lead hardness

[bigjake]

I thought I read somewhere awhile back that lead bullets can be too hard. I have some babbit that i've been casting gorgeous boolits and they leave almost 0 lead in my barrels, just a coloring which cleans right out with hoppes. the bullets will not scratch with my fingernail, not even a little. I've been thinking of trying to shoot some without any lube to see what happens.

[stubshaft]

Good luck. Pure lino cannot be dented by a fingernail and if shot without lube will turn a barrel into a sewer pipe in short order with most normal loads. I have cast boolits that were so hard they gave lousy accuracy and leaded the barrel due to lack of obturation.

[Bret4207]

There are a number of reason you can get an alloy that is "too hard" that contributes to poor performance. They can be so brittle they disintegrate on impact, they can fail to obturate if you are using that method for fit, they can be so high in antimony that they don't cast well, they can be "hard" because they contain a lot of copper, zinc or other component that require relatively exotic methods to use as boolits, probably some other reasons too.

Babbit can be great stuff, but it depends on what it is exactly. I forget the number but at one time there were hundreds of varieties of babbit and not all were very good for casting as boolits. It may work fine for you, but remember that all babbit depended on lube to prevent galling. You can try and see what happens, but chances are you will need some sort of lube for extended shooting sessions.

[williamwaco]

I thought I read somewhere awhile back that lead bullets can be too hard. I have some babbit that i've been casting gorgeous boolits and they leave almost 0 lead in my barrels, just a coloring which cleans right out with hoppes. the bullets will not scratch with my fingernail, not even a little. I've been thinking of trying to shoot some without any lube to see what happens.


Been there.

Done that.

Got the T shirt.

You do not want to try that.

Hard is hard. It is also harder to get out.


.

[MtGun44]

Most babbits are high tin, tin-lead alloy. However, some "high speed" babbits were alloyed
with significant amounts of copper for strength. I'm not sure if the copper containing ones
will cast all that well. The biggest reason to blend down that babbit is that it is likely to have
a huge percentage of tin, and only 2% tin or so is needed for good casting fill out. Tin is
expensive.

And, too hard can cause leading and poor accuracy if the boolit is too small.

OK, raise your hand if you have cast and scraped to fit connecting rod babbit bearings.

Bill

[waksupi]

I will trade you a small flat rate box of wheel weight ingots for the same in babbitt, or how ever much you have up to that amount. Copper content is a plus for my use.

[Katya Mullethov]

ll.

OK, raise your hand if you have cast and scraped to fit connecting rod babbit bearings.

Bill

After you drilled & tapped main journals for 1/4 brass screws to jig a half ton of sooted crankshaft & wheels to hold it "just so " ?

Present !

[Rusty W]

I used to work in the Industrial Refrigeration field back in the 90's. There is a compressor called a HDI (heavy duty industrial) made by a company named Frick Co. On some of the bigger machines the pistons used babbit poured around the skirt, between the oil rings & compression rings. It had to be sanded just so in order to fit the cylinder. The piston was from 12-18" diameter & 2-3' tall. Just a guess but they must've used 30lbs of babbit per piston. I've seen several 4x4 crates hauled to scrap. Wish I knew then what I know now.