Zinc bullets?

[jfischer]

Screwing around at the bench today and made a couple of Zinc bullets using some Zinc coww . This is out old HG mold I don't use anymore that drops at around 200 and. .453 with lead coww.

Couple of observations,

Zinc is not as fluid compared to lead when pouring and I was truly surprised at the fill out on a very cold mold.

Sure takes alot more heat.

Couple questions,

This are coming in around .455 and after running them through my star the are right at .453, what do you want to size them at?

Lube or no lube?

Any suggestions on load?

Actually any suggestions or info at all would be helpful, I am leaning towards giving zinc a try due to the fact that I collect about 50-70 lbs of it a month.



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[jfischer]

Bullet weight was 114.6
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[Gisli]

I´m glad someone is willing to give Zinc a try. We all know that Lead bullets will eventually be banned.
Maybe some Tin would improve fluidity. Yes Zinc does require more heat and no I would not use it
without lube. I have some Zink and I could try it, but with my ample stock of Linotype and range Lead,
I will await.

[S&W-629]

thay look nice to me but thats just me

[jfischer]

I have no interest in zinc for my 45 acp but I am getting ready to do a caliber swap to 300 blkout on one of my ar. Looks like sizing is out so I would need a mold that would drop at what ever the barrel slug at.

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[jfischer]

Tried tin-no go. Also tried a 50/50 lead zinc that a article recommended but seems the zinc cast better without.

Side note is that the zinc - lead at 50-50 did not clump up.

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[I'll Make Mine]

Also tried a 50/50 lead zinc that a article recommended but seems the zinc cast better without.

A 50/50 mix of lead and zinc will segregate in the pot, or if stirred immediately before casting, will segregate in the mold. Lead will only dissolve about 2% by weight of zinc, and zinc will dissolve about 1.6% by weight of lead; a 50/50 mix, therefore, can only be a "mechanical" mixture or suspension of lead w/ 2% zinc in zinc w/ 1.6% lead. The result, if you stir frequently, is likely to be out of balance boolits with hard and soft areas, since the lead and zinc won't necessarily harden in evenly distributed grains; if you don't stir, you'll get bullets that contain only lead w/ 2% zinc from a bottom pour pot until you use up all that alloy, then a sudden change to (much lighter) zinc w/ 1.6% lead; if you ladle pour you'll get zinc w/ lead at first, then mixed (because the ladle will scoop up some of the bottom layer when the top layer gets thin) before transitioning to lead w/ zinc.

Your 50/50 pot didn't "clump" because you were above the melting point of zinc, so both species were fully liquid -- let the pot cool, and the zinc will start to solidify first, giving the infamous "oatmeal" look as solid zinc grains float in the molten lead.

[40Super]

I would bet that accuracy will be poor at best. How hard is zinc? barrel wear? I'm not too interested in shooting zinc, but maybe as a good looking "sample" bullets, just for show.

[00buck]

Can you stamp ZN on the bottom of the boolit so I"ll know it is zinc when I'm mining the berm? :D

[I'll Make Mine]

I would bet that accuracy will be poor at best. How hard is zinc? barrel wear? I'm not too interested in shooting zinc, but maybe as a good looking "sample" bullets, just for show.

Pure zinc has a Brinnell hardness of approximately 30; harder lead alloys (high antimony and arsenic) can easily reach that figure after oven heat treating and age hardening, and if they have enough tin included they'll still be tough enough to perform well. Zinc is probably more brittle than a BHN 30 lead alloy that isn't tin starved, but as long as there's a reasonable balance of driving bands and grease grooves, the driving bands aren't too far over groove diameter (groove + .001 is probably a good place to start), and the bullet body and nose aren't more than .001 over bore, a zinc bullet could shoot fairly well.

Zinc bullets have been sold commercially -- for instance, in lead-free range ammunition (cheaper to produce than TMJ plated lead) and at least one current production 12 ga. slug load. Zinc is a fairly distant second choice behind lead alloys because it's less dense and lacks the softer alloy options lead has, but it's probably the only real alternative to lead for home casting.

[shadygrady]

send that zinc to me

[jfischer]

Trade for lino or mono only, I have plenty of soft lead.

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