BHN Of Lead Shot

[Rockchucker]

I was given 30lbs of 71/2 lead shot and was wondering what the hardness of it was, thinking I could use it with other lead I have. Any help here would be appreciated, I have ww, pure, and some linotype That I could mix up a decent alloy for 38's, 45's, 9mm's and 380's, and maybe some 44's without gas checks.

[bumpo628]

I read somewhere that the Bhn of Magnum shot is about 13.

Here are some options that will be close to WWs:
2 oz Pure Tin + 10 lbs Pure Lead + 10 lbs Magnum Shot = alloy with 0.6% tin, 3% antimony, 0.6% arsenic

4 lbs Linotype + 16 lbs Pure Lead + 4 lbs Magnum Shot = alloy with 0.67% tin, 3% antimony, 0.2% arsenic

[Rockchucker]

Thanks bumpo628, That will help me a lot, sure appreciate it. That will give me something to work with. It's only 30 lbs but every little bit helps, especially now that lead seems be getting harder to find.

[beagle]

Don't know the BHN but if it's chilled, it will have a pretty high antimony content which if you melt pure shot will show up as a frothy looking mess on top as well as black graphite powder.

The frothy looking mess should be skimmed off and saved for future hardening of pure lead as it's antimony allowed with lead.

I had a sack full of odd shot once and I used it with pure lead on a ratio of about a cup per pot with a little tin. Made a darn fine pistol alloy.

At the price of shot these days, it's too valuable and you might get a better trade with someone to reload shotshells./beagle

[John Boy]

Bhn of chilled shot ...
http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=1613277&postcount=4

[onesonek]

Kind of seems hardness/antimony content of shot can vary whether it be chiiled or mag shot. You don't mention which kind you have??
Now I have read that Chilled runs anywhere from 1.5 - 3% SB, and Mag runs 4 - 6% SB.
Now I have some Mag shot here that is showing BHN 14+, (ingot form). If that, it might be a bit hard for low pressure rounds.

[John Boy]

Here's the aging of the 50 lbs of #2 Remington CH (Chilled Hard) shot, measured on the ingots using the Lee Hardness Tester:

* Bhn 8.2 (2/28/12)
* Bhn 9.8 (2/29/12)
* Bhn 8.7 (3/9/12)
* Bhn 9.4 (3/10/12)
* Bhn 11.8 (3/19/12) = 1:10 (where 1:10 = Bhn 11.5)
Total days - 21 days = 3 weeks

Tensile strength = BHN x 480
Best bullet performance is usually at pressures between 3 and 4 times Tensile strength
For these ingots @ 11.8:
3x = 16,992 psi
4x =22,656 psi

[excess650]

One thing to remember when using shot is that it contains arsenic. The purpose of the arsenic is to help the shot become spherical when dropped. Too much arsenic (shot)in your mix may yield boolits that don't want to fill out completely, IE, rounded edges.

A benefit of a small amount of arsenic is that it aids in precipitate hardening. Lead, antimony, tin with a trace of arsenic will precipitate harden. In the case of air-cooled alloy it may take up to 4 weeks, but water dropped may reach peak hardness in less than a week.

[popper]

From what I can find (read), Sn/Pb will harden and then softer(long term-due to dendriting). As, S combine with Sb to provide hardening very quickly, when quenched(WD), otherwise don't add much to hardening. The 'grain-refining' stage occurs in a temperature 'window' around the 'slush' temp and must be 'frozen' by rapid heat extraction. The chilled coolant extracts as much heat as practical from all the volume of lead in a short period of time.

[runfiverun]

hhhhhhhhhmmmmn..
nevermind that tensile strength/pressure junk.

arsenic is also a grain modifier and reacts with antimony making it possible to heat treat.
and the aircooled reaches hardness in about 10-12 days.
and the waterdropped takes the 3 weeks to level out to hardening slowly enough that you don't see much more.

dendrites are the formation of antimony on the surface of your boolits they are shaped like little j's and are the reason why a sized boolit changes colors from grey to shiney on the sized spots.
and the reason antimonial wash forms in your guns bbl.
it's also the reason why a properly fit boolit will shine your bbl, and clean out old fouling.