pencil set to determine hardness of cast bullet

[rp85]

good morning;

anyone use a pencil set to determine how hard a cast bullet or alloy is? understand the results are close not an exact number but way better than my guess-ta-ment.

if so when you do check, first day when bullets cool or wait several days to check. thx. for any input.

rp

[oley55]

at least 48 hours, although I could test non-antimony alloys right away.

[414gates]

Two weeks after casting is about as hard as they going to get.

The pencils work well enough to give a good estimate of hardness.

[HWooldridge]

I prefer the Lee hardness tester as it seems to be more accurate but would use the pencils method if that was the only thing available.

I never work off percentages for final hardness and always check BHN with a tester - I find it more reliable over the long run.

[TerkyJerky]

Ive used the Mars Lumograph pencils to test lead hardness. Its a pretty close approximation of the hardness of an alloy. I used them to confirm a suspicion about some alloy i have from a melted down diving weight. I cast some .45cal conical bullets for use in a black powder pistol. Couldnt get the little ******** to load. I figured "of course a dive weight is pure lead. Why would anybody go through the trouble of alloying a weight?" not realizing that the person who cast it probably just used whatever scrap lead they could get their hands on. What I thought was pure lead turned out to be about BHN 10. Its a quick and dirty way to get useful and usable information about your alloy.