After researching cast zinc bullets, one of the biggest issues is the hardness of zinc compared to lead, many people have stated that it would accelerate the wear of steel rifling. I have cast lead 45-70 rounds with ease in the past for my Marlin 1895CB but plan on experimenting with cast zinc rounds in a lee 500 grain mold which would produce aprox. 310 grain bullets. I am still new to the world of bullet casting so I'd like to hear from you guys.
So my question is that if I used undersized cast zinc bullets(.457) and then heavily powder coat them or paper patch them to .458/9-.460, will this reduce wear in my barrel and help mitigate the hardness of zinc? would the powder coat or paper patch act as a buffer to the steel barrel or would it make no difference?
Also, Marlin's have micro-grove rifling which I hypothesize will cause less wear than standard Ballard rifling, is that the case?
I'm just curious because lead where I live is becoming much more scarce. Also, lead free hunting 45-70 rounds are priced at over 2-3 dollars a round, so it would behoove me to find a cheaper alternative.
If this is deemed safe for my rifling(would cost way too much to replace a barrel), I plan on starting out with a approx 310 grain zinc cast bullet on 9 grains of Unique and then work my way to 12 grain for 1100 fps cowboy loads(trying to decrease wear).If this does not destroy my gun I plan to actually work up some hunting loads. So am I crazy?
Thanks for reading!