[blkcloud]

I was running off a batch.. (sorry, old moonshiner lingo there)of shot yesterday, got to th bottom of the bucket of WW's and all that was left was the shiney,pretty new looking zincs.. I had several pounds of them and thought..what the heck.. dropped them in my Lee pot with the remaining lead ww's, melted them down, poured them into my Littelton and made shot.. pretty, shiney, round shot.. the Littelton never hiccuped.. I never had the first stopped up dripper like I hear that happens all the time from other people making shot.. I looked at my finished product and I cant tell the pure ww shot from the zinc mixed shot...

 

[superxjeff]

would you load that like steel? You can't load it like lead as it will be way to light I would think? did you just run it for fun? Jeff

 

[blkcloud]

Yeah, I just wanted to see what it would do.. and how bad it would clog the machine..lol.. I'm going to mix it in with the regular shot and shoot it..

 

[Hap MecTweaks]

blkcloud, it woulda been nice if you'd weighed and measured that shot for comparisons to your regular shot? Size,weight and hardness? It can't be as hard as steel shot, maybe your on to another good mix for homemade shot!

Hap

 

[HSLDS]

I suspect it was the fact you were using molten lead (Zinc) rather than ingots that made it work...

 

[CalvinMD]

Good idea Hap....which weighs more..an oz of lead or an oz of zinc ; ))

 

[skeezix]

Zinc is about 9% lighter than steel, FWIW. 7.14 g/cm^3 vs 7.85g/cm^3.

john

 

[wireguy]

Would zinc stand up to the setback forces upon ignition or just turn to fractured pieces?

 

[whiz white]

Well, at least it won't rust the bellies of the animals; pheasants, cows, etc.

Ha, great idea!

WW

 

[Ajax]

How many pounds does the Lee pot hold?

Ajax

 

[dverna]

Ajax
It depends on the material. But they have both 10 and 20 lb lead pots I believe.
Don Verna

 

[Ajax]

Thanks Don.

Blkcloud, what do you think the dilution percentage of lead to Zinc was? Did you add it to lead in the ladle or had you already run it out?

Ajax

 

[BL350]

Dear SKEEZIX,
Your post on unit weights is wrong. Cast lead has a density of 11.34 g/cc while cast Zinc has a density of 7.05 g/cc.(data from Webster,s Dictionary) This will cause dramatic performance differences.
.................Jet Boat Bill

 

[skeezix]

Dear Jet boat - compared zink to steel, not lead. google came up with the 7.14 g/cm^3. I am wrong on the steel density though - s/ 7.85 not 7.65. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. I'll go back and fix that.

john

 

[blkcloud]

Ajax, my Lee pot was about 1/2 full, the zinc filled it up the rest of the way. I'm guessing a 50/50 mix. thanks!

 

[DecalDude]

I had a guy give me a half box of Brand New weights last week to see if it would make shot. I melted into 4 inguts and made it. It made real nice looking shot, I put it in a 20oz pop bottle(was half full) and gave it back. He put a lil graphite to it and loaded it. He and his son shot 21s with it and they are both fairly new shooters. I watched and it was smashing birds just like lead. He then gave me a whole box of new weights and 3 pails full of old 1s and we cut a deal.

Wheel weights are going to be out-lawed here in NY they are gunna get hard to find. Thank god Pa. is only 20 minutes away.

Jerry Lewis

 

[Ajax]

Thanks Blkcloud, I have been experimenting with Zinc mixtures on one of my shotmakers for some time now. I've been able to turn the heat down and roll the ladle back to increase the roll time and drop the head pressure. The shot has to tumble longer but it looks pretty good but of course it's not as heavy as the good stuff. I've been shooting practice for singles with it. ( It does feel funny in the bag though.)

Ajax

 

[sasquach]

blkcloud, someone gave me some lead that his dad had melted down years ago. Several different batches. One was marked lead and wheelweights. When I put that in, it immediatly plugged the drippers. Seemed kind of stringey and the melt looked like frost on a window on top. I assumed it was zinc, but if it was not zinc, what the hell was it?

 

[shot410ga]

If you melt down the flat adhesive backed wheel weights, you will get a lot of stringy shot. I think it may be be the adhesive that gunks the mixture up. The lead will start to have a gold turning to purple cast color on the top of the mixture. It's best to sort out that type of wheel weight or you will ruin a batch of lead.

 

[CalvinMD]

Theres a lot of info about people casting bullets from zinc when searching the web...both negative and positive...mostly they say it really fouls up your casting equipment..that it makes going back to just casting lead very difficult because its so hard to remove...what are y'alls thoughts and observations?? It seems the fellows in Californias lead-free zones are trying this to keep shooting guns that none of the bullet makers have served up all copper bullets for yet