Can someone explain what "Hardball" alloy is? Where did this term originate?
I am used to the military 230gr jacketed ammo being referred to as "hardball" but am not familiar with "hardball" lead alloy.
Thanks.
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Can someone explain what "Hardball" alloy is? Where did this term originate?
I am used to the military 230gr jacketed ammo being referred to as "hardball" but am not familiar with "hardball" lead alloy.
Thanks.
Commercial "hardball" alloy used by the large commercial bullet casters is 92% lead, 6% antimony and 2% tin, aboutc16 Bhn, which works well in the Magma automatic casting machines and produces a well filled out, hard bullet which can stand rough handling in shipment. Much harder than needed for most purposes and prone to heavy leading if bullet is undersized. I prefer 50-50 Wheelweights and soft plumbers lead with 2% tin added, about 10-11'Bhn. Far superior for general use
Thanks for the explanation and links. Much appreciated.
Side note, a 50-50 alloy of linotype (84-12-4) with pure lead (100-0-0) gets you what is called hardball. Numbers are (lead-antimony-tin).
It sure works well in .45 Colt bullets, when pushed over 1000 f/s. In .45 ACP, the Lyman #2 alloy seems to shoot tighter (for me), when bullet shapes are identical, but I have to having a very good day, to tell the difference.
SOWW and Hardball for me. Yields 11.3 BHN. I can find lots of SOWW locally.
Used in 9mm Glocks and 10mm Glock/Carbine at 1600fps. Powder Coated and No leading at all.