Well after seeing the 007 Movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (great movie) I thought about the concept of a Golden Gun.

Obviously it wouldnt be cheap or easy to make, but how effective would a Golden Gun with Golden bullets be? I'd love to know from anybody that knows a lot about this stuff

Well after seeing the 007 Movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (great movie) I thought about the concept of a Golden Gun.

Obviously it wouldnt be cheap or easy to make, but how effective would a Golden Gun with Golden bullets be? I'd love to know from anybody that knows a lot about this stuff

Gold is too soft.

Is it? I thought Gold was very dense and tough.
Also, I was thinking more of a Golden Pistol, not a golden smg or rifle (that would be ridiculous)

Is it? I thought Gold was very dense and tough.
Also, I was thinking more of a Golden Pistol, not a golden smg or rifle (that would be ridiculous)

It has a high density but is very pliable. You ever held a 24 ct ring?

Yes but, oh well, so it is not at ALL possible to make a Golden Gun? Is the concept ridiculous?

What about Golden bullets?

What about Golden bullets?

That may be different as lead is also soft as you know. I would say that their mass would shorten their range considerably, but you would have to experiment.but


Over the years the optimal properties for gun materials have been found and a change will probably affect its performance in some way. Even if its only reliability, which is also important (ask anyone that went to Nam with an m16).

Yes but, oh well, so it is not at ALL possible to make a Golden Gun? Is the concept ridiculous?

What about Golden bullets?

Yes, you could make a golden gun - EXCEPT for the barrel liner, hammer and firing pin. Golden bullets also, as long as the gold is fairly pure. Certain alloys would cause too much wear on the barrel. (Assuming you could even afford to fire it that much!) :D

Yes, you could make a golden gun - EXCEPT for the barrel liner, hammer and firing pin.

...Or in short: put a gold casing over a normal gun.:D

Ok, great. But the real issue is Golden bullets. you could just put a pure gold casing over a normal, custom built gun. But as for the bullets ( the firepower) , wouldnt Gold be extremely lethal?

Ok, great. But the real issue is Golden bullets. you could just put a pure gold casing over a normal, custom built gun. But as for the bullets ( the firepower) , wouldnt Gold be extremely lethal?

Depends on how you view "lethal." Gold, though soft, is a little harder than lead - you can easily scratch lead with a fingernail but not gold.

Soft lead bullets (unjacketed) have a mushrooming effect when they strike someone, meaning they spead out and cause MUCH more tissue damage (read that as a MUCH higher probability of being fatal) compared to the harder gold bullet which is likely to just pass on through with little spreading effect, possibly even striking a second person.

In other words, the gold bullets would not be as lethal on average.

All in all the man with the golden gun would probably not be able to killl the midget guy at 10 metres, if his gun didn't blow up in his face on the first shot.
The man with the gold plated gun doesnt sound so good though does it?:D

Well Gold-Plated is still a golden gun. The Bullets are what mattered in the Golden Gun

Read Only- I get what you mean. But still that means it would easily pierce the skin? And if it fragmented it would kill instantly

Well Gold-Plated is still a golden gun. The Bullets are what mattered in the Golden Gun

Read Only- I get what you mean. But still that means it would easily pierce the skin? And if it fragmented it would kill instantly

Oh, yes - it would still easily pierce the skin, but it won't fragment - it's not brittle enough for that.

Well after seeing the 007 Movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (great movie) I thought about the concept of a Golden Gun.

Obviously it wouldnt be cheap or easy to make, but how effective would a Golden Gun with Golden bullets be? I'd love to know from anybody that knows a lot about this stuff

You can make a nice .45 all out of gold but the barrel should be steel probably for the inclusion of barrel striations, which i believe are necessary.

The chamber/ breech cannot be made of gold -the internal pressures are in thousands (in some cases tens of thousands) of pounds of pressure per square inch: gold would rupture and kill the firer.

The chamber/ breech cannot be made of gold -the internal pressures are in thousands (in some cases tens of thousands) of pounds of pressure per square inch: gold would rupture and kill the firer.

Agreed! I ment to include those in my initial response but couldn't think of the proper names/terms quickly enough. Although, I will say that I believe they could probably easily withstand the first shot or two.

