Can you just PC and (almost) forget about BHN?

[Paramax55]

WOW! 49/49/2 should make a nice, shiny boolit - but SOFT! But you can't argue with results.

[Paramax55]

Popper - that would be the proper way to do it. Maybe I'll try yhat if all else fails.

[jimlj]

I don't test hardness.
I was given some what I believe to be close to pure lead. With 45/45/10 tumble lube I had bad leading. With powder coating I have zero leading out of my 9mm's.
I bought some "range" lead from a seller on this site. According to my highly calibrated finger nail it is harder than the other lead I was using. Zero leading with powder coating. I have no chronograph so I don't know the speed, but I get 100% reliable function from different guns and satisfactory accuracy. I use mid range loads from my Lyman manual. For my purposes hardness doesn't matter.

[David2011]

For both .45 and 9mm I just use COWW. I add a little type metal just to make them cast easier. Adding 2% tin/pewter will accomplish the same thing. No leading even before I started powder coating. You don’t need hard boolits. Even commercial casters use 92/6/2 (lead/antimony/tin) for all pistol boolits. Rotometals says the BHN is about 16 and it’s good for “many higher velocity rifle cartridges.”

[Forrest r]

I use nothing but 8/9bhn range scrap for every pistol caliber I reload for up to +/- 25,000psi loads with pc'd bullets.

I water drop the cast bullets simply because it keep them from getting banged up/dents on the bottom drive band. Typical water dropped range scrap is in the +/- 11bhn range. I loose most of the hardening from quenching when cast from the heat used for the pc coating.

A water dropped mihec 148gr hbwc that was cast/wd's and sized to .358" and then tumble lubed with 45/45/10. I was used in a 800fps 38spl load for a ppc revolver.
[IMG][/IMG]

Same bullet pictured above, was practicing on the bowling pin table/trademark hits.
[IMG][/IMG]

Same range scrap alloy used to cast a 429422 hb swc for a snubnosed 44spl. The bullet was cast and water dropped. Then pc'd, sized and then a hp added. The load is a 18,000psi+ 44spl load.
[IMG][/IMG]

Same range scrap cast and water dropped, then pc'd and sized for the 9mm's. It's the mihec 125gr hp bullet, I use it to make piles of blammo ammo for a nm 1911.
[IMG][/IMG]

That 1911/blammo ammo combo pictured above. Typical 10-shot groups @ 50ft using a +/- 25,000spi load.
[IMG][/IMG]

Another blammo ammo bullet/load. 7gr of bullseye pushing a mihec 640 432-hp 245gr bullet that was cast from range scrap and water dropped. Then pc'd and sized to .430" using a load that is in the +/- 20,000psi range. Don't take much stock in 3-shot groups, was simply sighting a burris fastfireIII in on a 10" contender @ 100yds to bang on steel. More blammo ammo.
[IMG][/IMG]

It's the bullet on the right. Never cared for the bullet on the left and ended up selling the mold.
[IMG][/IMG]

The range scrap/pc'd combo makes for excellent plinking bullets in rifles. No need for gc's when I run them 1700fps or less. It's only a 10-shot group @ 50yds but it makes excellent blammo ammo.
[IMG][/IMG]

Anyway no need to worry about xxx bhn with pc'd bullets.

FWIW:
I've been using/shooting nothing more than 8/9bhn range scrap for 99%+ of my cast needs since the 80's (85/86?). The harder bhn cast bullets work better for masking my reloading errors then actually putting lead where I want it to go.

IMHO:
The soft alloy game is won or lost with the expander die. Don't get the correct expansion for the soft alloy and things like bullet deformation start becoming more common. A soft bullet isn't a bulldozer but a hard bullet can be.

[bangerjim]

Don't try to increase hardness with Sn! Too costly. Use an Sb-rich alloy like hardball to go above standard COWW hardness.

I cast 10-12 for EVERYTHING, except my 30-06's. PC'ing DOES pretty much eliminated the worry of hardness for me! (I do check it periodically with my Cabine tester). Never any leading in anything (hand or long guns) with PC.

Try it....you will convince yourself very fast you do no longer need hard boolits for most guns as was the gospel in the past.

[Daekar]

I push COWW+2% tin to almost 2000fps after PC with fine accuracy and no leading. I think PC really is a game changer in some ways.

