I shouldnt be tempted but: 10ga semi...and slugs?

[cpileri]

Hal,
hmmm...what zinc alloy would be ductile enough to not shatter on impact?
I would think a zinc slug in a wad would be bore safe.

greg,
1200grains!?!?! Was that for a 12ga or a 700 Nitro Express? is it a loaded round?

[longbow]

Zinc would be bore safe though a full bore zinc slug would certainly not be choke safe unless it had fairly narrow ribs Brenkeke like.

There are several threads posted buy members who have cast zinc boolits so no reason a slug couldn't be cast from zinc.

I had thought about ZAMAC for slugs a while ago as is a bearing alloy so certainly would not harm the bore.

Now going with Carl's logic and a wad slug, that might even make a solid slug choke safe especially in steel shot wads. Maybe many don't worry about that but I do just in case.

Anyway, zinc melts at a higher temperature than lead but is castable in regular iron moulds. In fact one member posted results using zinc in a Lee mould. Zinc will erode iron, and I am guessing aluminum, fairly quickly as it forms a low melting point alloy (with iron) at the surface at a molecular level. But an iron mould should last quite a while anyway and certainly long enough to cast test slugs.

A significant benefit of zinc in my opinion is being able to cast a full bore slug that doesn't weigh a horrendous amount.

For smoothbore I would go with a Brenneke style with ribs and attached wad. For rifled gun I am thinking that multiple small lube groove Loverin style but maybe narrower driving bands and wider grooves would be the ticket.

I've got too much on my plate now though and haven't even managed to test out my last slugs yet. I did make up some more of a different style yesterday so have to load those too. Point being that someone with more time and money will have to lead the charge on zinc slugs.

Great idea with lots of potential for sure. So have at 'er and post results!

Longbow

[Greg5278]

I did try Zinc Years ago. As I recall is was 67% the weight of WW with 2% Tin. It does not shatter when hitting things it can Penetrate. It will go through 5/16" Mild Steel in 12 ga, but shatter on impact with 1/2". You can't size it, it's way too hard, almost 45-50 Brinell. Mold fill out is poor, and cutting The Sprue is really tough, you've got to hit it a few times. I used my Mold for the 770 Grain Truncated cone slug with a .500" Metplat. \

Up close it would be fine, but would lose Velocity more quickly.
Greg
AKA 12 Bore

[cpileri]

Greg,
Is there any critter's hide or bone that is tougher than 5/16" mild steel?

Longbow,
do you cut your own molds or what? you seem to have a neverending supply of styles to choose from?
C-

[Hogtamer]

I may buy one of these and give zinc a try.....by Greg's recollection it should weigh about 515 grns in zinc. Need about 800 * heat to pour if my homework is right.
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=73-770S-D.png

[cpileri]

If one of you guys does this thing, i need to buy some slugs from you!

[cpileri]

Looking at this video: http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2015/...-slugs-action/ i'd think a lighter than lead slug would need to be a weight-foward or perhap a straight wadcutter design o prevent keyholing. i know turbo1889 can do calculations on stabiity to get a good shape. too smart for me though.
C-

[Hogtamer]

Was hoping he'd chime in here. i believe he had experience with zinc but info was removed thanks to some knuckleheads...

[CHeatermk3]

Not to hijack this thread, but I got some sabots from Hubel458 that take a minie ball boolit--for rifled barrels--I cast some up 50/50 WW/Pb and shot some into some 30" diameter fir rounds and they went right thru 14" the long way and bounced off the ground and kept right on goin'. Just used 12ga data and substituted the sabot/slug for the shot charge--used a roll crimp.

[Hogtamer]

Ok, sent Tom @ accurate molds an email, telling him what I proposed and asking his imput. If he doesn't come up with a show stopper I'm gonna give the zinc a whirl. I wonder how shrinkage will differ vs lead.

[longbow]

Carl:

Yeah I kinda cut moulds. I make a mould similar to the old Ideal Cylindrical moulds. They are a simple bored cavity with an ejector pin at the bottom and sprue plate on top. The ejector pin can be just that, an HP pin, a hollow base plug or a nose form which is what I do most commonly. My slug moulds are a slight deviation where I use a separate nose form under the sprue plate so nose pour mould with the ejector being the HB plug.

The ribbed slug mould has an insertable slotted core and the HB plug rides in that.

