BHN's how close

[lastborn]

First off, I like the alloy calculator provided here on this site.I would like to here from those of you that use it to mix your alloy's. Does the bhn of your boolits match the estimated bhn of the calculator? How close? I am getting ready to mix a 100 lb. batch and want to know how close it is. I have used it before and find the smaller the boolit, the higher the bhn with the same mix. I contribute this to the smaller boolit cooling faster. Is this correct? For example Lee 113 comes out harder than NOE 460350.
thanks

[runfiverun]

yep,you see it more when you water drop too.
you are cooling more of the whole boolit faster which is where the hardening comes from.
i sometimes wonder if water dropping a 45/70 boolit even has any affect except to heat up the water.
i have pulled them out of the bucket and had them still warm.
but the quick temp drop does bump their bhn up.

[sqlbullet]

As runfiverun says, hardness is all about cooling time in any alloy containing a grain refining agent like antimony.

If you want to test the absolute BHN of the lead, you have to heat the slugs to just below slump in an oven for one hour, then let them cool in place. Once the oven has returned to room temp (without accelerating the process by opening the door, etc) the bullets will be at their actual BHN for the alloy.

Air cooled bullets from the mold still cool quickly enough to have some small amount of hardening. As you have seen, the mass of the bullet, as well as the shape, contribute to how quickly it loses heat in the air.

[captaint]

lastborn - Just a suggestion... You may want to mix your alloys in smaller batches. Record what you mix. If you DON'T like it, no big deal. You don't have that much mixed up. Also, testing BHN on boolits is sometimes iffy. I seem to get more consistent readings on ingots, etc. Just my .02
Mike