Bullet hardness vs ingot hardness

[901S]

Howdy, I'm very new to casting. A couple of years ago I cast a bunch of Lee slugs. It was fun, so I decided to try casting bullets. This past fall I bought a Lee .45 230gn 6 cavity tumble lube mold. Using a Lyman Mag 25 I cast a bit less than 100. They have been sitting since the fall.

Last week I purchased a Lee Lead Hardness Tester. It is fairly simple to use. Followed the directions about filing off some lead and the rest of the directions. I tested commercial .45 bullets I purchased about 5 years ago, two ingots from wheel weights I smelted last fall, and a few of the .45 bullets I cast last fall.

The commercial bullets BHN is somewhere around 17. The ingots were about 17 or 18. But......

The .45 bullets I cast from the same lead as the ingots were around 27 BHN.

I tried all of this two days in a row and came up with the same results.

The only difference between the ingots and the bullets is when I made the bullets I water quenched them.

Does it make sense that the water quenched bullets are 10 BHN higher than the ingots?

TIA

[nueces5]

Hi, I did it for a test and it gave me a similar result. I want you to know that I have been doing my boolits for a few months, so I do not have much experience, but I have done that test and the same thing happened to me

[Froogal]

Test those .45s again in a month, and then again in another month. Most likely you will not get the same results.

[ioon44]

Using a different brand of hardness tester will give you different results also.

[RED BEAR]

Were the bullets air dropped or water dropped? That sounds like the hardness i get when i water drop wheel weights. I also use the lee tester but i have a hard time using the microscope i just scan onto computer using scanners highest resolution and use a free program gimp to measure the dent. Its a lot easier. If you try dropping bullets on a old towel folded up i think the hardness will be closer to what you want.

[Froogal]

Were the bullets air dropped or water dropped? That sounds like the hardness i get when i water drop wheel weights. I also use the lee tester but i have a hard time using the microscope i just scan onto computer using scanners highest resolution and use a free program gimp to measure the dent. Its a lot easier. If you try dropping bullets on a old towel folded up i think the hardness will be closer to what you want.

I drop mine onto a water soaked, folded up tee shirt. Hot bullets tend to burn holes otherwise.

[901S]

Were the bullets air dropped or water dropped? That sounds like the hardness i get when i water drop wheel weights. I also use the lee tester but i have a hard time using the microscope i just scan onto computer using scanners highest resolution and use a free program gimp to measure the dent. Its a lot easier. If you try dropping bullets on a old towel folded up i think the hardness will be closer to what you want.


They were dropped into water.

I was surprised that dropping them into water would harden them 10 BHN, but according to some replies that appears to be normal.

The Lee tester is fine for the rare use it will get by me. I don't plan to do this often. I just wanted an idea what hardness my cast bullets were.

I will try casting without the water quench and see if they are the same hardness as my ingots.

Thanks

[Edward]

They were dropped into water.

I was surprised that dropping them into water would harden them 10 BHN, but according to some replies that appears to be normal.

The Lee tester is fine for the rare use it will get by me. I don't plan to do this often. I just wanted an idea what hardness my cast bullets were.

I will try casting without the water quench and see if they are the same hardness as my ingots.

Thanks

I use my Lee tester (a lot)every time I cast and I cast a lot anytime it"s over 35 degrees ! Air cool drop on a towel and you get a bench mark,next hang a towel with a slit in a half full 5gal bucket the slit in the water and you get the difference (consistently) . After getting used to using the Lee tester it becomes routine and necessary for good boolits . Which tester is better I don"t know that it matters as long as you have the benchmark to measure against / Ed

[RED BEAR]

Yep 27 bhn sounds about right for water dropped ww. Fold up a old towel to give a good cushion no need to wet it and your hardness should drop to somewhere around 15 if i remember right. I used to water drop everything but quickly found out you really don't need them that hard. Happy casting.

[Edward]

Yep 27 bhn sounds about right for water dropped ww. Fold up a old towel to give a good cushion no need to wet it and your hardness should drop to somewhere around 15 if i remember right. I used to water drop everything but quickly found out you really don't need them that hard. Happy casting.

W/W will run 12-13 BHN If you need harder ( for faster) the water is mandatory as described/ Ed

[901S]

Based on looking at the Lee Precision hardness document that came with the tester it looks like the hard bullets (water quenched 27 BHN) can be used for higher pressure loads.

That has me thinking of buying a Lee mold to make 125 and/or 158 grain 357 bullets for 357 magnum. I had avoided looking into it thinking I would have to deal with gas checks.

[fredj338]

Howdy, I'm very new to casting. A couple of years ago I cast a bunch of Lee slugs. It was fun, so I decided to try casting bullets. This past fall I bought a Lee .45 230gn 6 cavity tumble lube mold. Using a Lyman Mag 25 I cast a bit less than 100. They have been sitting since the fall.

Last week I purchased a Lee Lead Hardness Tester. It is fairly simple to use. Followed the directions about filing off some lead and the rest of the directions. I tested commercial .45 bullets I purchased about 5 years ago, two ingots from wheel weights I smelted last fall, and a few of the .45 bullets I cast last fall.

The commercial bullets BHN is somewhere around 17. The ingots were about 17 or 18. But......

The .45 bullets I cast from the same lead as the ingots were around 27 BHN.

I tried all of this two days in a row and came up with the same results.

The only difference between the ingots and the bullets is when I made the bullets I water quenched them.

Does it make sense that the water quenched bullets are 10 BHN higher than the ingots?

TIA

Uh, yes. Depending on the alloy composition, that is right where they should.

[fredj338]

Based on looking at the Lee Precision hardness document that came with the tester it looks like the hard bullets (water quenched 27 BHN) can be used for higher pressure loads.

That has me thinking of buying a Lee mold to make 125 and/or 158 grain 357 bullets for 357 magnum. I had avoided looking into it thinking I would have to deal with gas checks.
I have had most of the gc taken off my pistol molds, no real need, even for magnum revolvers. Harder alloy, good lube, right fit, no leading to 1500fps.