zinc rod or wire

[TRX]

I got the idea I might want to buy some 5/16" zinc rod and use the lathe make some bullets suitable for paper patching to .308 or .311". It would let me experiment with some bullets without concern about zinc contamination of my lead casting equipment, plus all of my bullet molds are aluminum...

After half an hour of searching the web, I have found only a handful of places that both have zinc rod and bother to post their prices... and their prices are amazing... substantially more than chrome moly steel or brass. Not at all what I expected for what most people consider to be garbage metal.

The rest of the places in the USA are "give us extensive demographic and financial information about your business on our web page, and we'll decide if it's worth our time for one of our high-pressure salesmen to annoy you via telephone."

Possibly one reason for the high price of zinc rod is that its only commercial use seems to be as anti-corrosion anodes. I guess the plants that buy zinc for die casting "pot metal" buy it in ingots.

[MtGun44]

Bronze or copper are easier to find and should work well, even without the paper if
you put a series of shallow grooves like Barnes Triple Shocks. I think you are right
that anodes are most likely the common form for zinc in a shape like that. Most
zinc things are cast, not machined, I would imagine.

Bill

[singleshot]

Wheel weights are a better source of zinc for the price, last 50# bucket I sorted through I got about a pound of zinc. Prior to that a handfull of pieces.

You didn't hear this from me, but possibly the cheapest source of zinc now is late mint date pennies...after 1982(?) if memory serves.

This doesn't really help with machining unless you simply melt them down and pour ingots yourself.:shock: