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Doc - J
04-07-2006, 03:20 PM
Been reading a lot of posts about how zink is bad and to watch out for it in your ww. I rember when I was casting many years ago, I had some boolits made from pure zink, If I rember right. I was using a lyman mold for makeing 38's 147 gr rn. I Casted them and they were super light like about 115 gr. I shot them and don't rember the gun blowing up. My question is..... Why is zink bad? would think it would make the boolit harder & a little lighter. So what's the bad deal on haveing some zink in the pot?

9.3X62AL
04-07-2006, 03:32 PM
I'm no metallurgist, so this is just an amateur caster's viewpoint--the presence of zinc in the lead/tin/antimony alloys causes problems with mold fillout and boolit finish. Boolits look wrinkled, drive bands don't fill out correctly. I don't know if zinc causes grief for lead/tin alloys or not.

mooman76
04-07-2006, 03:43 PM
That is correct. The problum with zink is poor mould fill out. Plus if you have it in the mix and it is that much lighter it would be hard to control your bullet weight for acuaracy!

R.D. Staber
04-07-2006, 04:18 PM
I have'nt read any of the negative posts concerning zinc,however as you noticed it is lighter by volume,although I don't think there would be enough in the WW to make any appreciable difference.Yes,harder,lighter,+ more brittle.I would be more inclined to think of the bad press due to inhalation concerns.I have a metal shop + in our soldering applications we use muriatic acid on galvinized to vaporize the zinc content to allow lead to bond to steel.Toxic fumes,etc. At the risk of being redundant,good ventilation is necessary.I did have a young man working for me several years ago who had been poisoned by too much zinc inhalation,+ wheneverr he sweat you could smell the zinc coming out of him;+ this had happened years before.That may be the primary concern although I would not want to breathe lead,linotype,or any other fumes.I usually melt 9 lbs. WW to 1 lb. 50/50 for #2 alloy + my weighed bullets are pretty consistant,so the zinc content in the WW I have seems to be fairly evenly distributed.Don't know if this answers your question'but hope it helps. Never mistake motion for action E.H.