the viability of depleted uranium bullets

[Irish Caesar]

DU=pure U238. In nature Uranium comes in roughly 99.3% U238 and 0.7% U235. DU has the more dangerous U235 (What's used in nuclear reactions and is dangerous) removed so it is solely the relatively benign U238. Fuel reactor rods are 3-5% U235... It's very important to note the difference between U235 and U238, the former is used in reactor fuel and is highly radioactive, the latter is used for bullets and barely radioactive

U-235 isn't highly radioactive. It's not something you want to eat, but it won't give you cancer if you pick it up.

It's fissile, but it's not like you could build a bomb with a handful of the stuff.

Depleted uranium does have some U-235 in it, it's just less than what's in natural uranium; it's impractical to separate the uranium isotopes completely during enrichment, so the tails will still have some U-235 present.

I know the difference between U-235 and U-238, but it is not as big as you make it sound. U-235 is not highly radioactive, barely radioactive but more than U-238 would be a better term. Both isotopes are the most stable of the uranium isotopes, all others are way more radioactive. Because the activity of both is not that far apart and because natural uranium is mostly U-238, most of the radiation coming from any natural uranium will be from the U-238, not from the U-235. Of course if the uranium is enriched there will be a point where the radiation from the U-235 becomes dominant.

Actually, the greatest amount of natural uranium's activity comes from U-234, followed very closely by U-238 (Granted, U-234 is a decay product of U-238, so I suppose you could say it's all the same). Compared to those two, the activity from U-235 in natural uranium is negligible.

And the bigger threat from natural uranium is the radon in the decay chain... but being ground to dust does make uranium much easier to inhale.