How about the powder makers publish load data for ZINC boolits!!!!!!!

[bangerjim]

Now that so many liberal greenie tree-hugging-owl-kissing Democrap states are banning lead for projectiles, why don't the major powder makers work up & publish load data for pure ZN boolits? That is the way of the future as far as I can see..............here from the SW US desert.

A little bit lighter and a little bit hotter and you got perfect Zn boolits from your standard molds. Now, they need to publish load data for pure Zn slugs and we would all be happy as clams!

I got a lot of zinkers stored in buckets from recent tire-weight sorting "waste-of-time" efforts. And that opens up a whole new source of "pot metal" carp out there that is mainly Zn alloy. Just think of all the zinc pot-metal castings that are out there in the world around you!!!!!! Boggles the mind!

Cast away!


Just a thought to ponder.

banger

[tayous1]

Do a Google search there is a lot of information on that.

[farmbif]

isn't load data more based on projectile weight than composition? ive loaded barnes copper coated tin bullets with the same load as copper coated lead of the same weight.
is the data different for pure copper bullets? ive used Lyman cast bullet data for my wheel weight alloy on loads that Lyman worked up with Linotype and performance was very close to what was in the book. and wheel weights are quite a bit softer than Lino.

[mdi]

In 30+ years of bullet casting I have never contemplated making zinc bullets...

[dverna]

I doubt I would ever use them. I have two tons of alloy and capture a lot of bullets in a sand trap. At my age, 71, I will never run out of lead.

If Zn bullets were cheaper than lead I might use them for handgun plinking but have not investigated that.

[gwpercle]

I see a time when cast zinc boolits will get some attention . I've been saving all my zinkers .
There are a couple things to over come . Sizing ... zinc is hard and will not size easily ... I think moulds will need to be cut that drop zinc boolits to the exact diameter needed ... and zinc doesn't shrink at the same ratio as lead so the moulds will need to be cut for the use of zinc .

I haven't tried casting any zink boolits with my existing lead moulds to see what the diameter is when cast of zinc ...but I bet some member has tried this or maybe one of our Custom Mould Maker members has done some research on this and could tell us if a mould could be made to drop a cast zinc bullet at standard bullet diameters like .355 / .356 or .357 / .358 or .410 / .411 . etc .

The zinc boolits would be lighter, harder and possibly longer but is the weight of zinc viable to make target boolits ...just something for handgun plinking maybe . I wonder what the bhn of zinc is ?
Lead is getting excluded wherever it can and that's a shame .
Gary

I did a search and found a few posts ...been done a time or two .
Problems that appeared is hard cutting of sprue ... Mould gets hot and Lee pot temperature not getting hot enough to keep bottom pour spout open .. the fellow used a ladle to fill cavities . Mould was a 38 cal RN Lyman #358269 - 125 gr in lyman #2 ...Cast in zinc it weighed 75 grs. @ .356" dia. ...so it drops them light and smaller in dia.
A mould would need to be cut special to allow for zinc's shrinkage .

If someone would make a mould to cast properly sized zinc boolits ...
I would buy one ... Group Buy ?
Gary

[Drew P]

Does zinc even shrink at all when casting? This is the main problem I ran into with casting bismuth boolits. Many metals expand when solid vs liquid.

Then there’s the density issue, zinc is 40% lighter than lead.

[la5676]

I see a time when cast zinc boolits will get some attention . I've been saving all my zinkers .

Gary

This is only IF we ever see primers on the shelf again in comfortable numbers.

[Dusty Bannister]

Quote: why don't the major powder makers work up & publish load data for pure ZN boolits? A little bit lighter and a little bit hotter and you got perfect Zn boolits from your standard molds. Now, they need to publish load data for pure Zn slugs and we would all be happy as clams!

I got a lot of zinkers stored in buckets from recent tire-weight sorting "waste-of-time" efforts.


Perhaps one should consider that this thread starts with pure zinc, then plunges into zinc WW which are not pure. I would suspect that this alone would result in weight and diameter fluctuations that are beyond control of those that make powders and test for safe powder loads. There is only a certain percentage of reloaders, and a smaller percentage of bullet casters, and an even smaller percentage of casters that are exploring zinc for bullet casting.

Look at many of the posts about reloaders having problems with bullet fit and feeding with powder coated bullets. Most of the time, it is due to the coating altering the diameter and profile of the projectile. It would seem that a powder manufacturer would need to not only produce the data, but also the instructions on how to cast the bullets from various blends of alloys. That is not financially practical.

We know from work done in the 60's and 70's that zinc alloy bullets do work, but there are also problems that need to be considered. The most obvious is that the light bullets hit below point of aim. For more information, an article by Leon Day in The Art of Bullet Casting, "Zinc Bullet Police Loads, page 88 would be a good place to start.

[Rickf1985]

I see a time when cast zinc boolits will get some attention . I've been saving all my zinkers .
There are a couple things to over come . Sizing ... zinc is hard and will not size easily ... I think moulds will need to be cut that drop zinc boolits to the exact diameter needed ... and zinc doesn't shrink at the same ratio as lead so the moulds will need to be cut for the use of zinc .

I haven't tried casting any zink boolits with my existing lead moulds to see what the diameter is when cast of zinc ...but I bet some member has tried this or maybe one of our Custom Mould Maker members has done some research on this and could tell us if a mould could be made to drop a cast zinc bullet at standard bullet diameters like .355 / .356 or .357 / .358 or .410 / .411 . etc .

The zinc boolits would be lighter, harder and possibly longer but is the weight of zinc viable to make target boolits ...just something for handgun plinking maybe . I wonder what the bhn of zinc is ?
Lead is getting excluded wherever it can and that's a shame .
Gary

I did a search and found a few posts ...been done a time or two .
Problems that appeared is hard cutting of sprue ... Mould gets hot and Lee pot temperature not getting hot enough to keep bottom pour spout open .. the fellow used a ladle to fill cavities . Mould was a 38 cal RN Lyman #358269 - 125 gr in lyman #2 ...Cast in zinc it weighed 75 grs. @ .356" dia. ...so it drops them light and smaller in dia.
A mould would need to be cut special to allow for zinc's shrinkage .

If someone would make a mould to cast properly sized zinc boolits ...
I would buy one ... Group Buy ?
Gary

Sounds like that would work well in a 9mm if it was heavy enough to run the slide. Maybe need a lighter spring. I think it is something definitely worth looking into. The greenies are making lead out to be the new asbestos.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Mostly, American zinc alloy WW's are cast with ZAMAK III, but not all of them...and foreign made could be anything.
Can't use aluminum molds, sprues are hard to cut...problems are plentiful.
It doesn't seem like a thing to build a business plan around. Mostly, the big Powder companies will stick with the tried and true jacketed bullets. There might be one independent company that might go in the direction of Zinclets...maybe? seems too risky to me.