Looking for LBT Tester instructions

[JackQuest]

Looking for a copy of the instructions for an older version of the LBT Tester. (Hardness tester)

My brother has the tool, I've not even seen it. Does anyone have the printed instructions that they can scan or xerox and email me? Do I need to get a photo or two to help?

Many thanks in advance.

[Mike W1]

I have mine from when he was still in AZ. PM me your email address and I'll scan them for you.

[Kevinakaq]

https://lbtmolds.com/Portals/143/Con...testerinst.pdf

Hope this helps.

Kev

[JackQuest]

Mike W1 and Kevinakaq

Thanks much!

[oley55]

I recon you have already seen this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TrGxT7kcVI

[JackQuest]

Thanks much!

[JackQuest]

Now that I've dug a little further and had great help from the Forum - THANKS to everyone! - I'm finding that the LBT is not going to fulfill my needs.

I've got a lot of lead and alloys in ingot form. Would like to test the ingots directly, not go to the chore of casting sample bullets first and testing those.

Will keep looking for other test hardware.

I DO NOT have a workbench with a shop vise that I can do the comparison crush against a pure lead ingot (have those) and then micrometer the dents.

Didn't SAECO make an indent type tester?

[Land Owner]

A test for HARDNESS can be determined quickly, effectively, repeatedly, and cheaply by using increasing hard (known hardness) pencil leads. It is called the "Pencil Test" (see sticky on this site). I will link to the sticky as soon as I find it.

Here you go, some "light" reading:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...s-with-pencils

[Mitch]

I use a small ingot mold if i want to check it in my LBT tetser.But this will not help much if you have ingot to big you want to check.I have taken a different path with my alloying.Melt my lead into lager master batches 250 to 350lbs and have it tested.Then use the alloy calulator here to make repetable alloy.Unless you are water dropping or heat treating your bullets make the harness tests not needed.

[Mike W1]

Been doing some reading on the subject of late. Was already aware that ingots cool differently than bullets so will have a lower BHN. It had NOT occured to me that different alloys COULD have similar BHN readings thus would be of NO value in determining their content. This per Verl Smith's book "Jacketed Performance With Cast Bullets".

Seems like SAECO made one that penetrated but thats still not going to give you any idea of the alloy makeup. You'd need a XRF reading for that.

[Mike W1]

Along those lines a fellow on here goes by BNE and will check a sample for the price of a pound of lead. Have used him several times with great satisfaction. PM him for details.

Were it me I'd melt all your ingots into a large batch, have that tested, and KNOW what needs to be done from there. I'm not good at scrounging so I've usually ended up buying Roto Metals SuperHard and tin. Have not used the calculator on this site but my handheld calculations for say 1% SN, 3% SB 96% Pb came out very close when I had that analyzed.

Another way might be Col. Harrisons method in the NRA book. I can look that up again if it's of interest.

[John Wayne]

Cabine brand hardness testers were sold here by someone on this forum. I have one and like it.

[Nueces]

The CabineTree lead hardness tester is now available from stmachining.us

[Bent Ramrod]

I have a SAECO and an LBT tester. The SAECO is the one that specifically uses a boolit. The LBT I have is amenable to either ingots or boolits, as long as the thickness fits and there is a flat spot filed on the ingot or boolit for the penetrator.