bullet hardness over time

[catkiller45]

I have several big cast bullets I had cast about 2 years ago..
Upon checking the hardness with my Saceo tester,I noticed the
hardness has gone up...It was around 5 or so and now it is
about 9-10.......These were cast of 50 percent wheel weights
and 50 percent soft lead...Is this normal? Would bullets cast
of lead and tin do the same thing?

How much tin should one add to soft lead in order to make
an alloy of say 1 in 20.....is this 1 lb of tin to 20 lb of lead?
I was told it really is 1 to 19 lbs....I'M confused now....:(

[felix]

Yes, boolits stabilize TO the ROOM conditions over time from casting and/or tempering conditions. ... felix

[MakeMineA10mm]

I have several big cast bullets I had cast about 2 years ago..
Upon checking the hardness with my Saceo tester,I noticed the
hardness has gone up...It was around 5 or so and now it is
about 9-10.......These were cast of 50 percent wheel weights
and 50 percent soft lead...Is this normal? Would bullets cast
of lead and tin do the same thing?

How much tin should one add to soft lead in order to make
an alloy of say 1 in 20.....is this 1 lb of tin to 20 lb of lead?
I was told it really is 1 to 19 lbs....I'M confused now....:(

There is some confusion over the tin-lead alloy meanings. Some years ago, I had the same difficulty you are having, and did a lot of reading about it. I found that 1:20 means "1 to 20" in all the references I looked it up in. That means 1 part tin to 20 parts lead.

When people start saying 1 in 20 is where it gets confusing. I think they mean the standard old 1:20, but speak it 1 in 20, but who knows? Maybe they DO mean 1 in 20, which would mean to me: 1 part tin to 19 parts lead...

The difference by percent between these two ratios would be:

1 to 20: 95.238% lead and 4.762% tin
1 in 20: 95% lead and 5% tin

So, by ratios converted to percent, the 1 IN 20 seems to make more sense...

Ultimately, what it comes down to for me is to forget the old-fashioned, non-technical slang, and use percentages as best you can. Since our main raw material is WW, we don't really know what that is either, but we can get fairly close. (WWs typically average about 3% antimony, .5% tin, some trace elements, and the rest lead.)

[catkiller45]

whaooooo-------

[45 2.1]

Would bullets cast
of lead and tin do the same thing?...

Pure lead and tin alloys do not age harden. They should remain the same hardness.

[BulletGeek]

If the bullets were 50 percent WW, they should never have been 5 Brinnell in the first place. I would venture that your initial readings were in error, or maybe your alloy wasn't thoroughly mixed. Nine to ten Brinnell is about where they should be.

[catkiller45]

BULLETGEEK--------Your right,sorry for my mistake there with the numbers...:drinks: