Beaverhunter2
05-10-2008, 11:04 AM
I picked up some "bullet alloy" at the scrap yard yesterday. At least that's what the guy who sold it to my scrap dealer called it. It felt (thumbnail scratch test) fairly hard- definitely harder than my pure lead.
Since I don't have a hardness tester and don't have the money for one right now, I figured I'd try checking the weights of some boolits to determine how the new stuff compared to my WW+2% alloy. I casted ten good (although not "perfect) boolits from each of the three melts. Here's the results:
Boolit Weights (grains) Lee 457405 RNFP
Boolit Lead WW+2% BA
1 416.30 409.60 409.60
2 418.50 410.10 410.00
3 419.20 411.60 410.00
4 420.20 411.80 410.90
5 420.50 412.30 411.40
6 420.90 412.40 412.20
7 421.10 412.60 412.90
8 421.40 413.10 413.10
9 422.20 413.30 414.00
10 422.30 414.10 414.10
Average 420.26 412.09 411.82
% of Lead 100.00% 98.06% 97.99%
Spread 6.00 4.50 4.50
Spread % 1.43% 1.09% 1.09%
Average 420.50 412.15 411.81
- extremes
% of Lead 100.00% 98.01% 97.93%
Spread 3.70 3.20 4.00
Spread % 0.88% 0.78% 0.97%
It seems like the stuff is just a fuzz less dense than the WW+2% so it's probably comparable. Do you agree? I did have one more question: Is it common to have this much spread in CB weights? Even after dropping the extremes, I'm pushing 1% variance. Seems like a lot.
Any insight would be appreciated!
John
Since I don't have a hardness tester and don't have the money for one right now, I figured I'd try checking the weights of some boolits to determine how the new stuff compared to my WW+2% alloy. I casted ten good (although not "perfect) boolits from each of the three melts. Here's the results:
Boolit Weights (grains) Lee 457405 RNFP
Boolit Lead WW+2% BA
1 416.30 409.60 409.60
2 418.50 410.10 410.00
3 419.20 411.60 410.00
4 420.20 411.80 410.90
5 420.50 412.30 411.40
6 420.90 412.40 412.20
7 421.10 412.60 412.90
8 421.40 413.10 413.10
9 422.20 413.30 414.00
10 422.30 414.10 414.10
Average 420.26 412.09 411.82
% of Lead 100.00% 98.06% 97.99%
Spread 6.00 4.50 4.50
Spread % 1.43% 1.09% 1.09%
Average 420.50 412.15 411.81
- extremes
% of Lead 100.00% 98.01% 97.93%
Spread 3.70 3.20 4.00
Spread % 0.88% 0.78% 0.97%
It seems like the stuff is just a fuzz less dense than the WW+2% so it's probably comparable. Do you agree? I did have one more question: Is it common to have this much spread in CB weights? Even after dropping the extremes, I'm pushing 1% variance. Seems like a lot.
Any insight would be appreciated!
John