First try with zinc

[Slvrbllt40]

Hello everyone. Thought I might give a little update for those who are interested. The zinc on the bolt action stuff is still working well. Mainly, I'm using them as "bore cleaning" rounds at the end of the day after I shoot my lead. Reason being, a zinc boolit is time consuming to make compared to lead. I've taken to casting them with the sprue plate open, them clamping the boolit nose first in my drill press and using a coarse file to remove the excess slag. Takes about 5 minutes per boolit after I cast it. So I just don't make that many as compared to the lead stuff.

Semi auto stuff: Failure to eject and stovepipe jams are just about par for the course. I'm still experimenting with powders and shotshell stuff is showing promise. I was using Winchester AutoComp, but the boolits are so light and move down the barrel so easily that unburnt powder was evident after each shot. Titewad is at least ejecting some of the casings. I just need to go a little heavier on the load and I think I'll be in business. So far, no barrel issues whatsoever. I've put about 50 zinc rounds through my 92f and about 100 down the bore of my Enfield. They are both fine. Enfield loves the stuff. Huge muzzle flash and ballistic crack. Very little recoil. Like a gigantic .22 haha.

Sizing: Running them through a sizer isn't something I recommend. Tried it, boolit got stuck. Luckily, almost all of them come out to spec. The FEW that don't, I use my file and drill press to turn them down a little. Also, drilling a little dimple on the backside of my .38 boolits increased accuracy a lot and, according to the 1/4 steel I was shooting at, increased speed DRAMATICALLY. But, I suppose that's to be expected.

[mozeppa]

YES! do as the fuhrer and the S-S say....give up this foolishness and stop being stupid ....take THEIR word for everything.
NEVER EVER attempt to learn anything on your own.... because you are a square peg.

(is anyone getting the sarcasm yet.)

if i was a good little lemming i would be shaking my boolits in a cool whip bowl before powder coating.
or not powder coating at all.

heck.... if i was the truest form of lemming i'd still be buying cartridges to shoot...because
any fool knows that if you try to make your own....you'l blow yourself up...now stop learning stuff on your own and get in line..

Seig Heil

[goofyoldfart]

slvrbllt40--I find this topic to be of great interest and am following it with glee. years ago I tried paper patching with heavy teflon tape. a 30-06 180gr. boolit at 2600 fps. they said it couldn't be done and would lead the bore. HHmmmm, I guess the rifle never got the word (didn't lead and was slick as snot) and the target failed to hear the message too. I was getting sub 1moa. did kick like hell though. Never say never my friend. my experience was over 40 years ago--still works for me and I'm 70. God Bless to all and theirs.
Goofy aka Godfrey

[62chevy]

slvrbllt40--I find this topic to be of great interest and am following it with glee. years ago I tried paper patching with heavy teflon tape. a 30-06 180gr. boolit at 2600 fps. they said it couldn't be done and would lead the bore. HHmmmm, I guess the rifle never got the word (didn't lead and was slick as snot) and the target failed to hear the message too. I was getting sub 1moa. did kick like hell though. Never say never my friend. my experience was over 40 years ago--still works for me and I'm 70. God Bless to all and theirs.
Goofy aka Godfrey

I would love to see one of your Teflon wrapped boolits. I know someone on here started testing Teflon but never posted the results. Very interested in this method of Patching a boolit.

[rsrocket1]

Good for you Slvrbllt40,
As for Loading for 9mm, realize that with a bullet only 62% the weight of lead, a 124g mold will produce only a 76 grain bullet. As a shotgun loader who regularly loads 3/4 oz 12 gauge rather than 1-1/8 oz loads, pressure (or lack of) is the enemy I am constantly fighting. I never have to worry about too high a pressure load, I am always trying to get the most pressure out of a load with the combination of components I have. When you have too low a peak pressure, you will get lots of unburned powder, smokey shots and inconsistent velocities.

An autoloading pistol operates on the principle of blowback or delayed blowback and that is dependent on the momentum (mass x velocity) of the exiting bullet. With your 62% weight bullet, you will need 60% more velocity out of that zinc bullet to get the same momentum to operate the action:
124g bullet @ 1000 fps = 124 pf <- power factor (a unit of momentum related to recoil)
76g bullet @ 1631 fps = 124 pf

You might want to try loading some of the 38 caliber zinc bullets in 9mm. The 92f's usually have bigger than average 9mm bores so you might not even need to size them to get them to fit. Of course, slugging your barrel is always a good idea. A 158g bullet mold should produce a zinc bullet @ 92g which is on the low end of usable 9mm loads. You could work up loads with that to see if you can find one that operates the action.

