Lee molds and zinc ?

[Saxmann10]

Would lee buckshot and slug molds work for casting zinc

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Some Zinc casting alloys have aluminum in them, because Aluminum will dissolve in molten zinc. I haven't read that pouring molten ZAMAK 3 (the typical Zinc alloy used for zinc WW) into a aluminum mold will dissolve the mold blocks over time? but who knows?

There are seemingly other reasons to not use Lee molds, as Zinc sprues are hard to cut.
Most of the posts I've read, Zinc boolit casters are using Iron molds.
Lee's small blocks use a steel sprue plate, but it's mounted to the aluminum blocks with a fairly small screw, I don't think they'll take the abuse?
Lee's large blocks (6 hole sprue plate) have a cam system and better mounting, but it's a aluminum sprue plate...I can't imagine that will hold up.

jbunny did some zinc boolit casting, search his posts for more info. I do know he got some pure Zinc, and it did cast and cut sprues more easily than the typical Zinc alloy used for zinc WW (which I assume was ZAMAK 3). Others have experimented as well, it seems adding tin to the zinc makes it cast better.

OK, all the above advice, is shared from the comfort of my Airchair. Myself, I have no experience in casting zinc boolits, but I have read lots of posts about it, do a search, there is tons of info here. But, I have smelted some zinc ww, and pouring the cleaned up metal into ingots. All I can say is, it takes lots more heat than Lead.

[OS OK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z3k_gy1Plw . . . Lee Pot failure from casting in zinc...You-Tube & 'elvis ammo' video.

One of the comments on the video was this...
yes, and the structural defect is created by the molten zinc attacking the steel liner. basically, the molten zinc eats through the steel, when it has become thin enough, the steel liner breaks. search for article "the attack of molten zinc on steel" by Lampe et al (1977)

Elvis is currently still casting/loading with zinc...check his channel . . . https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqq...VnMjZemwjTLW0w

I noticed that he cuts the sprue very quickly to help eliminate the force needed...when he waits too long it takes a good whack to cut it.

[mold maker]

At some point, we may all have to shoot zinc, and the knowledge will be valuable, but in the mean time don't shoot zinc into the range scrap and contaminate it. In smaller pieces the zinc fragments will be a real pain in what is an important resorce.