Brinnel hardness, and Lube question??

[Jerry Lester]

First off, what hardness is pure wheel weight alloy? I realize that it likely varies, but "around" what hardness are they?

Second, my wife informed me that there just "might" be a nice Redding lube/sizer under the tree this Christmas!:-D

If I start sizing on it, what kind of lube should I get for pure WW boolits? I'll be wanting two loads. One will be very low velocity for squirrels, rabbits, and such. The second will be a full house load for coyotes, coons, foxes, and bobcats.

This is the 95g Saeco SWC boolit for my 32 magnum revolver. I'm figuring on about 1300 fps being as fast as I'll want to push them. If I have too, I'll use two different lubes, but of course I'd rather get by with just one that'll handle the full velocity range.

[44man]

Yes, I think the hardness does vary but would not worry about it at all. Unless you are shooting big game and need some expansion or a harder boolit with a large meplat for penetration, you will never know the difference.
The first thing I would do is to get a size die the same size as your boolits cast or a tiny bit larger. Use it to only lube and seat gas checks if any are used.
Then make up some Felix lube or buy some of Lar 45's great lubes and go to town. Stay away from those hard commercial lubes.
The only time you need to actually size down a boolit is if a round will not chamber because the boolit is too fat. I can't see that happening. Most molds will throw a boolit smaller then you want. All mold makers shoot for bore size instead of throat size and I can't see them coming around to doing what is correct.

[Jerry Lester]

Actually, I'm needing a .313" bullet. This Saeco .313" 95g mould is dropping bullets at around .315" so I have to size them down. I contacted Saeco, and he said that this .313" mould is "supposed" to drop them at .315" so that they can then be sized to .313". I think that's kinda odd myself[smilie=1: , but that's what he said.

[357maximum]

Actually, I'm needing a .313" bullet. This Saeco .313" 95g mould is dropping bullets at around .315" so I have to size them down. I contacted Saeco, and he said that this .313" mould is "supposed" to drop them at .315" so that they can then be sized to .313". I think that's kinda odd myself[smilie=1: , but that's what he said.

Be happy it sometimes works the other way....then you have to get creative..

[Jon K]

Jerry,

Check this out and read the review in Midwayusa.com, User says it drop@.313 dia.

Lyman 2-Cavity Bullet Mold #311252 32 ACP (311 Diameter) 75 Grain Round Nose

The 32 H&R Mag revolvers were and are .312 groove dia. T/C single shot and some others are .308.
The older .32 guns were .313 and larger, mostly .314, thats why the larger diameter.


Jon

:castmine:

[44man]

If you can slide a .315 boolit through the throats with your thumb and you can chamber a round, try them unsized first. Then try sizing a little to see what happens. You are very lucky to have boolits drop a little larger then needed but of course, they MIGHT be needed that size.
The worst boolits I run into are for the BPCR. Most fall at .457 and a few will actually reach .459. My bore is .4595 and pushing a boolit through the bore shows no marks from the bottom of the grooves. I do fair with a .460 to .461 boolit and I am now shooting a .4638" one. Just try to find a mold that will cast a .464 boolit!!!! Why all .45 boolits are listed as .457, some at .459 but very rarely do they reach the listed size.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth, you have room to play. Just don't assume you have to size the boolits.

[Jon K]

Jerry,

If your concern is the amount of sizing, don't worry. The Saeco single lube groove os very generous and still have ample amount left after sizing. I is also very easy to size .003-.005 in one pass thru the lube sizer because the boolit diameter is small. I have the Saeco #322 118gr TCFP which I have sized from .314 to .309 no problem.

Jon

[Jerry Lester]

Thanks for the info fellows. My bore slugged at exactly .310", and my throats are .312". I can chamber a .313" bullet, but have a hard time chambering the Hornady .314" 90g WC's unless they're flush with the case mouth.

The reason I asked about the WW hardness is because I've always thought they were supposed to be very hard. The ones I'm smelting, and using are turning out ingots, and boolits that you can put a cut in with your finger nail if you do it on the sharper edges. This is fine with me, but I was just curious.

Also I'm just wanting a lube that'll work good at low, and higher velocities.

[454PB]

In general, my 20 year old wheelweight ingots run 12 to 14 BHN.