Getting 1600 fps out of the little 9mm case is going to be tough. Titewad is far too fast and will go over pressure before you get enough velocity. 6 grains of Unique/Universal will get you that speed, but takes up way too much room in your case. You can't get that much powder in a 9mm case. You might be able to fit it in if you seated the bullet out to 1.20" COL, but that's pretty long and you might not get them into your magazine. You might have a little better luck with Power Pistol or BE-86.

Sizing
Have you tried lubricating the zinc bullets before you run them through the sizer? If it's a Lee push through sizer it might be easier to pre lube the bullets or even powder coat them if you are into that method . Unfortunately Zinc is on the same negative side of the triboelectric chart as polyester and the powder coat paint and lead is on the positive side so dry tumble coating won't work as well. Powder coated lead bullets glide through the sizing die.

Nice to see progress. Keep posting your results. There are more of us who are interested than you think.

[Tatume]

Idk. I find it interesting and im looking forward to hearing his results if he decides to load them up.
Everyone should relax a little. Knowledge expands horizons

Not only do I find it interesting, but I was looking specifically for information on casting zinc when I found this thread. I just painted my boat bottom and replaced all the zinc anodes, to the tune of about $150. I know where to get scrap zinc, and already have quite a bit. See where this is going?

Since most of my boat zincs are not in the flow of water around the hull, and the zincs get rough as they erode anyway, I think I'll use sand molds, or maybe wood. I only need one of each per year, and I can make up the molds in the winter, cast the anodes, throw out the molds, and start over again next year.

Take care, Tom

[Buck Neck It]

Zinc boat anodes cost about $5 a pound at the local shipyard.

[Buck Neck It]

Whoops! Sorry for the thread drift. Lead fishing weights also cost about $5 at the local hardware store. Back to cast zinc bullets.

[DLCTEX]

The naysayers here remind me of the ones who used to claim authoritatively that just a small amount of zinc in your alloy would contaminate your casting pot and moulds, ruining them. The sky is falling!

[62chevy]

The naysayers here remind me of the ones who used to claim authoritatively that just a small amount of zinc in your alloy would contaminate your casting pot and moulds, ruining them. The sky is falling!

I have read those comments and wondered how trace amounts can ruin anything. I've also read ones that say to toss out 50 pounds of lead because it has some zinc in it. I say mix it with one pound at a time with good lead and go shooting.

[Whiterabbit]

Zinc boat anodes cost about $5 a pound at the local shipyard.

That's CRAZY. You can get zinc at your local bank for $1.82 a pound. Contaminated with copper, which matters not-at-all.

[groovy mike]

Zinc works just fine for cannon balls. I cast lead bullets and zinc cannon balls. So nice to actually have a use for all those zinc wheel weights now! Now if I can just find a use for the iron wheel weights....

[centershot]

Zinc works just fine for cannon balls. I cast lead bullets and zinc cannon balls. So nice to actually have a use for all those zinc wheel weights now! Now if I can just find a use for the iron wheel weights....

Well, if nothing else, they might make good scatter shot loads in the cannon......

[Silver Hand]

I guess my OCD will have to drive me to be "that guy". The past tense verb for making bullets out of lead (or in this case zinc), is "cast", as in "you cast a bunch of bullets out of zinc a couple of days ago." No such word as "casted".

Sorry, had to say it...

Tell me other than a spelling Bee, what else can you do MR. Awesome? Leave people alone, not everyone is as perfect as you are! Get it?
Silver Hand

[technojock]

I would love to see one of your Teflon wrapped boolits. I know someone on here started testing Teflon but never posted the results. Very interested in this method of Patching a boolit.

I started doing that about 7 or 8 years ago with my .45-70 Handirifle. When I bought it, I had dies and brass but no bullets the right size so I patched up some .451 230g RN bullets that I cast for my M1911. I loaded them over 9g of Unique and shot them at 50 yards when I took my grandsons out to shoot their .22's... Accuracy was excellent and the bore was shinny clean but it looked like it was snowing after every shot...

Tony