Hard Boolits-9mm

[d_striker]

So my first couple batches of boolits are really hard. Snaggdit tested a few from each batch on his Lee tester and results around 20-24 bhn came in.

I have some 6 lb ingots that I was told was WW's. I alloyed one of these to 3 muffin tin ingots of close to pure lead. I water dropped these as well thinking that it would only harden them up a little bit. I was really surprised that the bhn ended up in the 20's.

I shot a trial run of 40 boolits over 3.5 grains of Bullseye. (My mold is a Lee TL 6 banger. Boolits were tumble lubed w/ Rooster Jacket lube.) I got very bad leading.

The size of these boolits are .358 dropped from the mold and around .357 after I load them, so size isn't an issue. I'm guessing the leading is from the bullets being so hard.

Should I shoot them or should I just melt them back down....I good portion of them are already lubed.

[Christian for Israel]

personally, i run water quenched WW 230gr .452 TC in my .45 and 158gr .358 SWC in my .357 and never have leading problems. i use lee's liquid alox lube and moly treat my barrels but i didn't have leading problems even before i started using the moly. maybe it's your lube.

[leftiye]

" around .357 when you load them". Does this include sizing them? If so, try shooting some as cast. A little bit larger might solve your problem. They are much harder than is needed.

[243winxb]

Make sure you alloy has 2 % tin content, and stop water dropping them. See if that fixes it. Good luck.

[glicerin]

I have a ruger 9mm P85 which slugs about .358. Some seating dies jam on a .358 bullet seated in neck, so I don't go larger than .357. Sometimes softer is better so bullet can bump up on firing. I have an oversize 7.62X25 Cz52 which leaded heavily until I tried .311 cast with 20-1 Pb-Tin. Good luck

[MtGun44]

I would suggest you try a known good lube like 50-50 Alox-beeswax.
Also, stop water dropping, no need to be that hard. If you haven't slugged your
barrel, you should. You have no idea where you need to be without this info,
you are just "assume" ing - and you know about "ASSUME". . . . ;-)

Bill

[d_striker]

I would suggest you try a known good lube like 50-50 Alox-beeswax.
Also, stop water dropping, no need to be that hard. If you haven't slugged your
barrel, you should. You have no idea where you need to be without this info,
you are just "assume" ing - and you know about "ASSUME". . . . ;-)

Bill

I have slugged both barrels that I shoot 9mm out of. Ruger P95 slugged at .354 and Sig slugged at .355. My understanding, from what I've read, is that anywhere from .001-.003" over barrel size is acceptable.

I have stopped water quenching my boolits. The question at hand is what do I do with the 700 boolits in question....Load them or melt them back down.

[TREERAT]

alow me to make a totally different sugestion. if you can, try a heavier recoil spring in your gun, so it will stay locked a milisecond longer. I beleive your slide is unlocking and starting back while bullet is entering throat and allowing gas cutting. changing recoil springs will place the preasure curve spike at a different place in barrel. it will be a balancing act to get reliable function plus stop the gas cutting.

[NuJudge]

If you have Quenched bullets and they are harder than you want, you can always anneal them. Pre-heat your wife's oven to some temperature well below the melting point, not knowing what percent Tin in your Lead, I would suggest no higher than 450F. Put the bullets on a Baking sheet your wife no longer wants. Put the baking sheet and bullets in the oven. Let it stay at temperature for an hour and then turn the heat off, cooling in the oven slowly.

If the bullets are not soft enough with the first effort, you can always try a higher temperature.

If the temperature is too high, the bullets will "slump."

[leftiye]

300 degrees is plenty. 450 is "fer shore" but maybe a tad high if your oven temp control is off any (may melt boolits).

[243winxb]

....Load them or melt them back down. Melt them and try to get your alloy close to Lyman #2. 50/50 -Wheel Weights and Pure lead is not a good combination, to soft and it has very little tin.

[HeavyMetal]

My first thought is your ingots are not WW!

20BHN is way to hard Lubed or not these are not going to work for as they are. If it's ally content, which I firmly believe, making the boolits this hard they may not soften by tempering plus you'll have to re lube.

I would use them as seed alloy. Start with pure lead and add a 100 boolits to the melt pour some samples and the check hardness.

Adjust blend until you get around 12BHN water dropped. This should work fine for that load in your 9.

[d_striker]

My first thought is your ingots are not WW!

.

This is what I thought as well.