Lee hardness tester reading-14 bhn for ww sound right?

[bingo]

tested a few samples from my smelting session today. Used my new Lee tester which is not really user friendly. I plan on mounting the microscope part on some kind of jig to stabilize it. Anywho I came up with aprox 14 bhn for sorted clip on ww.

Is this in the zone and if not where should it be.

Thanks in advance.

[fredj338]

I think that is a bit hard, unless they have aged for quite awhile & from older alloy. Closer to 12BHN is about right for air cooled clip WW.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you send me 3 or 4 samples of your bullets I will test them using my Cabine Tree. Just remember that the hardness will change after the bullets age for 3 or 4 weeks. PM me if interested.

[spfd1903]

I smelted four buckets of COWW's about a month ago. For each cast iron pot of molten material, I cast four Lee 452-255-RF slugs (air cooled) and kept them with that pile of ingots. About 48 hours later I used an LBT BHN tester on the four slugs of each batch. Ranged from 12 to 14 through the various samples, with 13 being the most prevalent. Sorted every #@&** one by hand, so there were no stick ons or zinc in the melts. Sounds close to your test.

[mold maker]

Current COWWs are no longer made from a standard alloy. I would imagine the WW mfgs are having as hard a time finding scrap lead as we are. Their bottom line is more important than the formula. Anything that will melt/pour a useable WW will be used, especially since the lead formulas will be phased out in a few years. Zinc is as expensive as lead, and presents more problems. Soon there will only be iron WWs. Most our other sources of lead are being replaced also.
We're paying those greenie weenies in Washington, to eliminate our basic materials.

[detox]

According to my Saeco lead hardness tester my COWW lead which dates back to 1995 has a BHN of 13. My LEE hardness tester reads slightly higher @13.5 bhn.

When using my Lee tester I hold my boolit with Handi-Tak. You can buy this tacky clay or something simular at WalMart in the office products section.
http://www.supergluecorp.com/super-g...ducts/handitak

[knifemaker]

Most of my clip wheel weights are over 10-15 years old when I got them from a local tire shop. They normally read about 13-14 on hardness. Just a guess on my part, but I believe they had better quality control years ago then what they do now since they are getting away from lead wheel weights.

[John Boy]

Many hundred of lbs of WW's, the aged readings were either Bhn 13.5 or 15.4. Never had a Bhn 9 or 12

[bangerjim]

Picked up a bucket of at least 20 year old COWWs and the bnh is ~14 on Cabine. That's after 3 weeks of sitting ingots.

Also have some VERY new ones and I think they HAVE lessened the hardness over the years. Probably why they are going to zinkers. That.......and the CA greenies!

Finally got my Lee tester I ordered 2 months before I gave up and bought the Cabine 2 months ago!!!! They are pretty close. I have found that 30 second time period they specify is a total waste. If you just push down and raise the little rod even with the top, the hardness is pretty much dead on. I cannot understand why they tell you wait 30 seconds! Tested everything from 5 to 23+ bnh and the "touch-n-go" method was within ~1bnh of the Cabine, which in itself can have cal errors but is almost 100% repeatable, unlike that little scope, lighting, and your eye!

Being a graduate engineer, I like things 100% accurate and 100% repeatable. But in the real world, I have grown accustom to 100% repeatable but not 100% accurate. Works for me - knowing something is wrong but always the same amount wrong!

But this hardness thing is all relative anyway when you powder coat your boolits!

bangerjim

[shadowcaster]

COWW's can be anywhere from 12 to 15 BHN in my experience. I doubt that today you will find any real consistency. Too many variables in their manufacture.

Shad

[357maximum]

Almost all of my ww are at least 5yrs old and some are 25+ years old....they run the range from 13 to 15 bhn on my testers. This is about 5,000+ lbs of ww put up in 300 to 400lb smelt batches over many years time. My hardest ww's have come from semi tractor rims and some of them were pushing a pound in weight...them have always tested 15BHN for me.