Is a hardness tester a must?

[elginrunner]

I'm still in the gathering stages of equipment, and have yet to cast a single boolit. How important is a hardness tester? Should it be on my buy list before I send one of my projectiles down range??

[Bullshop]

To answer a question with a question - how many buffalo hunters had hardness testers?

[btroj]

I managed to shoot cast bullets for almost 30 years without one. You tell me?

It MAY allow you to have more consistent results. It will NOT make you a better caster, loader, or shooter.

A tester is just another bit of equipment. It isn't the end all, be all. It isn't required by any stretch.

If just starting out I would say wait to buy a tester. Cast, load, shoot. That will teach way more than a tester will.

A tester can lead you into being too tied to BHn, a bad thing in my opinion.

[MtGun44]

NO. It is SOMETIMES useful, and people worry about BHN a LOT more than is necessary.

Bill

[runfiverun]

if you have to blend a bunch of different alloys and want something about the same all the time,or get a bunch of unknown alloy's and want a clue it's real handy.

[Catshooter]

As usual, runfiverun nails it. They have their uses, and can help when trying to sort out issues, but you don't have to have one.


Cat

[Raven_Darkcloud]

Nope again she lied, it is the size that matters. A good fit is first.

[cwheel]

When I was about 10 got to join my grandfather for my first casting. We started the propane furnace and started throwing scrap lead into a big cast iron pot. After melting and mixing it, we cast some 158gr. semi wadcutter bullets and weighed them. Lyman #2 should have yealded a 158 gr. slug, but it came out heavy. Grandfather mixed in more lead of a different density until our casting yealded about a 157 gr. slug adv. He went on to say that within 2 gr. we would call it good enough. No way of knowing the alloy of the scrap we were using, his way was to get close to the same weight out of the casted round as Lyman#2 would have yealded. Once we got the right alloy ( or the alloy that would produce the right weight ) he took 2 bullets over to a vise with a big hammer. He gave the bullets a good wack on the nose and looked at the now deformed bullet. What he was looking for was that the bullet heald together, did not split or crack. He had saved several from the first castings as we were mixing and gave them the same wack with the hammer, and sure enough the ones that came out lite cracked and split with the same blow. Does hardness matter, not sure, but we never did have any leading out of the many batches we mixed,cast, loaded, and fired using this method. Never used anything other than scrap lead, no way of knowing the content. The other thing not mentioned is we used burned out nickel babit to adjust the weight, or density, of the mix. High nickel content I'm sure added to the hardness of the mix. Some blends hit the weight of the mold first try, we used with great results as well. I'm convinced that the weight of the bullet, and holding that weight batch to batch means much more than hardnes when it comes to the same point of impact with a given powder charge. I think shooting for a given hardness and forgetting about the weight causes different pressures in the round and changes the point of impact batch to batch, than the hardness of the bullet. Just a opinion.
Chris

[1Shirt]

Agree wotj BTroj. Nice to have for an experianced caster who has everything else, but about as necessary to an inexperianced caster as hemoriods.
1Shirt!

[texassako]

I use the pencil test: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...s-with-pencils
I have a lot of mystery lead, but at least the pencils let me segregate ingots by hardness.

[elginrunner]

Thanks for the replys, it gives me something to think about. Oh look 25 post

[Kull]

Great info. I'm just starting out casting and have wondered the same thing. The pencil test thread is great.

[Bigslug]

A must? Probably not, but I wouldn't want to be without one.

Loading ammo involves a lot of variables. Loading GOOD ammo involves controlling those variables. Between the wheel weights, range scrap, reclaimed shot, X-ray shielding, boat keels, organ pipes, antique plumbing, solder, lamp bases, dive weights, and fishing sinkers that we try to scrounge, it is easy to find yourself asking "whadahellisthistuff???" A hardness tester is one of those gizmos with the potential to pay for itself in terms of time NOT spent sorting that out.

[220swiftfn]

To answer a question with a question - how many buffalo hunters had hardness testers?

To ask a question of your answering question (I thunk I got that a'right.....)
How many buffalo hunters had linotype, or wheel weights, or babbit, or.............. They had lead, good, soft lead (maybe a pinch of tin)...... Not too much figurin' to do there......

To the OP, there are plenty of casters that don't have a tester, and don't see any reason to get one either. The FIT is more important than the hardness, but if you are curious, there's no reason to NOT get a tester either, just don't get too wrapped up in the minutae.... Besides, a tester can be as simple as a ball bearing, a vise, an unknown ingot, and a pure lead ingot.


Dan

[220swiftfn]

Agree wotj BTroj. Nice to have for an experianced caster who has everything else, but about as necessary to an inexperianced caster as hemoriods.
1Shirt!

But they do keep you from sitting down on the job.......


Dan

[s1120]

I use the pencil test: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...s-with-pencils
I have a lot of mystery lead, but at least the pencils let me segregate ingots by hardness.

I read that thread the other day. What a great thread! Im also a newbee.. well a pre newbee.. But I have a lot of lead that my dad smelted years ago. Not knowing what it was smelted from, that pencil test will give me a way to pick the harder alloys from the softer.

[wingnut49b]

Fit is the most important, and some calibers are easier naturally. My 45 ACP 1911 just doesn't give me problems. Even still, I wouldn't get one to start.

When I could find wheel weights, I didn't worry about it. Now that I'm working on rifles and using range scrap, I bought a Cabine-Tree tester.

Just get started the easy way. Buy good equipment, but don't buy more pieces than you absolutely need.

You'll have it all in the end if you like casting. Ever see a guy on a board like this that didn't hoard when they could??

[cbrick]

Is a hardness tester a must?

This has been answered pretty well already but the short answer is no, not a must. You can get hung up on too many little details as a new caster. Follow the advice given here on alloys and start shooting. As you gain more experience and a wider variety of differing alloys it can be a very handy tool to keep a known good shooting load shooting well or help solve a problem should a problem develop. My advice to a new caster would be to buy a new mold before a BHN tester, it'll give you a new boolit style to experiment with and that will teach you more.

Rick

[WILCO]

How important is a hardness tester? Should it be on my buy list before I send one of my projectiles down range??

I started without one. Shooting without one is like feeling around in the dark. Get one as you progress.

[arkypete]

In answer to your question. No!

Jim