Hi-Tek and higher BHN

[kbstenberg]

I am hoping to start a conversation on the use of HI-Tek and ways to get higher BHN in your bullets. I have no experience so i am asking those that have done so. How they did it. And how much of an affect did it have. Besides what alloy did you start with.
I have some experience with with PC but very little with HT.
The reason for my asking is to use HT on my rifle bullets at close to the velocities as my jacketed and PC bullets. Kevin

[Grmps]

Alloy hardness will not affect the application of HiTek. HiTek is a stain so you can't size the boolits before your first coat of HiTek.

For hight BHN boolits you could use straight monotype Brinell 26
or superhard from rotometals Brinell 36

[popper]

5% Sb 2% Cu gives very high BHN, shoots good with HiTek, size right after casing and WD in ice water from cooking one hour, last cook. IMHO even PB will go 2700 in 308w. I did some in BO @ 2100.

[Stephen Cohen]

From the limited experiments I have conducted I have found that I can duplicate jacketed velocity in my 357 max of 158gr cast or Jacketed at velocity of 2400 fps, I have dropped that back to 2200 fps now just to be kind to the Martini action. I used clip on WW with a little tin added and coated twice with red copper Hi-Tek, barrel is 21'' 1 in 14 twist and slugged at 358 so I cast at 360 and they are plain base, I have loaded Lee 500gr GC cast to full velocity in my 458wm and found the recoil too much but accurate, I have settled on a warm 45/70 load with outstanding accuracy. I am not totally convinced we need harder alloy when using Hi-Tek but others may disagree. I really think fit and barrel twist play a bigger part. I used to water drop all my cast straight from the mould and also from the baking oven, I no longer water drop from the oven as tests show no gain in hardness. I should also mention that when I used Lino to cast for the 357 max accuracy suffered. I will be doing more tests in the new year now I have a lead sled for the 458 wm. Hope that gives some help Regards Stephen

[kbstenberg]

So Popper you baked the last coat of HT at 400 deg. for 1 hour without showing any negative affects to the coat?
BRMP i am interested in a higher BHN for hunting use rather than paper punching. So i wouldn't need BHN over say 12/14. Which can be reached with COWW and some sn added.

[Petander]

My latest 458 bullet batch was 18 BHN, using approx. 50 WW/25Pure/25Monotype. There is 12%antimony and 2,5% tin, got it XrF:d.

Triple coated with Hi-Tek TMG Gold it shoots clean in 45-70 @ 1950fps. I also loaded it in 458 Socom @1750 fps. I may be wasting monotype but this is nice to load and handle,cast another batch last night.

[popper]

K - coating is yellow brown when I finish but IF I get it applied correctly, works fine. I don't HT much rifle anymore, PC gives me the results I need at jacketed fps - MOA @ 200 for 165 gr 308W, PC H.T. alloy, chronyd 2400 fps - does 2700 from the 24" AR upper. I'm now just doing another experiment. It is a good product but PC is faster, easier for me - I tinker a lot so don't do large batches. The alloy I used in the H.T. high Cu test dented an ingot of superhard - don't know when you would need such hard stuff, just an experiment. My normal alloy is ~4% Sb with 0.5% Cu - AC or WD for appropriate BHN. Tested the alloy on a rock pile several years ago. 40sw 165 TC from 5' - IIRC 98% wt retention and a straight cylinder, 1/2 had a shorter length. LG was still there. Never recovered any from the 308, just dug a foot long trench in the rock pile - (30 rnds @ maybe 60 yds). One rnd did cut a 12ga steel wire in half - found the GC from that one, had a bent lip on both sides. Property owner had a pile of paving (smooth blue/black grape sized hard stuff - that was frozen) gravel next to the parking area that we used for a berm.
HiTek is good, just too much trouble for me. Present test is with a really soft alloy in 300BO pistol RD style 185gr HT coated pushed hard - to see if the HT really will make a difference vs PC. So far I can't make PC fail, that includes HF red!
My conclusion has been, Cu makes a BIG difference - My alloy will pencil through any animal on the planet.
I've been playing with a soft alloy, Zn/Cu/Pb in the 40sw & 30/30, accurate at close range and expands easily (30 in 45ish out on pig carcass gut only shot). LG disappears when keyholed through 3/4' fiber backer board. Those were sized too small- soft alloy doesn't spring back.
I've got a total of maybe 100# of Pb ingredients left- lifetime supply for me.

[fredj338]

I use ranges scrap that comes in around 10bhn. Coat & bake then final bake goes into ice water. I get a little bump in bhn to about 13-14.