Lee's hardness tester

[MrXrings]

New here and to casting also, been reloading for a long time. Wondering if anybody here uses Lees tester and follows his guidelines on pressure and bullet hardness in his reloading manual.

[kelbro]

I use the tester but have found little correlation to his recommendations and real world regarding pressure v. BHN.

[PuppetZ]

Little corellation is an understatement. It's a nice hypothesis and I too thought it made some sensebut it does not hold the road. It is my belief that fit has more to do on how well a boolit will perform, at least for a rifle. You can push it way, way harder than what Lee recommend as maximum. I really got to get me one of them chrono, but I was nearing the max listed load for a 180gn jacketed with a 180gn RN lee boolit and it behaved perfect, no leading, acceptable accy. That sould put it in the twilight zone with 2000+ fps/45 000+ PSI. Boolit was a WQ straight WW, tested "H" with my mars lumograph pencil set. So something in between 16 and 20 BHN I guesstimate.

YMMV.

[geargnasher]

The search function is your friend. Specify the casting equipment and reloading equipment sub-forum. Tons of good info on this subject.

Gear

[williamwaco]

Use the Lee tester and like it.

I totally ignore his pressure charts.

.

[462]

I render three different alloys, and have used it occasionally. Actually, got along just fine without it, but curiosity got the better of me.

I ran the BHN/pressure numbers a couple times, using some successful loads, and found they didn't reflect my loads' and guns' realities. I've ignored them since.

[FergusonTO35]

Information in a book about what will work/doesn't work is pretty much never applicable to real life. Way too many variables to deal with. That said I really like the Lee tester and plan to get one soon.

[mdi]

I cast bullets for mebbe 12 years before I considered/thought about BHN. I knew linotype was hard and if I put some in the wheel weight alloy would cast different, weigh a bit less, and have a shiny finish, but casting for .44 Spec. and Mag. and 38 Spec and 357, that's about all I needed to know about alloying. I had access to wheel weights and that was 95% of what I used. I worked out my accuracy and leading issues by proper bullet fit. For my .44s (I have 5, .44 Magnums) I use three different diameters and for my .38s just 2. For me and my guns, barrel leading is rare. I got a Lee tester for Christmas and it's fun, by not necessary in my opinion, but then again I don't shoot any lead over 1200-1400 fps (.44 Mag. 240 gr, hefty load of WC820) in my Puma carbine. If you're curious about your alloys, by all means get one, but don't depend on the fps/pressure/BHN formula to be the end-all for lead bullet preformance...

[trixter]

I thought I might be messing with alloys that were way outside of what would work with my guns. I got one and now I know what BHN I am working with. It makes me feel more comfortable with my boolits.

[MrXrings]

My lead comes from a bullseye range so its mostly a mixture of 45's and .22's, the jackets get knocked off for the most part when they hit the steel backstops. I would like to know what kind of hardness this mixture would make, I figure they use little alloy in the .22 lead.

[Kraschenbirn]

My lead comes from a bullseye range so its mostly a mixture of 45's and .22's, the jackets get knocked off for the most part when they hit the steel backstops. I would like to know what kind of hardness this mixture would make, I figure they use little alloy in the .22 lead.

I regularly 'harvest' our club's 25-yd backstop berm and obtain pretty much a 'dog's dinner' of .22s, commercial cast .38 WCs and SWCs, 9mm FMJs, and a mix of .45 FMJs and commercial cast SWCs. (Don't find many intact .40s...looks like most of what's shot there are HPs which break-up in the hard clay.) Anyway, melted down, with the trash skimmed off, and thoroughly fluxed, I get air-cooled ingots just a touch harder (8.3-8.5 BHN) than pure lead.

Bill

[geargnasher]

Add a speck of tin to your range scrap and call it good. If you need it harder, water-quench them and age a month or two before shooting.

I have a couple of different hardness testers, including the Lee, and I get pretty scientific about alloys on occasion. The Lee is my personal favorite for measuring and comparing alloys, particularly comparing. Most of the time it's only necessary to have a very general idea of composition and hardness, the key is in the shooting. And if you find an alloy your gun really likes, it's nice to be able to measure and duplicate at least the hardness again when you run out.

Gear