Alloy hardness question

[Tn Jim]

Now for my next possibly goofy question of the day. I'm currently casting for a 45 ACP 200 swc, 230 TC and a 44 mag 429421 swc and a Lee gas checked 240 swc. The 45's are range loads and the 44's are general purpose woods carry loads. Now the question...If i alloy 7 lbs of COWW and 1 lb of lino, then take 1 lb of that and add to 7 lbs of COWW I'd have about 1/2lb of lino to 14 lbs of WW. What would the ballpark BHN be and how well would that work as a do all alloy for what I'm casting? Too hard or not hard enough? Thanks guys.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

If i alloy 7 lbs of COWW and 1 lb of lino, then take 1 lb of that and add to 7 lbs of COWW I'd have about 1/2lb of lino to 14 lbs of WW.

<<<SNIP
either you've typed some confusing words, or you are bad at math.
your 8 lbs of alloy would have 0.143 lbs of lino to 7.857 lbs of COWW,
Bhn would be about 1 point higher than your COWW.

[Rickf1985]

I have absolutely no idea what it is you are trying to make but it will be much harder than what you need! Especially for the 45acp which only needs 8-9 BHN. Straight wheel weights would be fine for the 44.

[Rickf1985]

You beat me to it Jon, I did not sit down and do the figures.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You beat me to it Jon, I did not sit down and do the figures.

I did it in my head ;)

[Cast_outlaw]

If coww is not hard enough for you water drop them from the mold into ice water I measured mine at 29.9bnh

[Rickf1985]

I did it in my head ;)

I just came in, I have been out in the 20 degree garage melting wheel weights into ingots all day. My brain is frozen, along with the rest of me.

[Rickf1985]

I also put this on your other thread, Here is a link to the alloy calculator. It takes a little bit to get used to using it but once you get it figured out it works pretty well.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I just came in, I have been out in the 20 degree garage melting wheel weights into ingots all day. My brain is frozen, along with the rest of me.

I can top that ;)
I'm in MN.
I was at the range this morning, 14º, cloudy, and breezy.
First time I used gloves to shoot revolver.

[Tn Jim]

I've got roughly 50 pounds of the 7-1 that I need to use up. I was using it to cast the GC'ed boolit I mentioned earlier for a Henry 44 I no longer own. I figured it was too hard for a 45 because I've always used WW for them. I was afraid it's also a little hard even for my 44. And as you can probably tell math was never my strong suit.

[Rickf1985]

Well, According to the calculator the 7 wheel weights and 1 lino will give you 12.7:1. I am not going to say that is too hard but it is harder than what you need. Now, if you mixed that with 10 lbs. of pure lead you would get 10.4:1 which is closer to what you are looking for and you would have substantially more usable lead for bullets.

[Huskerguy]

Use the calculator, it is very helpful. What is your target BHN? Save your hard stuff, no sense in overdoing it, thr lino and harder lead will always be in low supply and high demand. I am one who thinks some worry about hardness too much. That's me..

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've got roughly 50 pounds of the 7-1 that I need to use up. I was using it to cast the GC'ed boolit I mentioned earlier for a Henry 44 I no longer own. I figured it was too hard for a 45 because I've always used WW for them. I was afraid it's also a little hard even for my 44. And as you can probably tell math was never my strong suit.

If you have some Pure or near pure, I'd mix it 50-50 with your 7-1 for use in 45acp.
But if you don't have any Pure, then use the 7-1 as is. It's not that big of a deal. The only real issue with shooting an alloy that is too hard to obturate, is if your boolit is undersized, you likely get Lead fouling.