OT - Zinc bullets

[J Miller]

A forum member over on Handloads.com forum reported finding 4 strange bullets while scrounging lead at his local shooting range.
The original thread is here: http://forums.handloads.com/forum_posts ... 17785&PN=1

I asked him if he could send me one for my bullet collection. He sent me two. When I examined them they are the same physical size as the 255gr .45 caliber RNFP cowboy bullets, but only weigh 141grs on my scale. They measure .452" across the rifling indents, and as high as .456" where the groves would have been.
The bullets have three shallow groves in the body, the two outer are thin, the center one wider.
And I'm positive they are a production bullet.

The gentleman who started the thread on Handloads has determined these bullets are made from zinc.

As I looked at them I thought to myself that if I could find some to load, I'll bet I could get some screaming velocity out of my rifles with them.
I'm not sure what good they'd be other than target shooting, but they are all but indestructible.
Both these bullets have unmistakable signs of impacting the burm, yet they are still perfectly shaped and I could load them again. I'd think they'd penetrate like crazy, but they don't have any weight to them so probably not.

My guess is they are some form of practice ammo made for indoor ranges.

Anybody here heard of any ammo made with zinc bullets?

Joe

[Hobie]

Yep. Seems Dean Grennell wrote an article on such for Gun World. No, I don't have it any longer as I donated a bunch of magazines to a local unemployed enthusiast.

[gon2shoot]

I recall a couple articles somewhere, but not the facts.

Maybe there's a use for new wheelweights after all

[Ray]

There were die cast zinc component bullets back in the 60's and 70's according to Maj. Nontes' writings. One was an undersized .38 with grooves to hold rubber O-rings and meant to be thumb-pressed over a pinch of Bullseye.

Veral Smith wrote about experimenting with cast zinc bullets. He learned that:

The alloy had to be hotter than lead.

The sprue plate hole had to be larger.

Zamak alloy is not pure zinc, containing cadium which can make you very sick. Cadium inhalation will make your hair, teeth, and nails fall out. The short- term antidote is buttermilk and pepto bismol.

It worked with 45-70 and .458 Win. Mag. using moulds that cast 400 to 500gr with lead. Some scorching velocities wre achieved with these 260 to 300gr zinc bullets. Lubing was optional but necessary in some guns with some loads.

[Old Ironsights]

Just make sure you are as scrupulous keeping your Zinc Casting stuff away from your Lead Casting stuff as an Orthodox Rabbi is in keeping a Kosher Kitchen. Lead and Zinc mix about as well a Meat and Milk... and the casting gods WILL smite you for transgressing that rule.

I have also thought about trying playing with Zinc... so I've started keeping my Zinc WWs.

But that's a waaaay distant project... at least as long as I'm still getting 75% or better Lead Alloy WWs in each bucket.

[preventec47]

What about Aluminum bullets ? I think I have heard of them before
but I dont know where. Seems like were practice bullets for the
military somewhere.

[Cliff]

I remember different articles on this subject, I believe the NRA's American Rifleman magazine did some also. The Alloy as mentioned was Zamac as it was a die casting alloy, and lighter in weight. About half the weight of lead alloy's. A lot of heat was required and it ruined the molds that were used. Some company did try to make machine die cast bullets as mentioned for range use but didn't catch on. I believe Phil Sharpe also did some writing mentioning Zinc bullets in his "Complete Guide to Handloading" book, the 1953 edition. Was a good read. Also mentioned was attempts to make up wire patched bullets which seemed to offer some advantages and again plans were in the works for some company in California at the time to make up commercial bullets which were lead and wrapped with wire. The wire was thin small guage commonly called "bell wire" after the type used to wire in door bells. At the time the effort was to used the old cloth insulated wire and it was thought this would aid in sealing and cleaning the bores. A number of different approaches were used, such as casting a multigrooved bullet and wrapping the wire on and wrapping the wire on a mandrel, with each end turned inside. This type would be dropped into a special bullet mould and the hot alloy would then be poured into the mould. If done right they worked quite well. WWII came along at this time and ended most of the experimentation of this method. It did show some promise as a hunting bullet without any leading. But for the small time shooter it was a timely effort. Back to Zinc there has been efforts over the years to come up with workable Zinc bullets, but the weight difference and hardness limited them mainly to target work. ATB

[BAGTIC]

The following supplier has cast zinc pistol/revolver bullets. At one time they were available through Dillon but no longer. Loading data is provided with bullets.

This information is from March 2005.

Yes, 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

FOB; CHICAGO, IL
CHECK OR VISA/MC
WE SHIP UPS PREPAID AND ADD TO CHARGES

THANK YOU

DON GUTOWSKI gutowskido@aol.com
708-456-6922
4556 N. OTTAWA AVE.
NORRIDGE, IL 60706

There is another post on the thread on Cast Bullets that refers to an article in a Handloader Digest #12. I recaull the article but my old copies are in storage. IIRC the author was Ross Seyfried.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... t=gutowski


It seems to me that at very cose range they should work as well as a HC lead bullet. The high velocity should give very high energy ratings and offset most of the momentum lost because of light weight. Non-expanding is non expanding regardless of composition. Seems like it might work well in close-in handgun defensive use. An advantage would be that misses would lose energy very quickly and not pose much of a threat several blocks away.

[Rod WMG]

Well, I suppose this is dumb, but does anyone have any hard evidence of negative effects on the bore?

[Old Ironsights]

Lead has a Brinell of 38.3  MPa
Copper has a Brinell of 874 MPa
Zinc has a Brinell of 412 MPa
(Iron has a Brinell of 490 MPa)

Seems like Zinc can't wear more than Copper...

[Rod WMG]

Thanks, OI. I told you it was probably dumb.

I just am ignorant about other metals for bullets than lead.