Any testing facilities?

[Iron River Red]

I would be interested in sending some bullets for a complete analysis to a lab somewhere to get an idea of my true alloy.

I have 1000lbs of alloy cast into 20lb ingots and am thinkiung about utilizing a service such as this on occasion when I work up a load of ingots.

Any suggestions? Any idea of the cost?

We use several labs where I work, but they are chemical analysis labs that support the rubber industry.

[felix]

Back in the old days it was about 600 bucks for a complete analysis. I never did do it because of this price. Like we used to say during the "hi-fi" craze back in the 50s-60s, "what you hear is not what you see". The same logic follows when shooting boolits. Carrying it even further, what about "seeing" different powder lots? ... felix

[carpetman]

Iron River Red---As Linstrum pointed out,all you need to do is weigh things underwater and do some Mathematical gyrations and then you have it. Heck,any problems in the calculations,just send the numbers to Waksupi and he'll zip em out for you. If you already have a pool,you could do as Felix does and use it for shooting the bullets into for recovery purposes. If you dont have a pool,make your reloading room water tight and fill it up and get some scuba gear and go to it. I would suspect it is hard to reload under water but would be simple as compared to casting underwater.

[4060MAY]

If you really have to know,
"The Art of Bullet Casting" from handloader mag. 1966-81
has an article with a chart to determine alloy of a cast bullet. using pure lead as a base point. page 65 ISBN 0-935632-08-5

good luck

[Iron River Red]

Approximately how far underwater should the test take place at?

Would you care to come over and give a hand?

Don't you have trouble maintaining temperature after you fill the room up?

[carpetman]

Iron River Red--Currently there are no restrictions on reloading and casting underwater so you could do it alone. Im sure when OSHA learns that folks are doing such a minimum of one lifeguard will be required. You ask how deep on the water? Well if you have 8 foot ceilings,I previously would have said no deeper than 8 feet,but recent revalations here have uncovered that liquids can indeed be compressed,so I'd take it on up to 9 maybe even 10 feet deep in your 8 foot room. Now go do your research in your underwater lab and report back with your findings. Do remember I was the first to tell you some folks will say you are all wet.

[Willbird]

well maybe, with the increased resistance to the bullet one could simulate extended range shooting, 10-15 feet would probably equal 1000 yards.

Fiberglass stocks would be all the rage if we shot underwater I'm sure, or maybe treated lumber ??

Bill

[Newboy]

If you look up "environmental lab" in the yellow pages, they can tell you what's in your sample. Probably use an atomic absorbtion spectrometer or a mass spectrometer.

If you have a friend that works at a power plant, they usually will have the equipment. Also, a lot of cities have the same stuff to test their water. Might do it for free.

[carpetman]

WillBird--Great idea--be sure and mount your scope backwards to give the appearance of long range.

[Willbird]

Also some Koi carp would simulate wind by moving the water around, shiner minows could simulate mirage.

Bill

[Iron River Red]

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

I'm disappointed in you guys...

You are leaving out the requirements for elevation.

If one is used to shooting up hill, there will have to be additional water. If its down hill, less.

Also, money could be saved by simply standing on one's head.

Of course you guys realize this means war...