I recently came across a website that sold government surplus and was selling zinc anodes - around 9,400 lbs of that stuff. I don't know the melting point or even if i am able to bet into a workable size. From the description, it came off of a navy ship to repel rust :confused: . My question is, is this stuff any good for boolit casting? :rolleyes: If it is, I might place my bid, so far no one placed the bid in over 2 weeks last bid, the last time I checked was around $100.00.

Zinc is considered to be a bullet alloy contaminent. It requires a higher melting temperature than lead and causes imperfections in the bullets. Please do not add zinc into your melting pot.

I should have mentioned, use only the zinc metal.

Do not get this zinc mixed up with your lead or you will be throwing the whole mess away, they mix like oil and water

You are talking about casting a pure zinc bullet, right? Take a look at "Similiar Threads" re: "Pure zinc bullets . . . has anyone tried this?" Anyone willing to invest in another set of casting equipment just to cast zinc bullets may give this some thought after reading the thread. Be aware that zinc and lead alloys should not be mixed.

Zinc is good for casting cheap junky parts that are sure to break all the time and thus provide a company with an eternal sales of replacement parts sales....other than that, it's about useless so don't even waste any more of your time.

Oh, yes, there are two more thing it's good for, coating steel to keep it from rusting and giving you zinc poisoning leaving you with no choice but to spend numerous hours puking your guts up everytime you get a whiff of it or you'll learn to like whole milk and become accustomed to drinking it by the gallon.

Large Cal,
Zinc bullets were tried 40 years or so ago.They were written up in the American Rifleman several times.
If yoyu are interested,I can look themup;I have kept themold magazines.
Frank

They are used on saltwater vessels to keep dissimilar metals from dissolving each other. I believe the term is "galvanic corrision".

It's selling for about a dollar a pound on the commodity market. You would think someone in the marine industry would snap it up.

All zinc castings are NOT junk. I seem to recall that some Browning .22 SA pistol frames were die cast zinc, also the little M72? single shot .22 falling block rifle. For years auto carburetters, door handles, etc were zinc instead of the crappy plastic we get now.

There is still a company making cast zinc pistol bullets. Dillon used to carry them.

All zinc castings are NOT junk. I seem to recall that some Browning .22 SA pistol frames were die cast zinc, also the little M72? single shot .22 falling block rifle. For years auto carburetters, door handles, etc were zinc instead of the crappy plastic we get now.

There is still a company making cast zinc pistol bullets. Dillon used to carry them.


Still carry the scar on my hand from a zinc dodge door handle... and oh ya, it was the zinc carb I had to replace three times on that same dodge as well as zinc carb on dozens of other engines too because of corrosion. I won't even mention the zinc latches GE used on their electrical boxes so that when they break, you have to pry the door off and wind up replacing the entire panel costing anywhere from $300 into thousands because of a 5 cent latch handle......

I recall zinc being used in the past. If I am not mistaken it melts at a higer temperature. I would not invest my money into one of those military surplus sales because it is more tahn likely trash. ( I am active duty with over 10 years in USMC, and I am on a special mailing list for the lead!). Zinc is a cheap metal, and if you are thinking of that you might as well use wheel weights since they provide an adequate hardness.

If I was dead set on it, I'd use a seperate melting pot and dipper, and see if I could add about 10% aluminum. This'll bring you close to Zamack-12, which is supposedly an excellent sandcasting alloy, meaning it flows... but it's light, page I found said .218 lb/ci. Lead is .41, so a bullet the same size would be roughly half the weight...

ive fooled with it a little. YOu can make decent bullets from zinc. bullets out of a 250 swc mold were weighting around 180 grain but like was said make sure you dont get it mixed in with your lead.

I think John Zemanek wrote a couple of articles in Handloader magazine about zinc boolits some years ago. He found they cast really hard and are light because zinc isn't very dense compared to lead. Since they are so hard and light, you can drive them to some spectacular velocities without the fear of leading. I don't recall how he sized them, or what lube he used, if any.

I think John Zemanek wrote a couple of articles in Handloader magazine about zinc boolits some years ago. He found they cast really hard and are light because zinc isn't very dense compared to lead. Since they are so hard and light, you can drive them to some spectacular velocities without the fear of leading. I don't recall how he sized them, or what lube he used, if any.

Zinc bullets don't need to be lubed and I have never heard of anyone sizing them. Probably would be a bear to do as they are so hard.

I seem to recall a Ross Seyfried article about shooting zinc bullets in a .458 Winchester Magnum.

Here is a source for cast zinc handgun bullets. At one time they were aalso sold by DILLON.

GUTOWSKIDO@aol.com

Subject: Re: ZEE BULLETS

I still have the ZEE bullets in stock. I sell direct.
ITEM 500 PCS. 1,000 PCS.
9mm 79 GR. HOLLOW PT. 27.90 51.95
.38/.357 ZSWC 97 GR. 24.95 46.40
.45ACP ZRNFP 142 GR. 28.95 53.85

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