[Paramax55]

I had already been PCing, but also got too into the whole BHN thing and never saw where anyone talked about how PC changed requirements. Elvis Ammo has a couple of videos on loading cast for .223/5.56. He doesn't talk about BHN, but maybe I'll try raising it a little for those and shoot all my soft stuff in pistol.

[Paramax55]

Forrest - that hollow point mold looks cool, but probably a lot more work than a typical Lee mold...

[bangerjim]

Forrest - that hollow point mold looks cool, but probably a lot more work than a typical Lee mold...

I have 6 different multi cavity HP molds, each with a set of pins that allow you to change the design/size of the cavity. When I cast with them, the boolits just rain out of these new design BRASS molds. Not your grandfather's single cavity mold with a wooden-handled plug in the end to form the cavity.

A modern BRASS HP multi-cavity mold will make just about as many boolits/hour as you standard old Lee Al 6 cavity.

Try one you WILL like it!

banger

[white eagle]

you can't beat Miha's molds as far as I am concerned
like you said the just drop like candy from the gods

[Paramax55]

I just checked out those molds. Very nice stuff! And not really that expensive for the quality you get. And it looks like he has stuff available that's sold out in Lee form. And some of the Lee prices are higher than his right now.

[Cast10]

I’ve chosen a alloy for my first boolits in 10mm/ 401-175-TC of; 1% SN , 2.57 SB, and 96.4% Pb. The calculator says 11.3 BHN. I’m shooting for a moderate to full (not nuclear) 10mm load for hogs. Will be shot in a Glock stock G20 and a 16” Carbine. I arrived at these numbers by mixing a bar (5.25lbs) of Hardball with SOWW’s (7lbs). My tests by pencil did indeed yield about 12. I have not loaded/shot these yet.

The boolits were air cooled, PC’d, air cooled.

[Burnt Fingers]

I have 6 different multi cavity HP molds, each with a set of pins that allow you to change the design/size of the cavity. When I cast with them, the boolits just rain out of these new design BRASS molds. Not your grandfather's single cavity mold with a wooden-handled plug in the end to form the cavity.

A modern BRASS HP multi-cavity mold will make just about as many boolits/hour as you standard old Lee Al 6 cavity.

Try one you WILL like it!

banger

I find the MP hollow point molds cast much faster than the NOE hollow point molds.

My four cavity hollow point MP molds cast just as fast as a similar standard four cavity. A brass four cavity HP mold should out cast a Lee six cavity mold. Those Lee molds get overheated quickly.

[markmars]

The MP molds look interesting. I'm needing a .356 mold with 90 to 115 grains for a .380 rounds.

[m37]

Burnt Fingers is exactly right about adding antimony see my post in this thread on how to add antimony
mike

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...d-and-Antimony

[rfd]

9mm and .45-70 - casting 30:1 and 20:1, air cooled, PC'd and water cooled, sized and loaded. No leading, no issues, good accuracy out of a TNW ASR 9mm semi-auto carbine and a Ruger RAPc pistol (W231), and a Henry S/S .45-70 rifle (AA5744).

[a.squibload]

My 2¢ worth:

Been casting soft 40s and 44s, swage in a hollowpoint, then PC.
I even swaged a 120gn 9mm to make a 40 hp, zippy, works the slide.
No leading. Barrels clean up in a few swipes w/ Ed's Red.

I use the basket method for baking, then toss 'em in a bucket of water
with a cheap plastic colander in the bottom. Drain the water off & shake 'em up,
helps to break 'em apart and possibly hardens the boolits a bit.

[dogmower]

I quit testing hardness a few years ago. Just use enough tin or linotype to get good mold fill out and desired cast size. Remember that powder coating usually increases diameter a couple thousandths. I shoot several rifle boolits without gas checks (M1 carbine, 50 beowulf, 450 Bushmaster) and they shoot well, no leading. If you're powder coating, BHN is less a factor than size (ideally a few thousandths over bore diameter), IMO.

[marky123]

It is.

Just as when adding sugar to sweet tea. You don't have to have the sweet tea at the melting point of sugar.

Antimony will dissolve in lead if you use the proper flux.

OP.

I use a BHN of 10-11 for almost all my shooting needs. You can shoot pure lead in 45 ACP with no problems as long as bullet fit is correct. I normally use Hi-Tek as a coating. The only times I go harder than 10-11 is for some 327FM loads and for rifle loads.

What's the proper flux for antimony/lead?