I bought a Hardness tester!

[Prodigal Son]

Ok, I got my Noe mold the other day and went to the garage and started to heat up a pot of lead! It's what I've been using for years and have been very happy with the results for years. I carried a couple over to my Dad's, which was my first mistake! He's clanging them together say,"You hear that, they're too hard, sounds like steel"! I have never done anything right no matter what it is. So we head out to his reloading room and he gets out a Lee hardness tester. What you know,it's just like he said,"See there too soft, .06 only good to this much pressure yada yada yada! So I come home get on the net order me a Lee tester and no matter what I do I can't get a cast boolit any harder than .06! So I start out fresh with nothing but COWW and cast my *** off today and just about an inch of a bar of tin in a 10 lbs pot! Beautiful boolits drop @ 215.6 grains right at .326 like the mold is suppose to. I used to think I knew what I was doing, anybody got any clues! Can it be this dang tester is off? No matter what cast boolit I tested it comes out the same, and yes I did read the instructions too!

[fredj338]

The Lee tester can be very diff to read properly. SOme guys have others; CabinTree, Seaco, LBT, if you want to cross ref, just send out a 5 bullets for testing avg. Just PM me for an address, happy to run them thru my CT.

[melloairman]

You might want to let the bullets age a few days or weeks and test again .Marvin

[Prodigal Son]

I know that boolits have to age, I tested some I cast two years ago with very tiny differences. Some my late Uncle gave me, some I got from a vendor?

[jmort]

The Lee Precision hardness is as accurate, or more accurate than any tester you can buy. Seems like best results come when it is mounted to something. Simple solution is to cut-off top of plastic bottle like sports drink and drill hole in lid to hold scope and put plastic "dome" over sample.

[jonas302]

Why does the hardness matter when you have been happy with the alloy? I always thought it was more important how they shot

[jmort]

Makes sense to know what you are dealing with.

[Littleton Shot Maker]

hard or soft, what it is doing in the barrel, do you spend lots of time cleaning out the lead? I have a saeco scale- and Brinell scale, both older than me.
the bullets tested makes a little difference, alway do a flat nose bullet not RN.
I can make a bullet so hard that it maxes the scales out, and preforms like junk- so hard it won't engage the rifling - stripping metal and coating the grooves to hell.
Velocities can be more important then the over all hardness,
tried and true commercial mix has been 6 or 7% Antimony, 2% tin, it works at low speeds and mid to higher speeds,
dwell time, the time the lead is exposed to the 2000+ flame under it will also be a factor, use the correct powders for the right alloys, you ( i typically want a fast powder) long duration burns will get you more leading even with a super hard bullets

[mikeym1a]

I feel for you. Worked for my dad for 16 years, same thing. SO, how do those boolits shoot? If they do what you want, then that is what matters. Do you have a Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook? You should have one. It is a really good read all the way through. I have #3 and #4. I prefer #3. It has a great history section, and a very good section on lead. I've casted for my pistols for about 30 yrs, and luckily hit it right the first time. I've only been casting for my rifles for about a year, and am still learning. Good luck.

[gtgeorge]

While the tester is a nice tool for making sure you duplicate results etc. please don't get caught up in it. If the boolit performs according to what and how you shoot it there is very little use for the actual BHN at any given time.

[cbrick]

Prodigal Son, what part of Arkansas are you in? I'm in AR too, perhaps were close.

The LEE tester should be reasonably accurate and repeatable but can be a bit tricky to use.

I'll agree with the others that if you have been happy with your alloy for years just shoot'em. Don't put a lot of faith in too hard or too soft and can only be shot at X pressure, only YOUR firearm knows for sure. There are far too many variables to make such a blanket statement.

Rick

[WILCO]

and yes I did read the instructions too!

I would stop and go back to square one when using the LEE Lead Hardness Tester.
Take a moment, carefully read the instructions again. No matter what your testing, make sure you file a flat spot on the item to be tested. Pay close attention to step 5.

[Prodigal Son]

Ok I will thanks!

[bangerjim]

I have both the Lee thing and the Cabine. I have compared the 2 and they are pretty close. The Lee is rather difficult to use, especially for us "four eyes"! The Cabine with the HF digital dial indicator, reads exactly 0.85 when the charts show 0.85! In less than 2 seconds. Cool.

But, if you take your time, your readings with the Lee should be relatively accurate.

Remember.....Bhn is all relative anyway!

Cast away......and have fun!

bangerjim

[Bzcraig]

The Lee Precision hardness is as accurate, or more accurate than any tester you can buy. Seems like best results come when it is mounted to something. Simple solution is to cut-off top of plastic bottle like sports drink and drill hole in lid to hold scope and put plastic "dome" over sample.

Sounds like a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion

[DRNurse1]

I have both the Lee thing and the Cabine. I have compared the 2 and they are pretty close. The Lee is rather difficult to use, especially for us "four eyes"! The Cabine with the HF digital dial indicator, reads exactly 0.85 when the charts show 0.85! In less than 2 seconds. Cool.

But, if you take your time, your readings with the Lee should be relatively accurate.

Remember.....Bhn is all relative anyway!

Cast away......and have fun!

bangerjim

Banger Jim says it best: have fun.

For repeatability and ease, Cabin Tree is the best I have used. I started with a 'redneck' version acquired here and noticed that it is almost as easy to use as Cabin Tree, but I am a bit of a math geek.

A variety of alloys can and do result in similar BHN's, which may perform very differently in your firearm. So, while hardness is part of the process, there are other significant factors to evaluate.

[osteodoc08]

If you really want, I've got a SAECO tester. Send me a few and I'll test them for you. Just PM me if interested.

$0.50 in shipping will save you the price of a tester if you plan on using the same alloy, or close to it.

[fryboy]

allow my best shaolin impression "grasshopper,if you take nothing else from this website recall that "fit" is king" , if it worked yesterday then it should work just the same tomorrow ,my lee hardness tester is,if nothing else, very repeatable , heat treat a few projectiles of your same alloy and see what you get , dollar to doughnuts it'll read harder ,yet also note harder isnt always better and ,again,if the fit isnt right .....

[montana_charlie]

So I start out fresh with nothing but COWW and cast my *** off today and just about an inch of a bar of tin in a 10 lbs pot!

No matter what cast boolit I tested it comes out the same,

Try doing a test on that bar of tin.

If pure, it should be 7 BHN, which is a dimple diameter of .084".

CM