I'm confused about zinc

[Jim]

Everything I hear about zinc is bad, bad. Now I'm starting to hear stories that there usta be zinc boolits.

Somebody tell me what the deal is. What's the down side and upside(if any) of leaving the zinc WWs in my mix.

[trooperdan]

Jim, you will soon become an expert on the disadvantages of zinc in your boolit alloy if you don't take pains to remove it! If your melt looks like oatmeal, odds are there is zinc in there. I recall articles from about 40 years ago about experiments with zinc boolits, they were lighter and harder than woodpecker lips, I think they were cast from kirksite but do not remeber exactly.

But a lead-zinc mix will not cast for beans! Trust me on this!

[BABore]

They also use zinc bullets in the iron ore industry. The molten iron ore is poured into a 20 ft diameter, 200 ft long, brick lined pelletizer. It's set up at a 10-15 degree angle and turns slowly. The molten ore turns into nicely round pellets by the time they reach the bottom. Occasionally a molten blob will stick to the bricks lining the interior. If allowed to build up it will pull the bricks off and expose the tube wall. They have an employee watching it full time. He's armed with a 10 Ga pump and a 2 Ga pedastal mounted gun to blast off the offending stickies. They use zinc slugs cause it melts and fumes off without contaminating the ore.

[floodgate]

Jim:

Search "zinc" here, and from about a year ago you will find quite a bit of discussion on these. They were actually using a specific "Zamak" zinc alloy, for light weight, high velocity and no leading, but found they had to "keep Kosher", and use separate moulds and melting pots. Not only does zinc contamination cause poor casting with lead-based alloys, but any trace of lead will also "poison" zinc castings, causing them to break down and crumble after a period of storage. Lots written about this in the "Rifleman" in the '40's and early '50's.

floodgate

[Pepe Ray]

Jim;
It seems that your having trouble grasping the core problem here. So--
lets use an analogy with componants you may be more familiar with.
I like tonic water straight as a beverage. I also like Jack Daniels straight as a beverage, but when you mix them they're both contaminated, yeuchh!!
Get it now? :-D

[Ricochet]

When I was a kid I really liked milk, and I really liked grape juice. I mixed 'em half and half, and didn't like that so well.

In fact, the glass I mixed 'em in wouldn't do too well for drinking either out of afterward.

[JeffinNZ]

One of our 'seasoned' local shooters produced a Lyman pattern 457125 bullet the other day that weighed only 350gr cast in zinc alloy (Zamak). Really odd handling a bullet that should weight 500 odd grains that is so light. Hard as too.