True or false Can a Zinc 75 gr HP stay in one piece at 3900 FPS?

[broomhandle]

Hi All,

A well respected member of another shooting board mentioned that his pal Cast 75 gr zinc HP and it went 3900 FPS and made a clean hole! ------ I don't know what distance.------

I have never heard that a zinc bullet could be driven that fast.Anyone know if it's possible or baloney?

I have seen 22 Hornet & 22 Swift J word bullets come apart in a puff of smoke. Saw someone drive a J word 110 grain bullet from a 300 Winchester Mag that came apart about 50 or 60 feet away.That was a listed j-word bullet load was rated at ABOVE 3300 FPS.

Thanks for any insight or reply,s,
broom

[mozeppa]

all i know is that 2 pieces of anything CAN come apart...1 piece is less likely.

zinc is harder than lead and melts at a higher temp...so....who knows?

[RED BEAR]

I wouldn't want to say its not possible. He put a hole in what? If a paper target why not. Zinc can be pretty hard.

[mattw]

Will tell ya, 6mm varmint bullets in the 55 to 60 grain weight do not hold together at those speeds in the 6mm-284. About 1/3 just go out and poof.

[stubshaft]

I would say that it is dependent on the twist of the barrel. If you fired the zinc boolit out of a smoothbore I do not see why not. It is the centrifugal force imparted on the boolit that tears it apart. Although I have had .17 cal. solid copper J words disintegrate on raindrops.

[cwtebay]

Hi All,

A well respected member of another shooting board mentioned that his pal Cast 75 gr zinc HP and it went 3900 FPS and made a clean hole! ------ I don't know what distance.------

I have never heard that a zinc bullet could be driven that fast.Anyone know if it's possible or baloney?

I have seen 22 Hornet & 22 Swift J word bullets come apart in a puff of smoke. Saw someone drive a J word 110 grain bullet from a 300 Winchester Mag that came apart about 50 or 60 feet away.That was a listed j-word bullet load was rated at ABOVE 3300 FPS.

Thanks for any insight or reply,s,
broomI am quite certain there are members here that are far more knowledgeable on this than I - but I remember reading about Roy Weatherby and his military contract for ultravelocity projectiles. The 30-378 or a predecessor of it was used, driving zinc and zinc alloy bullets at unheard of speed (6000+fps!!).
Always wondered if they changed barrels with each shot!


Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[MT Gianni]

We had a member that claimed to push a 50 gr 22 cal cast bullet at 4100 fps from a sabot. From what I recall impact was square without yawing @ 100 yards.

[country gent]

I believe a 75 grn bullet at 3900fps SAFELY would be a feat in itself. Zinc is harder and melts hotter than lead but is also more brittle not sure at these velocities how it would perform. A actual 75 grn cast zinc bullet would probably be the length of a 100 grn bullet, or was the zinc bullet cast in a 75 grn bullet mould meaning the actual bullet weight would be around 55 grns?
I remember some casting zinc bullets for ISPC. a zinc bullet from a 200 grn SWC weighed around 150 grns and shot with much lighter recoil at major caliber ( some claimed it also made comps more effective). They did pock mark the steel stop plates and poppers though. I tried casting a few a couple times and never really got good bullets, and wasn't comfortable with the increased temps on the moulds.

[NyFirefighter357]

I have a small roll of Kester aluminum solder that is made from zinc & tin, I wonder if tin would help hold the zinc together as well as lower the melting temp. I think it's a 1oz roll. If someone wants to test it out I'd be glad to donate it, I'll even pay the shipping. This is just a pic of a similar done found on Google.
https://goo.gl/images/56LUFi

[David2011]

I have seen 22 Hornet & 22 Swift J word bullets come apart in a puff of smoke. Saw someone drive a J word 110 grain bullet from a 300 Winchester Mag that came apart about 50 or 60 feet away.That was a listed j-word bullet load was rated at ABOVE 3300 FPS.

Thanks for any insight or reply,s,
broom

I’ve driven J words past 3700 FPS. No big deal with a .22-250. The real issue is RPM. It’s certainly proportional to velocity but velocity alone isn’t much of a factor in bullets coming apart. It’s highly dependent on the twist rate of the barrel.

[Acidia609]

Alloying Zinc with about 3% tin makes for a easier casting. I managed to cast awesome Lyman 356637 in a 90gr Zinc bullet as well as a HP NOE 124gr that was 75gr as a HP 9mm going 1800 FPS. In a 300AAC Ive gotten velocities around 2780 FPS with a 90gr SP plain base bullet original NOE HTC was a 150 SP. General thumb rule of weight for Zinc wheel weights in .62 x Lead weight. Zinc wheel weights I had tested by LTI came back similar to Zamak but with a lot less aluminum. Alloying Zinc with tin allowed me to cast around a 735* Temp with awesome fillout. Bullets had a Wheel weight frosted look to them. You can view my progress on my YT channel under Eagle Eye Shooting
Zin with Tin 9mm https://imgur.com/a/n4J9HRN

Hope this helps fellas! Zinc works!