#2 Alloy

[Johnw...ski]

How hard is # 2 alloy?

John

[Tom Herman]

BHN 15, Saeco 8-9.


How hard is # 2 alloy?

John

[John Boy]

Lyman #2 has a Bhn of 15

[HeavyMetal]

According to a test down in Handloader Mag. Lead is 4.2 BHN, wheel weights are 14.0 BHN and Lyman # 2 is 15.0 BHN Author for the article is Dave Scovill.

In the same article he also lists Heat treated wheel weights at 34.0 BHN ( if the have a substantial amount of antimony in them) and 7.5 BHN for a batch of wheel weights with no antimony, heat treating changed nothing in this batch of alloy.

Linotype was21.5 BHN stereotype was 25.0 BHN and Monotype was 28.0 BHN.

Hope this info helps out. Info from Handloaders Bullet Making annual II.

[John Boy]

John - put this link in your references in case you have insomnia some night :coffee: Ya never know - 64 million folks have it! :wink:
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm.

[Ricochet]

Anybody tried quenching #2?

(Not what I plan to do in the morning, and no floaters, I'm just talking about sinkers.)

[runfiverun]

i have never seen anything on w q #2.
but i am interested in what it would be.
my saeco tester stops at 10. it does test pure and ww's accurately but anything hard
like 15 plus bhn is just a guess.

[grumpy one]

Anybody tried quenching #2?

(Not what I plan to do in the morning, and no floaters, I'm just talking about sinkers.)

If you check the "Toughness of Lead-tin-antimony Alloys" sticky, you'll see I did a full range of heat-treatments on 4/4 and 6/6 alloys, going all the way from air cooled to maximum quench. I didn't test 5/5 (which is Lyman #2) but it will be just halfway between them, on the graphs.

In other words, since 4/4 was 14.5 BHN air cooled and 23.3 with maximum quench, while 6/6 was 17.8 air cooled and 22.2 with maximum quench, 5/5 would be approximately 16.1 air cooled and 22.8 with maximum quench. Note that in this range, in my tests maximum hardness decreased with increasing antimony content. I hope to gather some more evidence on that subject eventually.

[Ricochet]

That is interesting! Thanks!

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive found that using the old traditional mixes for #2 that you end up at around 14. I think our wws these days are a tad softer then those of old.

[warf73]

I agree with Lloyd on that one, I check around 25lbs of ingots with my tree tester and most of them ran around 12~13brn.

[DAFzipper]

i have never seen anything on w q #2.
but i am interested in what it would be.
my saeco tester stops at 10. it does test pure and ww's accurately but anything hard
like 15 plus bhn is just a guess.

My SAECO tester reads over 10. The instructions say if 2 marks on the bottom scale are to left of fist mark on top scale you add 10 to the reading. It works for me.

[runfiverun]

so you add ten to the tenscale bhn reading?
like if it reads three you add three to what the ten would be [21] ?

or if it reads 3 like bhn [8] you add ten to that for an 18 total?

[leftiye]

R5R, If your Saeco shows a number less than 5 and the scale centerline is above the centerline on the reference scale (the other half - so you know it isn't just reading 3) add 10 to the reading =13 = the Saeco number. Then convert to BHN. Probly (a guess) about BHN 30 maybe.

[runfiverun]

o.k. you just keep going 10-11-12-13 then try to convert to bhn..
i'm just gonna save up and buy a lee [never thought i would have to say that ever]

[warf73]

o.k. you just keep going 10-11-12-13 then try to convert to bhn..
i'm just gonna save up and buy a lee [never thought i would have to say that ever]

For just a few $$$$ get a Cabine Tree, http://www.castingstuff.com/cabinetree_llc___lead_testers.htm

I can't say enough about the quality of this tester.

Lee tester $45.00 plus shipping

Cabine Tree $105.00 to the front door.

All I can say is I’m very happy I waited till the cash was there to get my tree.

Warf