JohnH
10-07-2005, 12:32 AM
I got one of Buckshots hardness testers, and have been testing everything in the house. With a bit of help from David R to figure the math out needed to interpret that indent, I'm off and running. The 20:1 I made up is closer to 30:1 at 8 BHN, the 20:1 I ahd made up when I purchased my 38-55 is 12 BHN. I used 20 pounds of lead and 1 pound of the lead free solder that is 95/5 tin/antimony. Will that percentage of antimony add up to 2 BHN???? The lead was from telephone cable and sheathing. My WW is running at 13 BHN, while the only water chilled samples I have are 38 BHN. I made these in April, the Lee 379-250-RF. I touched the sprue plate to a wet rag as soon as the pour was done (from a bottom pour Lee pot) and dropped the bullet into water as well on opening. I had sent some bullet samples to Bass Ackward some time back, he tested them at 21 BHN, the ingots test at 23 BHN today. Some 1 to 1 lead/lino I made is 18 BHN while 1 to 1 lead and WW is at 8 BHN. I am driving the 8 BHN I made up thinking it was 20:1 but measures at 8 BHN (not 10 BHN as it should for 20:1) at 1600 fps from my 357 Max. using 21.5 grains of 4198. It don't lead either. Gonna go hunting with that load as shots here are measured in feet not yards. Oughtta make a really good whitetail thumper.
I tested quite a few bullets of the water dropped Lee 379-250-RF. The indents are within .005" and the math says 38 BHN. Seems awfully high to me, but I can already tell that the hardness tester is going to open up a whole new world of casting to me. Thanks Buckshot, and Thanks to you as well David. Once again CastBoolits has raised my casting to another level. How did I get along without this for so long????
JohnH
I tested quite a few bullets of the water dropped Lee 379-250-RF. The indents are within .005" and the math says 38 BHN. Seems awfully high to me, but I can already tell that the hardness tester is going to open up a whole new world of casting to me. Thanks Buckshot, and Thanks to you as well David. Once again CastBoolits has raised my casting to another level. How did I get along without this for so long????
JohnH