Lee Lead Hardness Tester

[Agabus]

Greetings everyone. I have recently started casting with a RanchDog .311 165 grain mold with gas checks. Marlin 336 in 30.30. I have used my Lee Hardness Tester to no avail on my alloy. It seems to register between .058 and .060 no matter what alloy I test. WW to Range lead.... even added quite a bit of Antimony to the mix.... no change. I even tested it on ingots that were from wheel weights....same thing. I test it on Antimony ingots and get same thing. In years past it worked ok...showed different readings on different lead. It has been boxed up and not damaged when not in use.

The bullets shoot okay... around 1550 FPS and group decently....(H335) very small amounts of leading noticable with an endoscope. Easily removed. I have hardened the mix to the point I feel it is way too hard... can't scratch it if I tried. A number 2HB pencil won't even leave a trace on it. But that tester will not budge its readings. I file a flat in the bullet as advised by Lee and am very careful when using the tester. Anybody else ever have this issue?

Thanks for any input.

[MrHarmless]

I haven't had the opportunity to test any other alloys than the one I currently cast with. I will be watching this thread eagerly.

[Eddie17]

Tested pure lead an lead reclaimed from range. Both measured in ranges I seen on line.

[retread]

I have not encountered what you are describing. I have used my lee tester for many years and found it to be quite accurate and reliable, especially for the price. From what you are describing it sounds like the point is solid for some reason and the spring is not being allower to do its job. Sock it in some penetrate for a while and then them " exercise" it a bit in your press ann some steel to break the point loose if is rusted in place.

[Agabus]

I have not encountered what you are describing. I have used my lee tester for many years and found it to be quite accurate and reliable, especially for the price. From what you are describing it sounds like the point is solid for some reason and the spring is not being allower to do its job. Sock it in some penetrate for a while and then them " exercise" it a bit in your press ann some steel to break the point loose if is rusted in place.
Good idea... will give it a shot and see what happens.... makes sense.

[Dusty Bannister]

I would suggest not using steel but lead as you do not want to damage the point.

[Agabus]

Checked the spring mechanism out and it is working fine. Nothing to see there. Thought that might just be the issue. I did test it tonight on a lead fishing sinker and it did read even larger at about .081. Retested several different alloys I have around the shop and they are all showing approx. .058 to .060. Even a bullet from Hunter's Supply purported to be BHN 15? Can't remember but I think that's what they advertise. .058 as usual. Go figure.

[Markopolo]

It must be your Technique somehow.. that little guy takes some getting used to and there is a bit of a learning curve.

https://youtu.be/P3MpHstha0s

There is a pretty good link for using it, and there are many others on YouTube to help ya out... keep us posted on your result after watching some of these...

Marko

[Conditor22]

search Lee hardness tester on this site and you will see several useful holders for the "microscope" this is the first key to accuracy.

I get best results when I file the surface smooth before I start.

You could double check your results by using the economical pencil hardness test.

[loiner1965]

use a digital caliper and a magnifying glass to measure the dent if you struggle with the lee scope

[Agabus]

It must be your Technique somehow.. that little guy takes some getting used to and there is a bit of a learning curve.

https://youtu.be/P3MpHstha0s

There is a pretty good link for using it, and there are many others on YouTube to help ya out... keep us posted on your result after watching some of these...

Marko

Video link was the key to my success! Thanks to all of the input.

The answer came at about 6:35 seconds when the guy read out his values for the .064 reading as being BHN of 12.5.

I had transcribed the data from the Lee printout from the web as I had lost the original instruction sheet showing the values for the hardness scale.

Of course I screwed that up and applied the BHN from column 2 into column 1. My original notes revealed that when testing the Antimony bar stock I had a reading of .042 which is a horse of a different reading. My face is red. From .055 and up my stock selection of range lead ingots and WW ingots now are reading a much more believable range and my world is now right side up. My current alloy is about 14. I can adjust from here easily.

Let the ragging begin...ha ha.:popcorn:

[sghart3578]

No ragging from me. You were man enough to own up. When forum members do that it is encouraging to all of us.

It shows a sense of humor that is sorely lacking in today's society.

We should start a thread where each of us recounts a screw up that lead to humor (not injury).

And I am glad that this thread didn't devolve into the common Lee bashing type threads.

I'm glad that you are back on track.


Steve in N CA

[OS OK]

heheheheheh . . . . You really had me going on this one. My brain is still smoking...

[Agabus]

Well, my mind was kinda fried as well in as much as the lead tester always worked before. If I hadn't lost my data sheet from Lee I suppose this would not have happened but when I did this thing the first thing I thought of was this forum. .060 = 8? I shoulda known. So I start out humbly and move forward.... Old minds slow down but never stop screwin up I always say. Thanks for all the kind words.

And yeah, I have more idiot moments over the years I could share.... but that's my portion for right now... lol

[Conditor22]

https://i.imgur.com/rAyxLRU.png

[OS OK]

And yeah, I have more idiot moments over the years I could share.... but that's my portion for right now... lol

Heheheheh...sometimes that 'moment' is the second my foot hits the floor in the morning...sometimes last all day too!
Idiot moments should be a good humorous read for a thread around this joint...you oughta start one.

[Conditor22]

I had one yesterday. just opened a new bottle of BB's and was pouring some into an ASBBDT container and dropped the open bottle of 5000 BBs on the floor [smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b::groner:

I'm not prone to swearing but my thought about how clumsy I was would have triggered the language censor.

I swept most of them up, sifted them through several different size wire mesh, put a mesh screen on top and blew out the remaining junk.

[Agabus]

I had one yesterday. just opened a new bottle of BB's and was pouring some into an ASBBDT container and dropped the open bottle of 5000 BBs on the floor [smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b::groner:

I'm not prone to swearing but my thought about how clumsy I was would have triggered the language censor.

I swept most of them up, sifted them through several different size wire mesh, put a mesh screen on top and blew out the remaining junk.

Dangit man! OUCH!:bigsmyl2:

[OS OK]

I had one yesterday. just opened a new bottle of BB's and was pouring some into an ASBBDT container and dropped the open bottle of 5000 BBs on the floor [smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b:[smilie=b::groner:

I'm not prone to swearing but my thought about how clumsy I was would have triggered the language censor.

I swept most of them up, sifted them through several different size wire mesh, put a mesh screen on top and blew out the remaining junk.

I suppose that you could look at it another way too?

As you bend over and pick the container up you could say..."Well, at least 8 of them stayed in the jar! Lucky day!"

OMG...I'd have to spend the entire day trying to get those lil buggers out from under all the equipment...I would'a had'a meltdown...vacuumed the entire batch and called it good as I headed out to buy another jar full.

[Markopolo]

Awesome.... Glad I could help.... I get another check”mark”.. lol

[RED BEAR]

I have found the lee to be very accurate.find it a lot easier to measure by scanning the hole into computer at scanners highest res and using photo program to measure. I use gimp (its free) but others will work fine.

[jonp]

Checked the spring mechanism out and it is working fine. Nothing to see there. Thought that might just be the issue. I did test it tonight on a lead fishing sinker and it did read even larger at about .081. Retested several different alloys I have around the shop and they are all showing approx. .058 to .060. Even a bullet from Hunter's Supply purported to be BHN 15? Can't remember but I think that's what they advertise. .058 as usual. Go figure.

all of my Hunters Supply comes in at 18 BHN. My lee tester seems to work fine at least, the figures are in line with what sources say they should be

[Abert Rim]

Useful thread. I was just thinking about buying one of the good old LBT testers, and never quite knew how the Lee actually worked.