I have some zinc contaminated lead due to not properly sorting wheel weights. I know it's useless for the pistol bullets I normally cast but I'm beginning to wonder if due to the ammo shortage with would be worth trying to crank up the heat and cast some buckshot. Think it would work?

Nope.




.

Why? If not cast would it work cut? The earliest swan or buck shot was square and made by cutting from sheet lead. This was considered easier than trying to cast relatively small shot from a mold and before shot towers. Is there something about the zinc that makes it unsuitable for any type of shot?

I'm not a caster, but I had a thought. If it were made really soft with pure lead perhaps it could be swaged.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

The problem with zinc in lead/tin alloys is that it comes out of solution and messes up a cast as it cools down.
Bullets or shot can then be porous and not fill out the mould well.
Think of it as "anti-tin".
You might be able to use your buck shot as you would recycled or damaged shot if you can get it to cast at all.
I'd use it in ingots as radiation shielding but that's another story.
Only 1.6% of the the alloy can be dissolved zinc but it's enough to screw things up.
To get rid of all the zinc use sulphur which will combine to make zinc sulphate and can be skimmed off as dross.
Then flux with rosin and tallow.
How To Make Solder
He is trying for the lowest melting temp, eutectic (everything melts and freezes at the same temp),
purest lead/tin alloy he can, but the method of getting all the zinc out is the same when making a bullet alloy.

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

Anything that floats to the top at 800 degrees is junk to me.

^^^^^^^^
Yep.

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SWHF #595

Removing the zinc isn't too difficult. Here are some links that show you how.

How to make solder

Zinc removal report

I've been casting for 55 years, and I've NEVER had contamination of my lead pot! Why? Because zinc melts at a
higher temp than lead. If I put some wheel weights in my pot, and most melt, but some stay on the surface, those are ZINC!
Skim those off and put in trash. And watch the temp on your lead pot! I just bought a bunch of wheel weights from a buddy
who says he has had them since the early eighties. Probably most are lead, but I will go through them and check before I melt them down. Start your pot out at the lowest temp to melt
lead. Do that, and you will never melt any zinc into your mix.

I have had zinc contaminated lead before. It actually takes quite a bit of zinc to mess up an alloy. I have turned the heat up & fluxed like crazy. Then added more lead to dilute the remaining zinc & could cast with it at about 800deg. As noted, just dont go dumping ww into your pot & crank the heat up.
I only put clean alloy into my casting pot. I melt scrap in a cast iron pot. Once the scrap starts to go liquid, turn the heat down. Zinc melts about 775 or so, keep the heat below that & skim off anything that didn't melt.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Following fredj338's advice , post #10 , go ahead and cast some buckshot and bullets too ... who knows ...they might be a little lighter and harder than normal ...but they just might work .
Only one way to find out and nothing to lose as I see it .
Let us know how it works out .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

^^^ Or you might end up with even an even larger amount of contaminated alloy.