Two rookie questions

[Travelor]

First, I lead from varied sources that appears to be different alloys (from linotype to varying hardness ingots from an unknown source). If I were to buy a lead hardness tester would it allow me to mix the different alloys to a somewhat uniform alloy if the hardness tests are similar?

Second, I have a case of bullet lube that is red and somewhat soft. When loading the bullets into my cases (308 and 30-06) the lube gets into the seating die. Is there a way, other than a different lube, to keep the lube on the bullet and not in the seating die? I have thought about putting the bullets into the refrigerator to stiffen the lube but have not tried that yet.

[cainttype]

Hardness does not necessarily mean that two different mixes are the same alloy... So the short answer is "No".
The easiest way to get a consistent alloy with "unknown" ingredients is to mix as large a batch at one time as possible (400 lbs from one large pot makes 40 identical 10 lb batches), but the accidental addition of unwanted contaminants, like Zinc, should be avoided as much as possible.
If you do something like that, having a sample analyzed can be very useful info. Although you might well have an alloy that's already fine for your purposes, knowing the actual compostion will allow you to modify the alloy accurately (if you ever feel the need) or possibly duplicate the alloy in the future.
Several members here offer XRF analysis for too little to pass when alloying large batches like this. I can recommend typz2lo as a very good source for accurate analysis.

Cleaning the lube from inside (and above) the crimp grooves, and completely off the noses of your projectiles will go a long way towards keeping your seating die cleaner.

[fryboy]

i'm only going to touch on the extra lube ....i make sure i have enough case flare that the boolit just starts easy ( eg; wont shave"proud" lube off ) i then pull the round out and wipe off any extra lube and then finish seating it , of note if you're crimping and the crimp groove is full of lube it will squish out everywhere ( if that's the case you need to set your sizing die shallower so as not to get lube in that groove )

[OS OK]

Could be that your 'seating/crimping' die is straightening that 'bell' out so soon that it can't help but scrape that lube as the boolit is progressively seating, especially with narrow drive bands and multiple lube grooves.
I had to back the seat die out 'way' far and seat only there, then added a separate crimp die to do that job. That ended the lube mess in the dies.
Do a few progressive measurements on your 'bell' as it is seated progressively…pull it out and look at it at different progressions of the stroke from 20% stroke through full stroke…you might can 'monkey' with it a bit and get good results. Most of our die sets were manufactured to seat jacketed rounds and they don't mind the scraping like the lead boolits do.
I'm thinking that you are using lube/sized boolits though?
Also what size is the expander…what size is the boolit…that's another problem, for my .45 Colt I use the .453" expander plug from my 'cowboy' die set…otherwise we work on sizing correctly for the weapons involved and the brass resizes it back down by a .001" or worse.

[John Boy]

* you buy a hardness tester - determine the brinell hardness for each batch of ingot - then use an alloy calculator to mix the brinell hardness's to the alloy ration you want. Download the alloy calculator from the stickies in the forum



is there a way, other than a different lube, to keep the lube on the bullet and not in the seating die?
yes - a piece of paper and wipe the nose of the bullet