Elvis.. Don't feel bad about Jumping around on your Videos. any reloader knows that your bench can turn into a Mad scientist desk.. and You have always had a organised format for your show. You tell us What, when and why we are doing this today. all simple and easy to understand. You really have the "Anybody can do this" attitude conveyed to your viewers. I can tell that your bench has grown with projects over the time that you first started You Tube. Anyway.. Keep up the Good work over there.. Dave.
Hey Thorsaxe777 man that Arsenal Mold looks like it give ya some nice lasers huh? pretty cool seeing the center of that paper get tore up! Yeah my bench has lots of test subjects and more! : ) Thank ya my Friend.... Hope all is good!
I'm Vary happy with the results from the Arsenal .44 wadcutter mold. you know as well as I do that you take a chance on different bullet molds. Cookie corrected me on the group size, I said it was a 1 1/2 inch group.. he wrote we back and said 3/4 Dave.. I wasn't looking center to center. Yep.. You should do some P.C. wadcutters in your GP 100's just to see what they do for ya. (They also work good on Varmints that get in with the Chickens) Wide flat tip to the bullet nose.
Hey Elvis! ! You had me at "steel" penetration test!!! Lol. That was awesome results. You got those things screaming along. I always look foward a new video. Elvis the pioneer. Good job bud. Keepm coming.
you are a true inovator.. thanks for all your hard work and info.. I appreciate it very much.. as a prepper I always look out for more than 1 way to accomplish a task.. ya never know when information will certainly come in handy
hey there ordinanceconceredamerican..... thank ya my friend... more the prepping less holding the hand out for bread... Nice to have options. good info is key... Thanks for pointing that out! God Bless!
Elvis - My guess was that the zinc at velocity and hardness would penetrate well... But thanks to your testing, no guessing necessary ... More data for all the shooter out there... liked this video... I think we've got the Bullet Casting Quadrilateral here... Best to ya, FC
Zinc mixed with lead would not cast well at all. That's the reason we all used to carefully pick it out of our wheel weights. Aluminum melts at way too high of a temperature, closer to steel than lead. And many of our molds are aluminum.
@@colsoncustoms8994I started using pure zinc for lead free and solid copper is harder than zinc. Zinc is a bearing material so already “slick”. Can use my camp stove and a small cast iron pan and have been doing so for a couple of years thanks to some RU-vid videos👍😊👍. Great expansion on 20lb propane cans in 338 lapua and 450B. AK too 130spitzer mould😊. No lube or gas checks
@@elvisammohow’s moulding zinc in aluminum moulds working for you. Only used an aluminum mould once because i had to for that caliber. Prefer cast iron. What kind of process are you ising. I use a camp stove with a small cast iron pan with another used as a lid and preheat my moulds in an old toaster oven😊
I've been watching you for a while now, you inspired me to cast my own .458 and .300 ammo. I'm having problems powdercoating my bullets. The powder coat doesn't stick well, I've tried HF red, and Eastwood black. I've tried 2 different #5 plastic containers. And even when I get a mediocre coat they stick to my wire rack (the last alloy I used even 'melted' a little bit and I had lines in the bullets under the powdercoat) in my toaster oven. I drove over to my friend's place and used his PC gun to finish a batch so I could load them up but that was a lot of time and not something I can do all often. I am running low on ideas now.
This is what I have found to work. Powder coating bullets heating the bullets to 150 deg for 10 min (a little to hot to hold for long) then dropping them into a running vib tumbler, tumble for 20 mins. Then dump them on a wire mesh and shake them very very wil to remove any lose or exseve pc.there should be a thin but very strong layer of pc that can NOT be shaken off. Bake for 20 min @400 or even a little hotter. Let them cool to just above room temp ,then cover the tray or mesh with a towel & drop the hole thing on the ground from about 2ft up, to release them from the mesh (This is the only way I can get good results) 1 second ago•
I just got perfect results with Lyman #358009's and Eastwood Cadillac Blue after a few failed attempts with all of the harbor freight colors. This time I soaked the bullets in acetone then dried them off before I PC'd them and then did not handle them without latex gloves on. I shook them up in a #5 plastic tub with a handful of airsoft BBs until they looked well coated. Then 20 minutes at 410 degrees or parchment paper to a bucket water quench and perfect results with no stick bullets
A lighter bullet can take more powder as it accelerates easier and will go faster. Use a faster more dense powder and don't stop until you see signs of over pressure!
