BHN Measurement

[38 Super Auto]

I see alot of post here about alloy hardness.

What tool are you guys using to measure Brinell hardness? :coffee:

[Taylor]

I use a "microscope" made by Lee,sold by Midsouth. You place one part of the rig in your press and a minute ball makes a dent.You then measure the width of the dent,then you compare it to the scale.Pretty simple,and fairly cheap.

[Lloyd Smale]

one of gussy cabin tree testers. I had a seaco and an lbt tester to but liked gussy so well i pawned the other two.

[Pat I.]

I use the LBT and a Saeco.

[Dale53]

I use an LBT hardness tester. If I were buying today, I would opt for the Cabine Tree Tester.

Dale53

[38 Super Auto]

Thanks for all the replies. The cabine tree tester looks pretty slick.

[fourarmed]

A method that is not as handy, but will work for measuring the hardness of ingots, requires a ball bearing and an ingot known to be pure lead. Sandwich the ball between the lead ingot and the test ingot, and whack the one on top with a hammer. The area of the impression made is inversely proportional to the hardness of the alloy. Pure lead has a BHN of 5. Measure the diameters of the two impressions, and calculate the ratio of the lead diameter to the test diameter. Square this ratio and multiply by 5.

Edited to add that the depth of the impressions should not exceed 1/4 the diameter of the ball used. Averaging several measurements will improve accuracy, too.

[jtaylor1960]

I have an LBT that I just got.

[Sundogg1911]

Cabin tree is the easiest to use, and the Lee is the cheapest, all of the others in my opinion fall somewhere in the middle for price and ease of use. I've used the beer bottle cap/ball bearing in a vise method in the past for a rough guess.

[looseprojectile]

Been using my thumbnail for more than fifty years. Do I need something else?:-D

If you start with wheelweights and want your melt to be harder what do you add?

If you start with pure lead and want it softer you are sunk.:castmine:

[38 Super Auto]

I use a base of WW alloy and range scrap. I typically add 5% linotype and get hard cast bullets and good mold fill. I want to find a cheap alloy that I can use for 38 super and 357mag.
I wanted to get an idea of the hardness of my base alloy, so I don't overkill it with expensive alloy.

I can get linotype at a scrap yard here for 65c/lb. (at least for the time being)

[OLPDon]

Have LBT and Saeco the LBT is by far easier to use and Lyman ingot fits nicely under test probe, and with my failing eyes meter is easy to read. So if you are inquireing as to which one to get I am Sold on the LBT.
Don