Hard Boolits

[nueces5]

I was wrong with the ingot and I used one with a lot of linotype, I made about 150 boolits of 45 ACP that have been left in 20.9 BHN
I thought to use them with 5 grains of 231. Are they too hard for that load? Is it better to melt everything again?

[kir_kenix]

I would melt them down and blend them with some softer lead. Seems to be a waste of lino to me.
I've shot some .45 that hard experimenting with a s&w 1917 that had very shallow/washed out rifling. But I also have a pretty decent bullet trap so I'm able to recover most of my lead. 20 bhn is a good bit harder than necessary for .45 acp.

[Dusty Bannister]

Look at this as an unplanned research project. Load some and shoot them. You might find that accuracy is unexpectedly good. Then bag and identify them and put them on the shelf if you need them later. If they do not shoot well, then consider melting and casting with a softer blend. On the chance that they shoot well, next time use a less expensive alloy and heat treat and quench for hardness. Dusty

[tazman]

While 45acp doesn't normally need that hard an alloy, you are not going to hurt anything by shooting them with normal recommended powder charges.
The harder alloy doesn't make an appreciable difference in chamber pressure.

[stubshaft]

20.9 bhn is still a lot softer than J-words!

[country gent]

Set them aside and use them when a pot comes up a little soft to sweeten it up. a few on a slightly to soft alloy will sweeten it right up

[6bg6ga]

I was wrong with the ingot and I used one with a lot of linotype, I made about 150 boolits of 45 ACP that have been left in 20.9 BHN
I thought to use them with 5 grains of 231. Are they too hard for that load? Is it better to melt everything again?

I guess I have to ask how do you know they are 20.9 for hardness? Do you have a hardness tester? I've shot straight lead in my 45acp my 1911's without a problem. If they are really that hard I personally would melt them down and add some straight lead and come up with a hardness of about 7 or eight. There is really no sense in wasting them in the 45acp when the velocities are less than 1000fps.

[Hardcast]

When I was a very young man (in the 1970s), a bullseye shooter friend gave me a 25 pound ingot of linotype and asked me to cast him some round nose 230 gr bullets. Another friend loaned me a Lyman 452374 mold and I went to work. Cast a big pile of very pretty bullets. They were very hard and oversized. It was all but impossible to run them through my Lyman lubrisizer. I ended up remelting the bullets and mixing it with lead or WW. It was a rookie mistake but a lesson well learned.

[Lloyd Smale]

shoot a few. My bet is they outshoot any soft alloy you ever tried. Might be costly to do it for every day though. When I shot competitively I practiced with ww bullets and shot matches with known loads using linotype. Why? Because every single one of my comp guns were put together right. A good gun will about allways prefer a harder bullet. Its why we allways say it shot as good as a jacketed bullet. Like was said even mono stereo and foundry lead is much softer then copper.

[6bg6ga]

I'll disagree with you. My experience is the hardness generally results in a larger group. I've shot very hard bullets that were sized correctly and they always shot poorly for me. My softer bullets sized exactly the same have always resulted in tighter groups. Like I pointed out before the 45 acp isn't being shot at 1000fps so very hard bullets or bullets with gas checks aren't needed.

While I haven't owned expensive "comp" guns I have and do own some decent ones. In the past I have had very expensive barrels fitted to some of my 1911's the same barrels available in most of the comp guns. There have been slight differences in the rifling in the barrels. The differences in the rifling probably accounts for the possibility of them liking harder bullets or not. I can pick any of my 1911's and shoot with any Wilson or other "comp" guns any day of the week. Still will not buy into the idea that the increased hardness does necessarily result in better accuracy.

[Petander]

I was wrong with the ingot and I used one with a lot of linotype, I made about 150 boolits of 45 ACP that have been left in 20.9 BHN
I thought to use them with 5 grains of 231. Are they too hard for that load? Is it better to melt everything again?

I would shoot some and see what kind of accuracy they give.

Can you size them without major force? Here is one of my Ebay sizers.

[tazman]

If the boolits are too hard to size easily with your lubrisizer, first ruin them through a Lee push through sizer on your press. That way they will slide right into the lubrisizer and get lubed as you wish.

[nueces5]

Clarifying some doubts, I use Lee's hardness meter.
I do sizing with a sizer Lee, 451, and they were pretty tough
Today I made them PC, and in a couple weeks I'm going to shoot them, if they do not work, they melt again
I made about 130, there are not that many
Thanks to all

[megasupermagnum]

For such a small run of bullets, go ahead shot shoot time as is. They will work just fine.

[Walks]

MY DAD always cast any bullets for an auto-loader or M1917 Revolver out of Linotype.

They FED smoother and gave excellent accuracy. Either the #452374 or #68 FB. His PACHMYER worked 1911 would give him one hole groups at 25yds all day long. Rock Steady hands were a big help.

Those bullets were sized .452, an 8yr old kid could size them on an old Lyman #45 with very little effort.

[popper]

They will shoot fine but I'd just use to harden soft stuff. I've shot 36 BHN, works but no real advantage.