Another fun video, Elvis. You're an inspiration. I loaded my first PC'ed cast 9mm tonight. They don't chamber like I expected, but I think the COL in too long. I'll keep working on it.
great video elvis. another curiosity would be to see how a zink pistol bullet performs, the only concern with these zink bullets is the heat generated as it travels sown the barrel due to the fact the zink cooked a hole through the melting pot but then again your not firing a whole lot bullets through your barrel so you should be ok. Hey maybe even see what happens if you powder coat them, may even work as a protective coating for the barrels. looking forward to the next video elvis
Zinc is used as a bearing material so already “slick”. Its hard regardless of coating. It just needs to be hotter to melt to be moulded. My 338 lapua only been able to find aluminum mould for it so far. Only used once and worked. Cast iron moulds still going strong. I use a small cast iron pan and a camp stove for melting zinc. Welding gloves both hands PLUS a rag of pot holder for pan. Been doing a couple of years in zinc and pure bismuth for handgun only 45 or 10. Frangibles for steel😊
I wonder if you could cast brass or copper bullets / jackets? (or some other metal / alloy with similar properties) I think it would be doable, might be a pain but it could work. Just have to find a really warm heat source and figure out the process for getting them to flow into a mold and not stick to the metal (and make sure the alloy isn't super brittle or anything like that. Might even need to heat treat them or go through an annealing process). If that worked, you could find or modify a hollow point mold that would allow you to then cast lead into the hollow of the bullet. It would add some weight and maybe even act like a hydraulic pump and open the hollow point up at higher velocities. Idk, just a thought I had while watching stuff about brazing and bullet casting one video after another haha. Might not be even remotely doable but it's something I'll look into. I'm sure someone has had the same thought before so there's probably good information.
Hey Elvis!, quick Qs. How harsh does casting zinc wear on aluminum molds? Other than that nick that happened on ur 230gr 300aac zinc bullet. I have a NOE HTC 153gr mold I really wanna try this on for penatration I just really like this mold alot on lead also lol. Im having to rely on purchasing lead online also. Zinc wheel weights are of abundance here. Also have you noticed better accuracy in zinc 223 compared to lead? Im still in trying to get a 223 cast load to be in 2inch grouping @100 though this gun is capable of sub moa using nosler varmageddon. Maybe I can send you some for testing. NOE HTC 225 63gr
hey Kenny Ey... The zinc is pretty hard on the aluminum molds .... you may ruin at least one before ya get the hang of it. even then they will only handle so much before they are degraded. I will be testing the 223 pretty soon and we should have a better idea how they perform..... hoping to put them through there paces!
Elvis I loaded up some cast 223 using 700x pistol powder like you said.... that's a fun little round in a bolt action! & fairly accurate too. what other pistol powders can a guy use in 223?
Great work on the continuing zinc testing Elvis. So do you find in the castings you've done, you lose apx half of the bullet weight going from lead to zinc? Since you lose weight but gain hardness with zinc, maybe a high speed caliber could really benefit with zinc? Those bullets would really scream through a 300 Wtby.You should find a sponsor and market your zinc bullets to Weatherby.....Elvis Ammo of course ~
I think copper is much harder than zinc on the BHN scale. Isnt zinc is the area of 30 BHN? Shooting only cast lead in a bore will not wear out the barrel, but something like a Weatherby shooting copper solids is a different story....they dont call Weatherbys 'barrel burners' for nothing. So wouldnt zinc fall inbetween the two? I would agree a zinc alloy (some metal heavier than zinc that will alloy with zinc to add more weight) is needed but they did have Zamak (a zinc alloy) back in the day. Heres a good read on it all - castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?181242-Zinc-bullets-why-harder-on-bore-than-copper
hey Paul Campo... From my experience with them so far.. I think there is a sweet spot... (not too big- Not too small) Large for caliber feather weights might be affected negatively in flight. Kinda like small light weight bullets are.... One will loose steam quickly while the other can get thrown off by light wind... This 95 gr. was the most impressively behaved zinc bullet i've handled... Im afraid long distance would be a far reach... density suffers!
It could be the twist rate....whats the twist rate of your barrel? I think the way it goes is the longer and heavier the bullet ('longer' used to be exclusive to only being a heavier bullet) the slower the twist rate. I'm not sure if its the weight of the bullet only, or a combination of weight and length that requires the different twist for stabilization. Since you could never get longer bullets without weight, it may be longer bullets of any weight might need a slower twist rate. It might not have to do at all with length and the lighter weight of any length needs the faster twist. I think getting the twist rate right to match the bullet weight - to match bullet hardness with a specific load (=fps) to equal perfect bullet obturation for pinpoint accuracy is what we are all trying for. It starts at twist rate which ultimately dictates the bullet weights that WILL shoot accurately in the barrel. Some bullet weights will NEVER shoot accurately in a given barrel if the twist doesnt match the bullet weight. If your gun has a 1 in 7 twist, maybe find someone with a 1 in 14 - 1 in 12 twist and test the same loads in both rifles. One test would tell you if twist rate makes any difference. Maybe this is can lead to better cast zinc shooting?
