Testing BHN

[castmiester]

Yes. When that bullet gets where it is going, that is a combination that will move a lot of meat out of its way. Something like it was killing big buffalo when the first cartridge rifles came on the scene.

Knowing that history of pure lead muzzle loading bullets at black powder low velocity cartridges, should have told me something !

[Hannibal]

Given that Whitetail deer and Black bear are the largest game animals I'll encounter locally this is WAY more than I'll need but that's OK with me.

[castmiester]

Given that Whitetail deer and Black bear are the largest game animals I'll encounter locally this is WAY more than I'll need but that's OK with me.

My biggest concern was the top of a black bears skull thickness.... but found out it's not that thick to penetrate, like a couple of inches and was told to use a hard cast bullet, which you don't need.

[The Appalacian]

And there's no need to reinvent the wheel.

Nope, not trying to reinvent any wheels at all. But I do have what I have to work with. The only way at the moment I can segregate my metals is with hardness, but I have reached out to member BNE to get some testing done.

How I've described my metals is very generic. I have what has been sold to me as "soft lead", and it is soft, but I don't know for sure what's in it. I have around 30 lbs of jacketed bullet cores I've melted out of the jackets, and it's a homogeneous mix of lead from probably the 1950's to present. I have "wheel weights", all clip on, from the 70s to the 90s. I have what was initially thought to be linotype but the hardness tester suggests it's monotype instead.
I'll get my compositions determined and go from there.

[Delkal]

I wouldn't bother going to the trouble of determining the exact composition of everything. Especially if it is only on 30 pounds of something. Just play with an alloy calculator with your best guess of what the batches are. If you can easily scratch the soft lead with your fingernail assume it is pure lead for the calculation. The cores from the bullets is lead with a little antimony (and very little tin) which is also in the calculator. Linotype vs monotype can make a difference with super hard alloys but for a standard BHN 13 batch does it matter if you actually get something a BHN or two off? Don't stress it and just start alloying some batches. If they are not hard enough add another handful of linotype or more lead if it is too hard.

Casting is an art and not an exact science.

I think you will need some additional tin / pewter though.

[The Appalacian]

I wouldn't bother going to the trouble of determining the exact composition of everything. Especially if it is only on 30 pounds of something. Just play with an alloy calculator with your best guess of what the batches are. If you can easily scratch the soft lead with your fingernail assume it is pure lead for the calculation. The cores from the bullets is lead with a little antimony (and very little tin) which is also in the calculator. Linotype vs monotype can make a difference with super hard alloys but for a standard BHN 13 batch does it matter if you actually get something a BHN or two off? Don't stress it and just start alloying some batches. If they are not hard enough add another handful of linotype or more lead if it is too hard.

Casting is an art and not an exact science.

I think you will need some additional tin / pewter though.

130 + 30 + 65 + 250......a good bit more than just 30 pounds of something.

On second thought nevermind. I was asking what time it was, not how clocks are made.

[castmiester]

Delkal's laid down some good advice. Your wheelweight might take a couple weeks to settle, but isn't likely to start harder than 11-12BHN, or age to anything beyond about 13-14 BHN.

I sent a sample of jacketed bullet core material that I had carefully segregated pre-smelt to BNE for XRF testing, and it came back as 99.7% lead and 0.3% antimony. I would not expect those percentages to change much from batch to batch since that material is formulated for swaging to final shape. After sitting for two weeks, air cooled was 8.5BHN and water quenched only 9.5.

Your pure lead is of course pure lead.

Mixing the latter two with your wheelweights is only going to make them softer, and the alloy percentages low enough that you aren't going to see much change after a lengthy sit. Unless you start mixing your monotype in, I'd test immediately after reaching room temperature and again after a day or two and run with the result. Maybe leave a sample for a couple weeks to expand your knowledge of the mix, but I wouldn't hold off loading for that with that ingredient base.

I already stated I made Ingots a few years back and the hardness is the same, now.

[fredj338]

If I bother testing at all, its usually about 2 weeks after casting.

[Hannibal]

There's a thread on this forum in the archives about a 'Billy Bob hardness tester'. I just go by that. I don't need perfection, an educated guess is plenty close enough for me.