I inspected
the bullet, looking closely at the top of the round, which resembled a shark’s
mouth or maybe a hole saw. Instead of a slug, it was all teeth, and not made of
lead at all.
“What does
it do?” I asked Wes.
The former
Army Ranger and munitions specialist, complete with his own secure workshop
grinned at me. “Those little teeth, they start ripping into the target, then
they peel off like a flower, like a death blossom!”
“Isn’t that
from a movie or a video game or something?”
“Yeah,
well, that’s what they do. The company calls ‘em rippers or something.”
“Reapers?” I said before my brain
caught up to what Wes had really called them.
“Reapers? Heh. That’d be an awesome
name. Anyway, the ‘petals’ tear loose and tumble through the target, usually
staying lodged in there, doing even more damage. The rest of the slug, pure
copper, keeps pushing through. It’s billed for home defense. Pretty useless for
military. Won’t punch through armor, but for an unarmored target, whew! Watch.”
He loaded
up a nine millimeter and fired off a round into some ballistics gel, the stuff
they always used on that science show about myths.
We
inspected the block of gel, and I could see where the round had entered and how
the metal flanges tore off in a kind of starburst pattern while the rest of the
slug had kept going.
“So, you
interested?”
I still
held the sample bullet, and ran my finger over the points of the teeth,
pondering.
“How long
to get me a box?”
“See, I got
a laser cutting tool and 3d mapper, now. I can use these to create a custom
mold, then use the laser to make the cuts for the petals. It’ll take a little
while because the metal is different, but let’s say two weeks, assuming the
prototypes go well.”
I pulled
out five Franklins, that was a lot of money for me. If it can rip through like he says, it’ll be worth it. A different kind
of silver bullet will be useful.
“Think you
might be able to work out a way to make some in iron?” Never hurts to be prepared.