like the Russians use (we use some tungsten core rounds also). The US used these for the Bradley’s main 25mm Bushmaster auto cannon, M1 Abrams tank, 30mm fighter jet cannons and the big boy A-10 Brrrrt gun. Almost all small rounds, think infantry, use full metal jacket rounds. The core of the round (back then, now mostly steel) is made of lead. Then the lead is encased ( or jacketed) with copper. This would apply to 9mm pistol rounds(not used much in combat, if so, it is a bad day), M-16 5.56 rounds, .30 caliber machine gun, and .50 caliber machine and anti material rifles. Copper is used a lot in other areas also, primarily motor windings and generator windings. Zinc is used is almost everywhere as a galvanized coating on ammunition that is not jacketed and other things that have bare steel. The Bradley fires a standard round that is used more often than the DU sabot, called HEAT. This is an explosive round covered in steel with a jacket of zinc for corrosion resistance.
Excellent breakdown, thank you.
No problem. I have seen a lot of people think that the army was just tossing huge chunks of uranium around. The actual core made of depleted uranium is quite small, I believe it is less than 300grams in an Abrams 120mm shell. The cores are encased and not very radioactive, but I would bet they are still an environmental hazzard long after they are used. The US started using it when it proved harder of a penetrator than tungsten, and since it is a waste product, it was far cheaper.
What about galvanized steel though? You know, like traffic signs, light posts, some cars, various construction materials etc? You could use zinc in so many ways. I expect those applications would also take a lot more zinc than the pennies ever could.
So as soon as the zinc lobbyist pay him, he’ll back out.