You would figure I would have made more progress but I set my standard fairly high for long range accuracy and so far just haven't consistently gotten there with slugs. For the most part my more conventional style moulds have done as well or better than commercial slugs I've tried, just not good enough at 100 yards to keep me happy. I do have a sub-bore TC design that cast at 525 grains that shot 3" groups at 50 yards but required heat treating to stop skirt deformation so I abandon it, but it is back in the works again. I will try filling the cavity and use it at 100 yards.

Hogtamer:

There were at least a couple of threads on casting zinc boolits if you haven't seen them and IIRC the results were pretty good. Not sure about shrinkage and mould fillout. Lead boolits do not seem to shrink as much as lead shrinkage data indicates but I am guessing having a sprue puddle reduces effective shrinkage as the boolit can draw in lead while still liquid then shrinkage is from solid at the mould and solid temperature.

Zinc should be similar so even if shrinkage is greater than lead I think effective shrinkage in the mould will be less than zainc shrinkage would indicate. Also, the mould will expand more due to higher temperature so overall it may be okay. Again, those thread likely had as cast diameters for zinc so good info.

If you are going to buy an Accurate mould I would recommend iron. I think brass would be a bad choice with zinc and aluminum may warp due to high temperature. Tom may have better advice though.

Longbow

[BAGTIC]

Zinc does not shatter on impact. Against mild steel it will penetrate similar to a steel cored bullet of the same weight.

[Greg5278]

CP the 1200 Grain slug was for a 12 Bore Rifle. It was a fully rifled version of the Paradox Gun which just had Rifled Chokes. It was the Old Timer version of our Modern Slug Guns. We could Probably push it to 11-1200 FPS in a Modern Gun with the right Powder.

Maybe a Quad Ball Load in the 10 Ga? Use 575 Balls in a split plastic Rod to center Them?

Greg
AKA 12 Bore

[cpileri]

Just when I had finally stopped jonesing for that 10ga...

[6901]

I shoot a Browning BPS 10 for turkey and geese with a variety of factory loads. Can't speak for any other gun but the recoil is not a problem.
That is in hunting situations its not shoot for fun gun!!

[TonyfromItaly]

Hello everyone. About zinc slugs.....
I have cast some zing slugs in 12 ga in the past, much like a foster slug, and loaded it into commander wad. You need an oxygen torch to melt it and have to be very quick on the sprue plate. Its fumes are much more toxic then lead, so have to wear a mask with filters.

If i had to make more of those, this time i would make a steel mold, and instead of sprue plate i would make the mold with a funnel contour on top of the slug, to be sawed off later. Those slugs i tried, penetreted about 6 inches into a dead stump with no noticeable change in the shape of the slug. You could have reloaded it as was taken off the stump.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Zinc sounds extremely promising for the amateur caster or even amateur mouldmaker. But I don't think we are liable to find anything in zinc but sabot otn the market. The reason is that if bore-fitting slugs were available, some member of the intellectual classes would surely use them in an over-tight bore or (Do you really want to think about this?) a choke, and both of those are a serious matter. The hand of God was upon the men who made my single-barrel W&C Scott. Whoever heard of a single with best quality engraving, damascus about 60% thicker than you need in a double for shot, and every bit of the wood fiddleback? But it is about 3/4 choke, which for me rules out any slug that isn't in a plastic sabot.

A 10ga bears about the same relation to load and recoil as any other shotgun. Assuming normal shotgun velocity and pressure, if the projectile and powder aren't more than a hundredth the weight of the gun, you will be all right. If velocity and pressure are higher, you may not be all right, but no worse than you would be with a 12. Some people, of course, will load them to much greater intensity, but until the dinosaurs come back, dispersion and not energy or trajectory are the enemies of the shotgun slug shooter in woodland conditions.

[M-Tecs]

I have owned three Mag 10's. First was an Ithaca Deluxe that was lost in a burglary. This was very reliable and a great gun. It’s replacement was a standard Ithaca Mag10. This was a *** and was sold. About 10 years ago I purchased a Remington SP10 that again was outstanding but it had the same problem that all Mag 10’s have. They weigh 11 to 11 ¼ pounds. Due to this recoil is not an issue. In the day that you could use lead shot and pass shooting geese was the way it had a use but I no longer have a use for any shotgun that weighs 11 plus pounds.

If you are OK with the weight the recoil will not be an issue. I prefer the Remington SP 10 over the Ithaca’s. Some Ithaca are great and some have issues. The SP-10 seem to be trouble free.

[cpileri]

And now I have Ajay on another forum encouraging me to go for it.

You guys are enablers!

[bikerbeans]

-C,

Go for it, i have cast almost 1,000 0.775" H.B slugs. Somebody needs to help me shoot them.

BB