If you have a lead hardness tester please get in touch with me.

[LeadThrower]

This is absolutely a "kid at Christmas" moment... I'm not going to sleep until the final report is posted... or until midnight, whichever comes first ; )

Yammer, we've seen a lot of your avatar on this thread and I've got to ask; whose finger is that, and did it handle the boolits you sent me? I never did sanitize them prior to testing...

[yammerschooner]

Chances are I won't have results posted until Monday or even later. With all of the testers I am waiting on, it may take a while for everything to trickle in. Most importantly for the curiosity this has generated, I have a gent who works in a metalurgy lab who will get us some "correct" numbers.

These testers rely on a lot more voodoo than I would have believed. As one of you pointed out in the email, there is probably a sweet spot to these testers.

Trust me, it is the night before Christmas here too.

Oh, I almost forgot...

Yes, that is my finger, and I am convinced that boogers in the melt improve consistency.

[NSP64]

You don't even own a .45??? Do you make boolits for a living then? I noticed they were for a .45 and was going to ask what you shot it in. I might have to size/lube/load them in my acp.

[yammerschooner]

I have a ton of molds that came with the caster when I purchased it. I may be able to make part time money casting someday, but right now it is just an expensive hobby that has cost me much more than I ever figured it would. I may morph it into something someday, but right now I am still in the process of getting my hobby organized exactly how I want it.

[leftiye]

Yammer, Is that the old thing about picking yer friends noses?

[bohica2xo]

Yammer:

I just e-mailed you the spreadsheet - hope it makes sense.

You know the HogSnot flux was supposed to be kept secret right? The first rule of Hog Club is we don't talk about Hog Club...

Please keep the HogFatLube under yer hat ok?

B.

[MT Gianni]

What type of tester did you use? Did you prepare the samples? My tests weren't uniform until I finished off the sprue marks on the bases. The tester was reading compression of these marks as ball penetration. One Rockwell number equals eighty millionths of an inch penetration (.000,080").
Morgan

Cabintree tester. The preparation consisted of making sure that the needle or pressure point was on about the same point of contact at the meplate. Gianni

[Springfield]

Just to quench some curiosity, my batch tested between 16 and 17.5 with an LBT tester. It has always been pretty accurate for me. I like to test all the time. I have ben buying lead from teh same guy a for a couple of years now. He says the bars are pure lead, but I always alloy it up. I ran out of my "pure" lead, some old fishing weights. So last time I alloyed I made some ingots of the "pure" lead bars. It seemed harder then the previous pure lead bullets, so I tested both. The old fishing weight bullets measured about 3 on the scale but the newer pure lead tested 5-6. Both can be easily scratched with a fingernail so they are pretty close, but apparently there IS something in these bars besides lead. Be interesting to know what. There was a guy on this wire who tested some unknown bars I had, but I lost his name and everything, but if you read this, I would apprecialte it if you could do another small test for me. mwwhyte@comcast.net

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Gianni, So, your tester tests across the diameter, not the length? If so, I would imagine the bullet rests in some sort of V block. Do you have to make sure any mold line, if present, doesn't contact one side, which might reduce the support given the bullet?
Morgan

[randyrat]

My testing all done and E-mailed out. i'm not telling what mine were. I went by the book and filed a flat spot on the side of the bullet. The bullets i tested looked like Lee 452-160 RF I'm guessing little harder than #2 water dropped. Nice hard tough bullets.

[mtnwinds]

randyrat..........looks like you & I got similar results.

[KYCaster]

I'm guessing WQWW, and if that's correct I'm amazed at how consistent the hardness is...or maybe it's like my bathroom scale...gets stuck at 185# and won't go any higher.

Jerry

[MT Gianni]

Morgan, The Cabintree tests across the bullet length. I place the sample whether bullet, ingot or scrap into the tester and run a threaded device into the sample until it just touches it at which point a dial indicater on the opposite end of a spring loaded device should read zero. I then make one full turn of the threads, which are marked 0-9 including 1/4 marks in between and there is an indicator pointer marking where I started. http://www.castingstuff.com/cabinetr...g_products.htm
This can probably explain it much better than I can. Gianni

[stocker]

yammerschooner:
Boolits arrived an hour ago. results sent to your yahoo address. Thanks.

[yammerschooner]

Ok- have been away since Saturday night. I am putting together the info that has shown up since then. I will post a list of what I am missing after I go through everything. I have gotten a few requests for verification of email. I will get to those as soon as I find out what I have. It could take a bit, but I will have everything replied to this evening.

Spreadsheet may take a little longer, depending on what I am missing.

Thanks all.

[yammerschooner]

Yammer, Is that the old thing about picking yer friends noses?

I always wondered why my friends always squealed on me.

[yammerschooner]

You know the HogSnot flux was supposed to be kept secret right? The first rule of Hog Club is we don't talk about Hog Club...


B.

I can certify that all of my hogs are certified boogie free. Past that I have nothing to say.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I can certify that all of my hogs are certified boogie free. Past that I have nothing to say.

Yea, but are they BOOGER free?
Morgan

[NSP64]

Leadthrower and I came up real close 24BHN. WDWW+ SN is what I use and they age the same.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Morgan, The Cabintree tests across the bullet length. I place the sample whether bullet, ingot or scrap into the tester and run a threaded device into the sample until it just touches it at which point a dial indicator on the opposite end of a spring loaded device should read zero. I then make one full turn of the threads, which are marked 0-9 including 1/4 marks in between and there is an indicator pointer marking where I started. http://www.castingstuff.com/cabinetr...g_products.htm
This can probably explain it much better than I can. Gianni

That works a lot like the Rockwell. The sample is raised against a penetrator, by a jack screw, until the dial reads near "0", at which point a minor load(10kg) has been applied. The dial is set to "0", and the major load is applied. (In this case 60KGF). The major load is then removed, leaving the minor load, and the reverse reading dial indicator, reads the depth of the impression, one number equaling .000,80"( eighty millionths of an inch). The deeper the impression, the lower the reading. The many different Rockwell scales are based upon combinations of penetrators (120º diamond cone, 1/16", 1/8", 1/4" and 1/2" steel or carbide ball) and major loads(60kg.,100kg., or 150kg.) All Rockwell machines can be checked using certified test blocks available for all scales, and readings within scales.
I used the "R" scale, 1/2"ball @ 60KGF. for my tests.
Morgan