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,
broom

I 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!


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[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!