A few months ago I posted about how I inherited some stuff from a deceased old time NRA bullseye shooter, most notably a 38-45 Clerke barrel, bushing, and die set.
Well, there were also a few hundred cast boolits (normal lead) but there were also a few of a different style. I didn't think much of it at the time, but since it was only about 10-12, I just threw them into my lead pot to remelt.
Anyhow, this weekend I fired up the pot for my first casting session of the season, and (fortunately) I noticed that these bullets just floated on top and didn't melt. I realized something was up, so I grabbed my needle nose pliers and plucked them out. I then took my side cutters, like I do when testing suspect wheelweights, and these bullets were hard as iron! I'm thinking they were zinc.
I seem to recall something about zinc bullets being a thing back in the 50s/60s, but am not quite sure. Anyone shed any light on this?