2-6-92 alloy hardness

[gotin]

I noticed something interesting.
Most bullet manufacturers use the 2% tin, 6% antimony and 92% lead alloy for their bullets. But then they list the bullet hardness at 14, 15, 16, 18, etc. - if it is the same alloy, how is the hardness different? They don't mention heat treating or water quenching.

[runfiverun]

well..
it's something called advertising, it has a tendency to make things the way you want them to be.
the factory rep from lazercast tried to tell me that thier alloy cooled from the inside out[just once] when he stopped by my booth at the gunshow.
he was trying to sell me alloy,and convince me that thier harder silver mine tailings alloy was much better than my 2/6/92 cut 50-50 with pure alloy.

[lwknight]

There can be slight variations in hardness due to mold temperatures at casting or the cooling rate after they drop out of the mold.
Bullets dropping into a pile of hot bullets will cool slower than bullets dropped out on a relatively bare surface.
Else its just salesmanship.

[Iron Mike Golf]

It could also reflect tolerance in alloy blending and advertising their "minimum" (or "maximum") hardness. Maybe aging plays a part, too?

[Hardcast416taylor]

Another explanation of the different readings can be directly related to how full of "Road Apples" that person is.Robert

[popper]

Sb gives it that hardness, like lwknight says, natural cooling rate.

[gotin]

Sounds like the pixels on digital cameras.

[captaint]

Then again, if we had an alloy that wouldn't work at 14bhn it likely wouldn't work at 18 either !! enjoy Mike