I have casted and quenched several hundred Lee 175 grain boolits for my 40 S & W. After quenching boolits were somewhere around the 14 BHN. I heat treated them and again quenched them in ice cold water. The BHN was still somewhere around 14 BHN. After two days, they hardened up to 22 BHN. This is using scrap lead, and I am not sure what the exact composition is, and I was using a Saeco lead hardness tester, so I had to convert the Saeco hardness to BHN using their chart.
I remember reading an article from Mike Venturino several years ago. In that article he was saying to use hard cast bullets in the 40 if you want any sort of accuracy.
I cannot locate that article any longer. My question, is 22 BHN hard enough? I will lube these bullets using my own boolit lube consisting of a mixture of Lee liquid alox, beeswax, lithium grease, and lanolin. More than likely I will loading it with about 4 grains of Bullseye.
Again, I am questioning if the hardness is enough. Thanks boys