Making a Hard Alloy Softer

[mrhunterken]

Gentlemen, I have aprox. 75 lbs. of lead alloy, that I can assume is about Hardball consistency, I am looking to soften it up so it can be used for PP bullets. In my way of thinking, a decent amount of pure Pb would work if mixed in the proper amounts. I need a somewhat expert opinion of how much it would take to soften it up to maybe 30/1, or even a little softer.

[mart]

Really need to know how hard it is to start with. If you don't have a hardness tester or access to one there is always the thumbnail test. If you have relatively normal thumbnails (not soft and flimsy like my wife's) you can get ballpark close to the hardness.

If your thumbnail will easily dent or mark the lead it's pretty soft, 5-8 bhn, if it will barely scratch it but does leave a slight mark it's around 10-16 bhn, and if it just slides over it with maybe a slight burnish or no mark at all its probably 18 bhn or higher. Not very scientific I know but its been surprisingly accurate for me when I've double checked against a hardness tester.

Once you have an idea how hard or soft the alloy is then you can look at adding some pure lead to the mix.

[mrhunterken]

I can say, with a scratch test it is at least 16-18 BHN.

[Soundguy]

At that, you are past lyman #2 and on your way to linotype.

[Mitch]

if you lead is 16bhn and you mix it 50/50 with pure lead you would come out at 12 bhn.the if you were to cut that again 50/50 with pure lead it would be 10.5.so depending on what hardness you are staring with about 2 to 1 might get you close to the harness of 1 in 30.but you wont have 1 in 30 alloy just the same hardness

[runfiverun]

you can't make 2/6/92 alloy into 30-1 alloy.
you can get the bhn down to about the same as 30-1 alloy.

cut it in half this will make 1/3/96 which as we all know is about 11-12 bhn.
it will also give you 150 lbs of alloy to work with.

airc 30-1 is about 8-9 bhn so you need to cut your alloy again to get there.
about 1/4 to 1/3 [25-33%] more soft lead should get you there.
so another 20-25 lbs of lead would get you about right. [or 100 lbs soft lead total]

[fredj338]

Not knowing exactly, 4-1 lead/hardball will make a decent alloy for most any pistol bullet.

[mrhunterken]

What I'm attempting to do, is make an alloy soft enough so PP bullets can bump up to groove dia. For the amount of lead it will take to do that, with what I have, I'm better off just buying the right alloy and/or pure Pb already made.

[jhalcott]

Just what do you planon using the softer alloy on, deer small critters or targets?

[mrhunterken]

See post #8

[DHDeal]

I don't know your experience level with loading for BPCR, but depending on how long of a bullet you are using, you might not want 30/1. You may already know about nose slump with really long for caliber bullets, but if you aren't familiar, I would at least read up on it. Many loading for long range are using a harder alloy than 30/1. I personally use nothing less than 20/1. My PP experience is just beginning, but I have shot GG for many years. 20/1 has always shot better than 30/1 for me. As was already asked above, I don't know if you are target shooting or hunting so your reason for wanting to use such a soft alloy helps others answer your question.

Back to your question though, if you don't plan to cast many thousands of PP bullets to use up the alloy you made up, I would just use the correct alloy to start with.

I'm just assuming you plan to load for a BPCR here as you mentioned 30/1 and "bump up". If you are PP for smokeless, ignore my reply as I have zero experience casting or shooting cast bullets for "white powder".

My $.02 and all that.

[abunaitoo]

I remember someone using sulfur to remove contaminants from lead.
i don't know if it works for making it softer, but by taking out stuff, i would think it would get softer.

[DougGuy]

There is an excellent sticky on using pencils to detect hardness and they work quite well. You would need the exact pencil set referenced in the thread so your test results would be accurate. Here is the thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?75455-Testing-hardness-with-pencils

[Geezer in NH]

I would sell it and use the proceeds to buy pure.

Easy way to go.

[scottfire1957]

Doesn't matter the use, but, if you are paper patchng, what does it matter your hardness? Patching should be the solution to you "obturation" problems, yes?

Otherwise, to make a lead alloy softer, you add more pure lead. Simple, yes?