Zink as cores?

[gegoff]

Hey guys,
I am just starting to try and make some swaging dies and I was wondering, since so many of the wheel weights are now made of zink. Could you use zink to make your cores instead of lead? Is zink close to the same weight as lead? I hate to let anything go to wast, so if it can be used, I will save my lead for my cast bullets.
Any input is welcomed.
Thanks,
Gegoff

[Sweetpea]

Too hard.

Broken dies and presses.

Brandon

[bangerjim]

Agree.......too hard.

Send you Zn to Shadygrady.

banger

[Cane_man]

can zinc be annealed?

[Hickory]

can zinc be annealed?

You would do good to X the thought right out of your mind and move on.

[Cane_man]

^^^ LOL, i suppose there is really no good substitute for lead as a swaging core

[Sweetpea]

Gold should be soft enough...

[Hickory]

Only pure tin would be the next best option,
and it would still be too hard.

[hotbrew]

I think powdered metals would be the place to look if lead could not be used. Corbin already has some available for specialized swaging.

Not cheap though.

hotbrew

[reed1911]

I've used powdered tungsten for the small calibers to gain more weight with less length. Tedious is an understatement.

[bangerjim]

Only pure tin would be the next best option,
and it would still be too hard.

Bismuth is same $$ as tin. It is not hazardous (PeptoBismol) and rotometals sells it as well as pure tin. Some shot is made of it. I have several hundred pounds of it.

banger

[Lizard333]

Nice that you are thinking out if the box, but got cores you need something soft and dense. Pure lead fits the bill. Frankly get over about 8 starts to give you some real problems.

I suppose mercury would work.......

[Prospector Howard]

What in the world are you trying to say here in this post? And how would mercury work as a liquid for a core?
Nice that you are thinking out if the box, but got cores you need something soft and dense. Pure lead fits the bill. Frankly get over about 8 starts to give you some real problems.

I suppose mercury would work.......

[Prospector Howard]

It's pretty simple. Zink is too hard period. No other cheap metal works like lead, it's basically the perfect metal for cores for swaging bullets. I've thought about the anti gunners attack on lead, and what else might work. I can't think of anything else that would work worth a dang.

[reed1911]

Gallium would work. Melts in the hand and is solid at room temp, have to FMJ though and would revert to liquid in flight. :) Wouldn't that be interesting fight on accuracy. Spinning a liquid core and attempting to get it to fly straight. Penetration would be measures in tenths rather than inches. Leave it in the car in the summer and all your powder would be contaminated or in the case of HP's all the cores would leak out.


Thallium is considerably softer than lead by 50% so are Barium, Indium, Cesium, Rubidium and others. Of course some a highly reactive like Sodium and Potassium in raw form, some are very expensive, and some are toxic. For the cost, weight, malleability lead is king.

[andreadavide]

When the Germans during WWII had troubles with raw materials they syntetised new ones. And they made some good progresses with iron sintered bulletts...

[barryjyoung]

Thanks for this thread

Barry

[Lizard333]

Nice that you are thinking out if the box, but got cores you need something soft and dense. Pure lead fits the bill. Frankly get over about 8 starts to give you some real problems.

I suppose mercury would work.......

I guess some took this as seriousness. I was joking.