Agreed! I ment to include those in my initial response but couldn't think of the proper names/terms quickly enough. Although, I will say that I believe they could probably easily withstand the first shot or two.

I haven't done any calcs (I'm lazy that way - I could if required) but getting enough strength to resist the first shot would mean an extremely bulky chamber.
A quick google gives gold at 220 MPa and steel at around 900-4000 MPa (depending upon alloy)
So at best the breech would four times as thick (with commensurate weight and other problems - if the breech is four times the size how do the knock-on effects alter the rest of the design?) and at worst twenty times the size...
Add in the extra weight due to the higher specific gravity and you've hardly got a viable weapon.
Even the Israelis don't make a fortune from Desert Eagle - and that's only 2.2 kg for a pistol :eek:
The US Army was looking for something at less than 1 kg as a service weapon.

I haven't done any calcs (I'm lazy that way - I could if required) but getting enough strength to resist the first shot would mean an extremely bulky chamber.
A quick google gives gold at 220 MPa and steel at around 900-4000 MPa (depending upon alloy)
So at best the breech would four times as thick (with commensurate weight and other problems - if the breech is four times the size how do the knock-on effects alter the rest of the design?) and at worst twenty times the size...
Add in the extra weight due to the higher specific gravity and you've hardly got a viable weapon.
Even the Israelis don't make a fortune from Desert Eagle - and that's only 2.2 kg for a pistol :eek:
The US Army was looking for something at less than 1 kg as a service weapon.

That sounds reasonable. I never intended to address the issue of making a lasting gun - simply answering the question IF one could be made at all. I still believe it could and would survive the first firing or two. It would most certainly stretch a LOT but I believe two shots would be entirely possible. After that, the shell couldn't be held in place for the firing pin to strike the cap anyway.

Check out any "Saturday Night Special" - right ideas, wrong materials.
Usually more dangerous to the user than the target, but they have been done, so basically, if you're borderline suicidal it should work.
Just don't ask me to be in the room. :)

Check out any "Saturday Night Special" - right ideas, wrong materials.
Usually more dangerous to the user than the target, but they have been done, so basically, if you're borderline suicidal it should work.
Just don't ask me to be in the room. :)

No problem - I can think of MUCH better uses to put that much gold to. :D

Hmmm Golden Bullets............could be deadly......but how to make them rupture?

And a gun out of pure gold would be bad?:confused:

http://www.ak-47.us/pic/Gold-AK47/gold-002.jpg

Did you just see "The Last King of Scotland"? I think Idi Amin had a gold-plated AK. Gold bullets would work very well, but obviously they would be ridiculously expensive. There are many gold-plated guns out there. The operative parts, as people have been saying, still need to be steel, but gold-plating is simple, you could even do it yourself.

Hmmm Golden Bullets............could be deadly......
No more deadly than any other bullet.

And a gun out of pure gold would be bad?:confused:
Over weight, under strength and too expensive.

which is more dense..gold or lead?

which is more dense..gold or lead?

Gold. Density of lead is 11.35 g/cm^3, gold is19.3 g/cm^3 - not far from twice as much.

The density of tungsten is virtually the same (to three decimal places) as the density of gold. Tungsten is surpassed only by depleted uranium for high density penetrators, but gold isn't as hard.

http://www.ak-47.us/pic/Gold-AK47/gold-002.jpg

Did you just see "The Last King of Scotland"? I think Idi Amin had a gold-plated AK. Gold bullets would work very well, but obviously they would be ridiculously expensive. There are many gold-plated guns out there. The operative parts, as people have been saying, still need to be steel, but gold-plating is simple, you could even do it yourself.

Damn that looks sick. I was thinking of a pistol, but shit that AK is pure style!:D

Well from what I've read it seems a Golden bullet would pierce you, but not damage much rather than just passing through you and the guy behind you. Still must be a way to make it work.

Tungsten is surpassed only by depleted uranium for high density penetrators, but gold isn't as hard.

DU was 18.1 last time I found a figure - it's used for its pyrophoric properties as much as its density.
(And self-sharpening features IIRC).

DU was 18.1 last time I found a figure - it's used for its pyrophoric properties as much as its density.
(And self-sharpening features IIRC).

Close, it's 18.9 which is less than gold. (Sorry, spidergoat.)