General Rule for Lead Hardness

[CajunRebel]

Can some one tell me or point me to the info which lists a general rule for mixing the proper lead hardness, e.g., 8-10 Brinnel of handguns 600-800fps, 10-12 for rifles 1000-1400fps? I want to start casting both handgun (9mm/.357mag) and rifle (22Hornet /.32-40) Thanks

[randyrat]

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm Sorry i'm short on words this morning

[Bass Ackward]

Can some one tell me or point me to the info which lists a general rule for mixing the proper lead hardness, e.g., 8-10 Brinnel of handguns 600-800fps, 10-12 for rifles 1000-1400fps? I want to start casting both handgun (9mm/.357mag) and rifle (22Hornet /.32-40) Thanks



The general rule? The general rule is that there are two things to consider.

Matching pressure to hardness is generally considered the first step. Once that you do that and stave off the leading, the second step is to hold the rifling for a good launch based upon everything your gun is doing to it. Let that run through your mind how many possibilities that could be.

Sometimes (many times) these two rules conflict forcing you harder (or softer in some situations)(don't ask, just keep that in the back of your mind for future reference) which may bring back leading some and or force you to a GC design.

Who decides? Your gun, lube, bullet design, powder speed, case size. Catching the pattern? So essentially there is no rule. The NRA had published a pressure range chart that is good for new folks that shows pressure ranges for various lead hardness to begin to obturate. I lost that with my computer crash, so you may need to search for it.

Good chart for thought for someone starting out, but there is always that second phase that no one can answer.

[captaint]

Rebel, I think many of the guys here will mix 50-50 WW and pure Pb for pistol and straight WW for rifle - generally. 2% tin for both. For higher rifle velocities try straight linotype.. PS - I grew up, well sort of, in Springfield many years ago. Enjoy, Mike

[randyrat]

There i'm back with coffee at hand. For some simple answers right now it depends on your supply of alloys. If you just have WWs and some soft lead your fine, use that. 50/50% WWs to soft lead will work for a lot of hand gun loads.

WWs alone will work for many rifle loads. (very simply put) Learn to water dop or water quench, if your short on alloys or would like to conserve alloys for some hardness in your bullets. As stated your gun will let you know what you need.

You said up to 1400 ft/sec.... WWs will be just fine if everything else is correct

[Bret4207]

Plain WW will work just fine in some guns to speeds in excess of 2K fps. Fit the boolit to the gun and worry about alloy later.

[cajun shooter]

Read all the articles on this forum by Glenn Fryxell. Also the posting that randy rat put up for you. Buy the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook. If you do this you will have a good idea of what is needed. You don't have to mix all the alloys to shoot. Every one who starts out worrys about the alloy and you can do a lot of shooting by just adding some tin to lead or by melting some wheel weights.

[CajunRebel]

Thanks for the input. I was curious, don't even have the molds yet. At someone recommendation, I bought some 1-25 from Rotometals for my .32-40, whcih a friend tested at 10.7 Brinnel (Lee tool), and have some range lead someone gave me years ago which tested at 8 Brinnel, which I'll used for my .357. Appreciate your advice.

[Ole]

I spend most of my efforts mixing pure lead with my WW's to make better bullets. (I water drop everything and pure WW's seem to hard/brittle for my likes)

I've shot (water dropped) 50/50 WW/PB mix to 1700fps in my Marlin and 1800-1900fps in my SKS and have never had a problem with leading.

[technetium-99m]

Just experiment with your alloy, make small batches, cast some boolits, and shoot them. Proper sizing and lube will go a long way to prevent leading and maintain accuracy. For handguns I started with 92-6-2 then backed off to WW then backed off to 1/1 WW/scrap lead. Works fine, even in 40S&W and 9mm.

Experimenting is part of the fun!

[runfiverun]

the bhn i use is ww's for handguns and waterquenched ww's for rifles.
i add some tin if i need it.
thats where i start. and usually end