Soft, medium, hard, really hard?

[healey55]

robs.. thanks. I drop the bullets right from the mold. I mean by that.. right away. The sprues go in the water too.. I cut em right over the bucket and open and drop.

[theperfessor]

I know that it takes more typing on the part of a poster, but I appreciate it when the composition and processing method is included instead of just a BHN. I can quickly relate a statement such as "I'm using straight WWs air cooled" as it allows me to compare my materials and methods to those described. Just saying "my bullets are 15 BHN" is much less descriptive to people who don't have a hardness tester.

Normally I'm a big fan of quantifying properties numerically, but in this case I think a material and it's history is more important than the value of a specific property. And three or four descriptors of hardness based on sensible divisions of BHN would be equally useful and adequate for good communication.

[RobS]

I know that it takes more typing on the part of a poster, but I appreciate it when the composition and processing method is included instead of just a BHN. I can quickly relate a statement such as "I'm using straight WWs air cooled" as it allows me to compare my materials and methods to those described. Just saying "my bullets are 15 BHN" is much less descriptive to people who don't have a hardness tester.

Normally I'm a big fan of quantifying properties numerically, but in this case I think a material and it's history is more important than the value of a specific property. And three or four descriptors of hardness based on sensible divisions of BHN would be equally useful and adequate for good communication.

Very true and not to mention that alloy hardness can change over time as well. Let's say a person tests a bullet hours after casting, possibly not understanding the aging process of cast bullets with antimony etc, but shot such bullets two weeks later. In all I think clarity would show best if all possible info was put out front (known bullet alloy if applicable, if tested then the BHN, age of the bullets, so on and so forth) and yes...............it will be more to post, but a clear answer or evaluation can be determined with better accuracy when more precise descriptions are posted.

[Bret4207]

Both the last 2 posts cover part of the problem we're having- our terms aren't very accurate. Any other ideas on how to establish some sort of standard we can use that will work?

[healey55]

my posts are not accurate on hardness because.. I have no idea how hard my bullet are.. when I say that I water drop wheel weights it just means that I water drop wheel weights and they seem harder than ones not water dropped of commercial ones I have bought.

I do not claim to be an expert and am here to learn.

[Bret4207]

Well, that's okay by me. You've given your alloy source and how you treat it. The only thing left is do you consider your WQWW soft, medium, hard, really hard, etc. From what most here say WQWW would tend towards the hard to very hard end of things. As long as we all can agree on something along those lines we'll get a lot more information across.

[45 2.1]

Soft, medium, hard and kryptonite are all relative terms. You'll get noplace trying to describe them. What you really need to define is the hardness/toughness wanted for a specific use in a specific cartridge. Not much else is informative...................

[Bret4207]

I disagree Ken. As we stated in both posts we're looking for general range areas, relative values, to get the terminology at least in the same ballpark. No, we can't have what we'd like- an actual physical makeup of the alloy, but we can at least narrow things down a bit.

This is more for the noobs than the old salts who have a grasp of things. But since we have people that state 22 Bhn is medium.......