First post here
- Thread starter reddsurion
- Start date
Missionary
Well-Known Member
Good morning and welcome about the place.
All the questions you will have are not new.
Bullet fit is the #1 issue to deal with. With a proper diameter cast bullet you have solved alot of the issues.
All the questions you will have are not new.
Bullet fit is the #1 issue to deal with. With a proper diameter cast bullet you have solved alot of the issues.
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
Hello Redd and Welcome!
Share in the knowledge for all have things to learn and teach.
God bless
cw
Share in the knowledge for all have things to learn and teach.
God bless
cw
JonB
Halcyon member
Redd,
welcome aboard.
I am one of the few here that tend to get wrapped up around the axle about hardness...knowing the hardness and matching it to what my end goal caliber and load. But all these more experienced fellows here are surely right, that it isn't a big factor, as there is so many others things that are more important. In my defense, I scrounge all sorts of scrap lead alloys from multiple sources, so hardness testing and investigating melt/freeze temps and slush states, have helped me figure out what I have.
BHN 30+ for range scrap
I suspect user error with the Lee hardness tester...investigate your technique. Range scrap should be from 7 Bhn to 14 Bhn, depending on what percentages of what type of bullets are recovered from the berm. I can't even imagine any range scrap over 18 Bhn. Technique is everything with the Lee hardness tester. I learned I had problems with my technique a year after I was into using it on a regular basis. I was using it on a press that had a little slop, and I wasn't careful with handle position and finally figured out if I moved the handle from one side to another, I would waller the indentation from round to oval. Also, always measure bullets and never measure ingots.
Good Luck.
welcome aboard.
I am one of the few here that tend to get wrapped up around the axle about hardness...knowing the hardness and matching it to what my end goal caliber and load. But all these more experienced fellows here are surely right, that it isn't a big factor, as there is so many others things that are more important. In my defense, I scrounge all sorts of scrap lead alloys from multiple sources, so hardness testing and investigating melt/freeze temps and slush states, have helped me figure out what I have.
BHN 30+ for range scrap
I suspect user error with the Lee hardness tester...investigate your technique. Range scrap should be from 7 Bhn to 14 Bhn, depending on what percentages of what type of bullets are recovered from the berm. I can't even imagine any range scrap over 18 Bhn. Technique is everything with the Lee hardness tester. I learned I had problems with my technique a year after I was into using it on a regular basis. I was using it on a press that had a little slop, and I wasn't careful with handle position and finally figured out if I moved the handle from one side to another, I would waller the indentation from round to oval. Also, always measure bullets and never measure ingots.
Good Luck.
Dusty Bannister
Well-Known Member
As has already been mentioned by others testing alloy hardness on ingots is not a reliable method. I was gifted 135 pounds of alloy in ingots and was told it was mystery metal. There had been an attempt to add antimony to the lead and it was unknown just what the result actually was. When I arrived at home, I used the Cabin Tree hardness test tool and found the ingots ranged from 12 to 19 BHN. I melted off a drip and sent samples from high, low and middle hardness to be XRF scanned. They were virtually the same. When discussing this with my friend, I found out it had all been from the same batch, but he just did not know the actual final blend.
If you feel like you want to keep track of the hardness of individual batches of alloy, pour some sample bullets with a large flat nose for a consistent sample for testing. The Lee tester might have a different requirement for the sample. Let them air cool so they have a natural hardness and you will then have reliable results. Welcome to the forum.
If you feel like you want to keep track of the hardness of individual batches of alloy, pour some sample bullets with a large flat nose for a consistent sample for testing. The Lee tester might have a different requirement for the sample. Let them air cool so they have a natural hardness and you will then have reliable results. Welcome to the forum.
Cadillac Jeff
Well-Known Member
Welcome from northern Michigan
Yup fit is KING !
hardness----not so much...
Jeff
Yup fit is KING !
hardness----not so much...
Jeff
blackthorn
Active Member
Welcome from BC Canada!
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Welcome. Take as much of your alloy as you can, mix it all together and shoot. I won't go into one of my rants on "HARDCAST!!!", you can find plenty of the here and elsewhere, but Bhn is just a number that means pretty much nothing when you don't know what your alloy is to start with. Spend more time working on fit and less time worrying about that stupid Bhn and you'll get a lot more shooting done.