zinc 00 buck

[ravyynr1]

Has anyone successfully cast and utilized 00 buck using zinc coww. How did they prefore. What powder charge, wad, hulls, high or low brass, crimp type. I am only familiar with loading AA trap rounds on a mec.

I am thinking about attempting this for three gun shoots. So if no one has tried this or has intrest. If you have an spare or damaged mould laying around I may be interester.

[OnHoPr]

Sounds like an idea. If you cut the sprues quick the buckshot would be harder and not want to deform. I wonder what the weight would be in comparison.

[groovy mike]

Sounds like you would screw up your casting pot though.....

[Vinne]

+1 That would mean a whole different setup...pot, ingot, ladle and mold. Let us know how you make out.

[ravyynr1]

I will probably just use a ladle and separate pot. Any body got any thing laying around collecting dust?

[Roundgunner]

I pour Zink for fishing molds. It is a little less than 3/4 the weight of lead. I cut the sprues with nippers. Going to do buckshot too. I think you have to charge by weight and see what fits the shell. I will try to use greendot if I can.

[xacex]

That idea crossed my mind with the 525 slug mold I have. I bet you could do a nice .690 round ball out of the stuff too. Although, the .690 round ball does not fit well in my barrel so I wont be trying it. #4 buckshot in zinc would be nice. You don't have to stack it so it would be easier to cram a little more in a shell.

[ravyynr1]

Has anyone loaded a buck shot load with low brass? Is it possible?

[AggieEE]

Sounds interesting. Question, how does zinc and AL molds get along? I've got a LEE 00buck mold and don't want to do a opphsee.

[grumman581]

I've started to save off the zinc that I get. I figure that once I get enough of it, I'll melt it down and cast it into a SCUBA weight and take one of my existing weights and cast it into bullets. At the rate I'm finding zinc those these days (most of the non-lead are steel), I'm not sure if I'll live long enough to even get a single 5-lb weight cast. Damn, there's a lot of steel out there these days. :(

[imashooter2]

Has anyone loaded a buck shot load with low brass? Is it possible?

Brass height has no effect on the strength of modern one piece plastic hulls.

[ravyynr1]

From what I've read zinc does wear a mould faster. The best material is steel or ceramic. But I've never seen a ceramic mould.

[Greg5278]

I would have to check by weighing some Zinc slugs, but I seem to recall that mine were 64.5% the weight of WW with 2% Tin.
They shot just fine, and penetrate better at close range, but are much less dense. I seem to recall using something approximating Zamak #3 or #5. Some of the Zinc alloys are better suited to Ladle casting, others are only for " slush" casting.
Zinc alloys melt at around 725-775F so you will need to measure your Temp. Shearing the Sprues is really hard as the Zinc is about 3-4X the hardness of Lead alloy. Use an Iron or Brass Mold. Brass might suffer Damage, so watch for that. A smaller sprue hole in the plate, with a chamfer all the way to the bottom of the plate will help. Most Molds have a paralell section in the Sprue hole. I pre drill the plate a little under size, then usthe C-Sink to add the 82 degree cuttting edge. A Machinist could also surface grind the bottom of the Plate to give you a good Shearing edge.
G

[cpileri]

Did you worry about those zinc projectiles bouncing back?
The cannon shooters found that zinc cannon balls can zing around and do alot of damage.

now, i do wonder about inserting a zinc ball into the gaping hollowpoint mouth of one of Greg's CSD slugs, but havent tried it yet.
;)

C-

[Lon246]

Anyone heard of "bridging"? I know little of it but from what I understand the harder zinc might be a problem.

[Greg5278]

Zinc, should pattern better, because it doesn't deform. It will lose velocity much faster because of the decreased Density.
I seem to recall the Slugs would easily penetrate 3/16 HR Steel. I would use a steel or Iron Mold, to avoid Damage. I would also preheat the Mold with a Lab Hotplate to 500-600F. Zinc also tends to give a wrinkled or pitted as cast appearance. Forget trying to size slugs or bullets made from it. Using a custom sizing Die, and an RCBS Press with a 36" cheater bar, I barely reduced the diameter .004"

I have tried using steel Ball bearings for shot in some tough wads. They seemed to pattern okay at around 1500+ FPS, but I was worried about Ricochets. I tried Tungsten balls too. They were anywhere from okay to so so. I haven't seem the great results that others have claimed.
Some People have claimed 80% patterns with Tungsten shot, but I have been unable to get close even using different Guns and Chokes.
I do think that with the right Components Tungsten can give you great results, but at $5 per shot.

Carl, you could try using a ince ball or nose on my HP slugs. I have some .270" Tungsten Carbide balls that would work too. They are 1.9X the density of Hornady Buckshot.
Greg