I mixed up a batch of 80/20 and added 12% pewter by accident(was planning on trying 6%) on 5/18/18. I tested the alloy with my Lee tester a few days after I casted it. The boolit had BH at 13.4.
Since I had good luck with the above alloy I mixed up another batch of 30 lbs of it a few days ago and made some test boolits to check BH. The first one measured .6 twice which was a little hard. I then grabbed another test boolit that measured 6.2 and 6.3 which is right on the money at 13.4.
Here's where it got interesting...I then tested the same boolit I made on 5/18/18 that still had the original dimple it that measured 13.4 BH. I made two more separate dimples in it. Both the dimples measured 7.0 which means the BH dropped to 10.4!
I thought it took a lot longer to age soften like over a year to years?
My mix consists of 80% ACCOWW, 20% lead flooring which tested at 5 BH, and I added 12% pewter to the total weight. I just tested these boolits a few weeks ago and had some great results with expansion. Guess I'll have to let my boolits sit for a couple months with this alloy before using them to hunt with. After testing different BH's a few weeks ago I already know my boolitss are not going to group the same with the harder alloy. I'm just going to have to wait till it settles.
Why did the BH drop 3 points in 2 months?