Do you test hardness?

[jonk]

Personally I've never found the need. I can tell, more or less, if it is hard enough for smokless rounds, or just a blackpowder proposition. Given that I rarely shoot anything over 1700 fps, super hard alloy isn't needed; I just run straight wheelweights for pistol and 9 lb of WW to 1 lb 50/50 for rifle; and if there is a little variance from batch to batch, no big deal.

But then I am not as exacting as some.

How about you all?

[Lloyd Smale]

i use mine quite a bit. The biggest use for it is going to salvage yards to buy scrap. Its pretty tough to tell what your buying without it. I know its saved me the price of it just by finding hidden stashes of cheap linotype. I also use it when i make up batches of lead. I use alot of #2 and have made it useing many differnt recipes and with wws that have varied alot. What i will do is get about a 100 lb batch cooking and cast a couple bullets. Weight them and hardnes test them to see how they compare to the last batch and add pure or lineotype to adjust it. wws vary alot and so does lineotype and if your making batches of alloy they can defineatly vary enough to effect accuracy. Now it isnt a tool i use everyday but i wouldnt want to be without one. To me its kind of like a chronograph. A guy could get along without one as you really dont need to know how fast your load is but it sure is a good tool to insure consistancy.

[pdawg_shooter]

I test every batch of alloy I smelt. I paper patch so my rule of thumb is 10.0 to 10.5 up to 2000fps, 12.5 to 13.0 up to 2600, and 14.5 to15.5 for anything faster than that.

[jhalcott]

I test certain bullets that are for target or heavy hunting loads. For the loads I use for plinking and first time center fire shooters, I have a batch of "MYSTERY METAL" that I cast some other bullets from. This way I don't have to worry about a mix up at the range. I don't chrono the plinkers either, IF they hit the target, I'm happy.

[cbrick]

jonk,

For the uses you mentioned and as long as you know what the alloy is it's probably not a lot of help. As the desire for accuracy, velocity and range increase the more important it is to have a known, consistent and repeatable alloy. As Lloyd mentioned, this is far easier to do with both the chrono and a BHN tester. I couldn't get the repeatable results that I do with about 90% of my shooting without the BHN tester and chrono.

But then I'm the kinda guy that if it works I just gotta know why and if it doesn't work I really gotta know why. Its a tool that can help answer questions.

A lot of commercial cast bullets are too hard for the intended use also and if your getting leading the BHN tester can help here as well.

Rick

[JeffinNZ]

I do now that I have one. Like a great deal of things in life a hardness tester is hardly a critical piece of kit but it sure helps create a base line to monitor from.

[HORNET]

I finally broke down and got a tester last weekend. I use a lot of questionable alloys and figured it was time to try to figure out what some of that stuff was and see if I could improve consistancy. Also had a batch of visually identical ingots of wheelweights and alloy get mixed that I'm trying to sort out. I did find out some interesting things while first playing with it though. Some of my alloys aren't what I thought they should be. Figures..

[grumpy one]

You don't need a hardness tester if either of two statements applies: you obtain only known, consistent ingredients, your casting practice is extremely uniform, and you don't heat treat; or you aren't interested in experimenting for its own sake, or shooting bullets anywhere near their limits. I think there are probably plenty of people on this board who are in one or both of those categories. Others of us are at the other extreme, and not only use rather indefinitely identified scrap, but also want to conduct experiments (mainly out of interest rather than expecting to achieve anything much).

I get the best alloy-identifying information from cooling curves, but hardness tests give me a second, separate source of information. When the cooling curve and the hardness test both point in the same direction, I'm relatively hopeful that I know what I've got. Over time, as I mix up various alloys from these raw materials and verify their cooling curves as well, I seem to zero in and gain some confidence that each of my raw materials has some fairly specific composition.

I also use hardness tests to look into heat treatment, including the accidental heat treatment that happens when your mould temperature or alloy temperature varies a bit.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Well, I own a Lee hardness tester and have used it on a few occasions. Mostly I shoot revolvers, shooting unsupported, so my shooting ability or lack thereof is the limiting factor and not my alloy hardness. I also don't feed my revolvers a steady diet of max loads, mostly 3/4 throttle makes me happy.

I've fairly recently, past couple of years, started seriously casting for rifles. Its a very different game. My skills and experiments are just now maturing to the point that hardness testing has any meaning. So, I expect I'll be using it much more in the near future.

[lathesmith]

Like grumpy one says, I am one of those shooters who rarely pushes my lead projectiles to their limits, and most of the time exact hardness or composition isn't really important. I can see, though, for demanding applications and replicating exact recipes, a hardness tester would be a must. Also, for those who have the luxury of having a local scrapyard to shop for components, I can see where a hardness tester would be nice to have.
lathesmith

[John Boy]

Jonk ... am a BPCR shooter of the original gun powder. Every batch of my cast bullets are Bhn tested and dated

[yammerschooner]

As I read through the responses I hope I can get you guy's input. It really seems like a lot of you could help me out.

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=27678

Let me know if I can make it any easier.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have a couple and use them occasionally for checking generic range scrap; i.e., proving to myself that the cores of jacketed bullets are about the hardness of .22 bullets and can be mixed in with them. However, I sometimes wonder if I'm not getting more information out of the readings I get than is useful. I've never seen an instance where a couple BH numbers either way made or broke a group.