my new zinc boolit mould

[jbunny]

i just finnished my makeing my first mould for zinc boolits. actualy first mould, period.
i call it a 4x4 convertable. i move the base plate to the top of the mould and turn it
over and cast a smaller boolit. i started with a 1 x 3 hot roll flat bar, 7 in long.
i milled it to 3/4 x 1.4 and cut the vent grooves 4 thou deep useing a 3 in face
mill head. tooke all the cutters out but one and sharpened that to a fine point.
i then cut the handle slot and the i cut the 7 in peice intwo. i made my cutter from
drill rod of course and my cutter was .433 and it cut .436 cause my drill press
has a slight wobble. luck was on my side as the zinc boolits drop at .430-.431.
got to get to the range to try these puppies out.

in this pic, i cut one of the 7 in peices and fitted it to lee handles. i have a good
start for my next mould.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/MOUICH/makeingmould.jpg


this is the finnished mould with my cutter and some bullets, some sized and some
not.http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/MOUICH/zincmould.jpg

in this pic u can see the 2 differant size of boolit cavities. u just move the base plates
to the other side of the mould . i have screws in the holes on top to keep the holes clean. u need deep sprue cavitys and they have to be filled up as zinc realy shrinks
and i get voids if the cavity is not filled. now u know the rest of the story.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q273/MOUICH/zincmould2.jpg

[Hang Fire]

Well by jiggers, if and when the lead ban comes, hope springs eternal.

I once saw a program on the HC where a civil war Parrot rifle (cannon) was using zinc projectiles and it was out shooting some modern cannons for accuracy.

[geargnasher]

Now you stay away from my berms with that thing! Don't want any zinc contamination!

BTW, nice job, I look forward to your range report. :drinks:

Gear

[Bloodman14]

When I get enough, I'll send you some zinc WW's.

[Bret4207]

Jeeze, that's nice work!

[docone31]

Well done.
However, it will take two men and a small boy to cut the sprues when you have a full mold of zinc.
It is a needful thing, but the stress on the mold might make maintenance issues around the sprue cutter. Leverage and all that.
Looks good though.
I use my Lee 2 cavity molds for zinc.

[jbunny]

thanks for the kind words guys. the proof will be in the range test. docone 31,
i gave up on sprue plate cutter long time ago. i tried foot long handles, cams and
jack bolts. now i use flush custom sharpened side cutter pliers. much
faster and easier for me. of course YMMV. in case u had,nt notice, these are nose pour
boolits. now to load some up:grin:
jb

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Nose pour...that is ingenious :)
I didn't notice that til you said so in the 7th post.
Jon

[sagacious]

Would it be possible to countersink the screws and add a sprue plate to the top, to double your production?

[jbunny]

from my experiance, a standard sprue plate, no. read post #7. u realy have to think outside the box casting with zinc. if u think u have it bad getting loading stuff in the
lower 48, u should see it up here. that why we are casting, right?? if u look at my
last range report targets and notice the target useing the win 240 gr j boolits, 3 holes touching and the other 2 not far off, this is after fireing well over 300 rounds of zinc
boolits and and have not cleaned the barrel. the barrel stays clean. as for my double decker mould, yes i have some ideas as how to cut the sprues and i,m also working
on lead cores, zink jackets. thanks to u, the sprues have become harder to cut.
just kidding. i have this realy wild idea for a new type of sprue cutter but it has to be incorporated
in the mould design. later.
jb

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
VERY NICE.
Nice point about bullet shrinkage.
Did you see my research thread on casting Zn.???

[jbunny]

BOOM BOOM; i,m all ears. can u piont me in the right direction for this research thread on zn. TIA
jb

[sagacious]

I've been using standard Lyman molds to pour zinc. The only rub being that the sprue lever is short, and really required some effort to cut-- but for a while we were just doing it with a gloved hand. Screwing a 'breaker lever' to the handle made a huge difference.

edit: I see that you're cutting bevels to make uniform the base of your zinc bullets, and are doing nose-pour to keep the bases uniform-- so adding a conventional sprue may not benefit that mold. Keep up the good work!

[Centaur 1]

Good job. I've never read much about shooting zinc, I know that it can be done and that it's harder to cast than lead. Do you lube these bullets, or do you shoot them as is? If they are hard enough to not need lube, I wonder if they can be shot in my Glock. It really bugs me that I have to buy plated bullets for that gun since I cast for everything else.

[jbunny]

read the thread on zinc boolit range report,
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=89931

this should answer all ur questions
jb

[dakotashooter2]

I'm envisioning a hydraulic spru cutter.

[jbunny]

i have the zinc sprue cutter figured out. no cutter needed of any kind. not even
side cutters. u have to realy think on this one. i layed awake for a few hrs on this one.
lets have some guesses as how i do it now. ur brain as well as ur muscels have
to be regularly excercised. use it or loose it.:grin:
jb

[Cap'n Morgan]

lets have some guesses as how i do it now. ur brain as well as ur muscels have
to be regularly excercised. use it or loose it.

Hmmm... I would make the sprue channel tapered towards the reservoir, and just snap the sprue off. Maybe use a wedge tool and pull 'em apart.

[docone31]

Hmmm.
I use the Lee C185-312 mold.
All I need. So far, cuts it without incidence.

[a.squibload]

i have the zinc sprue cutter figured out. no cutter needed of any kind. not even
side cutters. u have to realy think on this one. i layed awake for a few hrs on this one.
lets have some guesses as how i do it now. ur brain as well as ur muscels have
to be regularly excercised. use it or loose it.:grin:
jb

I'm at a disadvantage as my brain sits unused for long periods.

Would a grinder be considered a "cutter"?

Do you stop pouring at the exact moment every time?

OK, I give up...