Wow... Elvis, that is awesome... a cool lead free alloy ... I wonder how this would work with "full power loads" in a 9x19 pistol with a 4" barrel such as a Glock 19 With conventional rifled Match grade barrel [such as those supplied by Wilson Combat]... YES , I know most Glock come with polygon rifling...
Interesting, no worries about the bullet diameter for such a hard bullet? I like w296/H110 for 44mag, 357, and light 300 bullets. Only gripe is it can be messy to work with.
hey JJJ SSS. . yea I stuck with the first powder I started with since I didn't have bullets for fooling around too much. .. it was very accurate right from the start.... Yee haw... I went with it..
Great stuff Elvis. Do you think that the harder zinc bullets will add more wear to the barrel? Now, looking to the future. We need for Lee to come up with molds and a bottom pour pot for zinc.
hey Larry Kool ...the solid projectiles on the market are as hard as these if not harder.... The molds would need to be steel and the melt pot stainless steel. ....
Zinc isnt as hard as the copper solids and i can melt it using my camp stove and a small cast iron pan which is why I use it. Zinc is a bearing material so it’s already “slick”. But it is hard. It will expand in rifle. 338 lapua and 450 B. Tested in ak using 130 grain spitzer mould. Only got a 338 mould in aluminum though which has worked so far. So far being once😂
Hiya Elvis! I was wondering a couple things about zinc bullets, especially in your .300 blk/AK-47 mould: Have you had any further success with powder coating, and if so, does this help protect your barrel from wear, due to the hardness of zinc? Also, I imagine you would not be able to run the bullets through a sizer, as it's too hard? And lastly,Do you have a specific melting pot for the zinc, when you cast bullets,or do you use the same one for lead? I am just getting into reloading, and your videos have been a boon of great information, so very much thanks!
I use a small cast iron pan and a camp stove. Pre heat the mould. Welding gloves for both hands plus a pot holder or rag for the pan hand. Zinc has to be HOT. The sprue is hard af so will take serious effort to break. Zinc is about 63% weight of mould weight ie lead. Zinc is hard regardless of coating. Its a bearing material so “slick” naturally. It’s softer than solid copper is the upside and mouldable “easily”. 3 1/2 lb block from amazon. I use a hatchet to break in half😊. I load using jacketed data for lead bullet weight. A 130 grain mould i use 130 grain jacketed data despite bullet weighing 82 grains😊
Hey Elvis. Thanks for the video. Would it be possible to show us a comparison of some factory ammo? The .223 would be especially interesting with a m855 comparison. I still have the old 30-06 AP rounds I could pull them and send the .308 diameter bullets.
hey Justin Dudo... I will be doing some more testing like this... I have one coming up with some zinc 223.... I think they are 36gr.. what weight bullets are the AP rounds?
looking forward to the data. so I assume since it's not close to the temp of the lee 420 pot the zinc isnt gonna try to alloy w/ the steel in your barrel and weaken the barrel's structural integrity. I haven't done any research, I'm just spinning my wheels and creating smoke outta my ears
Yea was what I was thinking too just weirded out about it pot anyhow I'd be interested to see how the zinc 138 shoots at distance I have access to 600yds with lots o steel along the way every 100 if your ever up for a small road trip to cola. One of these days it's less than 15 min from exit 1 on I-77
hey Henry Horne. .. It used to be said when zinc gas checks were a thing that the zinc would lubricate the bore nicely. ... but I don't see an issue with having fouling from them both. Any more than fouling in general. .. no chemical reaction or anything of that nature to be concerned with, if that's the concern here. .. not aware of a down side!
hey George Goff... I have played with it in the past ... putting some 223 bullets in with a load of 9mm... they seemed to struggle with a good coat.... but I'm sure I could make it happen. ...
elvis ammo I hear ya. got to stay focused so we get the results needed. we can always make more bullets. Good stuff. Keep up the good work and love the videos
hey Sternstones.... Not really sure if the bore needs protecting, zinc is about the same hardness as copper and I haven't seen any fouling in the bore!
hey TheTIVANshow. ... I thought about alloying aluminum with the zinc along with a little tin.... that might give me something! hope all is well my friend!
Mark A ....not that I know of. it's harder than lead but close in hardness to copper. There is some reports from people smarter than me that says it has a natural lubing affect inside the barrel. but it is a bit of a challenge to cast.. Thanks for watching!
