Is zink a alternate to solid copper?

[nekshot]

Got to thinking about anti lead governors and other idiots. Would zink be ok in these anti lead areas for hunting? I know all about zink from expierence in my pot and truthfully I am not afraid of it. With zink being lighter would a bigger bore make sence for hunting? I thought maybe a 458 could hustle a big lite bullet with authority. I am sure we could develope a hollow point to make them expand to qualify for bullets that expand. Maybe we can stay one step ahead of the liberal stooges by expierementing with zink. Hunting has been boring this year and I have been doing alot of thinking about this. What are your thoughts on this?

[Baja_Traveler]

I know here in the Republik of Kalifornia they only allow certified lead free ammo to be used in the Condor Zones (and soon to be the whole State). That means that I cannot cast and load my own Zinc rounds to hunt with. Cost to have a the ammo certified runs into the thousands of dollars, so not practical for all intents and purposes. If stopped by Fish & Wildlife the burden of proof is on me to prove that what I have is legal - the box the lead free bullets came in is best to have. Your State Laws may vary...

[R.M.]

I seriously doubt a zinc boolit would expand.

[blikseme300]

Boolits don't need to expand to kill. Brass solids have proved to be very effective against large game.

[starmac]

We don't need to stay a step ahead of them, we need to defeat them. It is only a matter of time until copper is determined to be harmful to goldfish or some other excuse and will continue until an empty gun will cause cancer to the unborn people that will eventually live three doors down from the evil empty gun.
Staying one step ahead, still leads to the end of the road.

[leadman]

Zinc will work but as you surmized the bigger bores would be better. There will be no expansion but it might be possible to get "secondary projectiles" by a hollowpoint that breaks away on impact or shortly after.
I read an article in an old Handloaders Digest (I think) and the author said zinc bullets can not be sized by methods a caster usually uses so make sure the mold drops the correct bore size bullet. As I remember the accuracy was good and no need for lube but the bullet loses velocity much faster than a lead boolit.
Tin was also experemented with by a few with one of the participants being a well known mold maker. Seems like their work just faded away as I never heard much about it. I tthink an issue with tin was the fouling left in the bore. If so either powder coating or Hi-Tek coating could be used to overcome this. I'll write to the mold maker and post my response.

[nekshot]

well I am kinda encouraged by what you all shared. I think you could beat the no lead mandate by encouraging the officer to bite the bullet and see if it is soft! I really am serious about trying this zink in my 50/300. (I need motivation to finnish it) Any fruther comments would be appreciated. If it fails I will be more informed than I am now. All of this inspiration comes from the exellant results our family gets from Barnes bullets.