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Thread: lead hardness tester

  1. #1
    Boolit Master rmcc's Avatar
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    lead hardness tester

    Don't know if this is the right place to ask. What is the best lead hardness tester that you guys have found?

    thanks,
    rmcc
    fools rush in where angels fear to tread...Alexander Pope

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Only have experience with the Lee. It’s cheap, repeatable and a real pain to read the scale. Several threads on making it easier. It’s still a pain.

    Should be some folks with experience using the direct read options along soon.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I use the drawing pencils myself.
    Based upon what I have read though, the Cabin Tree seems to be the best.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    I use the Lee product; the trick to using the little magnifying scope is to mount it so you don’t have to fumble around with the focal length. I use a Pana-Vise with rubber covered jaws and set it up like a microscope.

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by HWooldridge View Post
    I use the Lee product; the trick to using the little magnifying scope is to mount it so you don’t have to fumble around with the focal length. I use a Pana-Vise with rubber covered jaws and set it up like a microscope.
    I use a cut off clear soda bottle with a hole drilled in the cap. Works the same, still a pain.
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

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  6. #6
    Boolit Master Sasquatch-1's Avatar
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    I own an original Cabine Tree. A bit pricey for those on a budget, but easy to use. Also, I have seen the LBT used. Again, a bit pricey but is fairly easy to use.

    The Cabine Tree is still available. Buffalo Arms sells them, https://www.buffaloarms.com/lead-har...ard-ctlt1.html. Price was about $120.00 before shipping.
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  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I have always used the LBT lead hardness tester, easy to use.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    I use a HR-150A hardness tester with a 1/2" diameter penetrator with 105 KG pressure, then measure the diameter of depression with calipers under a microscope, then calculate the hardness. Works pretty good. BUT - "IF" you don't already have the HR-150A it's a tad on the expensive side.

  9. #9
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    I have the Lee tester. I always wished I had spent the money (about twice the price) for one of the other types. I cut a hole in a clear plastic cup. That helped, but I don’t have that much confidence in the readings I get. Over here, I haven’t been able to find a set of different pencil hardnesses. I wish I could, so I could compare my results with the Lee tester.

  10. #10
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    I have the cabin tree and a Saeco. Cabin tree works great and tests all shapes, Saeco only works on bullet shapes. Cabin tree big and bulky, Saeco fits in the pocket. Both accurate.
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  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    i have pencils and a saeco. saeco confirmed why i was getting leading with some 9mm commercial lead RN bullets i bought. they tested at around 7BHN. was supposed to be (advertised) as 18BHN. My guess is they totally forgot to alloy the batch i got and it was pure.

  12. #12
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    Had a SAECO, didn't like using it. Have the Lee, not real fond of it, but it is useable. Make sure you have a solid surface and a good light when using the microscope.

    I have seen the LBT, (it went for more money than I had in my billfold at the auction), but I would like to have one.

    In all actuality I don't think a hardness tester is really needed for the great majority of boolit casters. I haven't opened the box that my Lee tester is in for several years.

    Robert

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    I have a SAECO and an LBT. Both are accurate, but I use the SAECO more often. Sample preparation takes some doing with the LBT, but I always have a culled bullet or two from a casting session to put into the SAECO. It doesn’t read BHN directly; you need a chart, but the chart is there with mine.

    I agree with Mk42gunner. The only time I find that boolit hardness isn’t TMI is with paper-patched black powder cartridges. From reading, it seems to be important to those who “shoot cast boolits HOT!” using smokeless. But otherwise, I find that most of my guns digest whatever I’ve managed to cast with a poised equanimity.

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shell70634 View Post
    I have the cabin tree and a Saeco. Cabin tree works great and tests all shapes, Saeco only works on bullet shapes. Cabin tree big and bulky, Saeco fits in the pocket. Both accurate.
    Ditto. I think the SAECO is more accurate, but I need a jeweler's loupe to read it at my age. I don't like the way the Cabine Tree indenter rotates, but it can be used on ingots up to and beyond the size of a hockey puck before they go into the pot. Fussy to use on anything as small as a bullet, however.
    Cognitive Dissident

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    I like using a Saeco unit. I have a Saeco mold that I cast large 45LC bullets and test those bullets for all calibers being cast.

  16. #16
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    The Lee here as well, as it is not used on a regular basis it suits my needs to validate hardness of batches of smelted lead when I think about it.

    More often than not i have slowly learned to read the pot with what materials i put in and go from there. Most of my lead has been scrounged keel weights and range scrap and a smattering of wheel weights.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    I have an LBT, and like it.

    But I have to confess not using it much. Since I get all my batches of base alloy analyzed, I know exactly what I have and what I need to add to mix up a specific alloy mix with a known hardness.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I was hot-rodding a 44-40 model 92 clone recently and found hardness to be very important to accuracy. I started around 11-12 BHN and was experiencing gas cutting and slightly leading with the load I was using, then started adding a bit of linotype and found the right combination to be 17-18 BHN. Leading disappeared and groups shrank to a fraction of what I had been seeing. That being said, I personally believe a lead hardness tester of some type is necessary for comparison purposes - especially if you are pushing limits. I mark my ingots with number stamps and have everything from pure lead to straight linotype. Makes it easier to blend in the pot for a final outcome.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master

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    I use the Lee ball indenter with a Coin Microscope, laptop and digital calibers.

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  20. #20
    Boolit Master rmcc's Avatar
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    Guys,

    Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated!! Called the people at LBT today, they are super nice. I may order both a LBT and Saeco to see which one works best for me. I have such a conglomeration of lead that I have picked up over the years. Most of it is WW.
    fools rush in where angels fear to tread...Alexander Pope

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check