cast bullet hardness

[the fatman]

Had someone on the forum mention space coast bullets to me. I e-mailed them about their hardness. They replied that they test 8 on a seiko tester.Anybody have any idea how this compares to bhn? Thanks. I googled it and found nothing that I found useful.

 

[hornady]

I don't pretend to be an expert. But could that have been a Saeco tester. If it is an 8 That would be very soft. Just about pure lead. Not the best bullets. Most go by the BHN in lead Hardness

 

[the fatman]

They actually spelled it in the e-mail just like I did and also said it was a 0-10 scale. Yep I have always heard it as bhn too uptill now. Have enough trouble with bhn let alone something else.

 

[Sonnytoo]

I don't follow a 0-10 scale, when Brinnell hardness can easily exceed 20. Elmer used, IIRC, BHN 11 and 12 for his bullets, good for 1200 fps minimally, which is fast enough for me. I will accept 15 hardness okay, but I don't need harder than that.
Sonnytoo

 

[Cracker-American]

I found this much on google.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls= ... art=0&sa=N

Makes my eyes cross trying to understand it though.

I am the one who recommended Space Coast as an affordable cast bullet alternative.

I have had good results using their .41 and .44 SWC loaded over H 110.

Last Saturday when experimenting with some Unique I found the barrel in my SBH to be leaded badly. Took over and hour to get it clean.

 

[Sonnytoo]

Maybe they got the spelling mixed up with the watch company.

•The Saeco Lead Hardness Tester is a precision instrument that accurately determines the hardness of bullet casting alloy.

•It measures alloy hardness by determining the depth of penetration of a hardened steel indenter into a cast bullet.

•Hardness of a bullet is read from Vernier scale.

•This unit works for bullets up to 45 caliber.

•The Vernier scale is calibrated in arbitrary units with pure lead as 0 and linotype as 10.

Now here is the real BHN stuff and you can see that Linotype is actually a BHN of 22. Probably NOT what you want. I don't cast, which means I don't know anything but lots of good reputable folks use straight wheel-weights and I think that John Linebaugh likes Lyman #2. Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton used one part tin to 15 parts lead for plain base .44 mag bullets up to 1400 fps muzzle velocity.

Brian Pearce reco's BHN of 10 for pressures of 14,000 to 20,000, and with magnum cartridges, pressures around 35,000, he likes 12-14 BHN. And use good lube or it will lead anyway.

Bullet Alloy BHN
Pure Lead 5
1:20 Tin-Lead 10
Wheel Weight 11
1:10 Tin-Lead 11½
Lyman #2 Bullet Alloy 15
Linotype 22
Pure Copper 40

Sonnytoo

 

[the fatman]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Always looking for other sources of cast bullets to try for future use. And trying hard to over come my stubborn obsession that guns should be shot at near full throttle or your not doing it right.

 

[Bucks Owin]

LBT (Lead Bullet Technology) has a nice looking hardness tester that reads directly in BHN. Not cheap, $100...Water dropped wheel weights work for me, regardless of "whatever" BHN :wink: ......LBT link: http://lbtmoulds.com/hardtester.shtml

 

[hornady]

It may be totally alright. But I would do a little research. I have cast bullets for 40 years. This may have alluded me. But I find it hard to see why on a scale of 1 to 10. They would sell bullets that hard. The bullets I cast are a mix of my own. That is real close to an as cast size and weight of Lyman No# 2 Mine are a little harder at a BHN of 22- 24 range. Lyman No.# 2 is a BHN of 15. Which make a good Mid-range bullet. But there are several ways Lead Hardness is measured. BHN is the most excepted by Bullet casters. I think I would e-mail them back and ask if they could convert this to the BHN scale.

 

[Enigma]

Google is your friend: http://www.uslink.com/~tom1/bhchart.htm

 

[BearStopper]

One of my dealers has the Saeco unit for sale at 160.00.....needless to say I didn't buy it but we pulled out the instructions and it had a graph with their scale on one arm and bhn on the other but I don't recall exactly what the figures were.

 

[hornady]

I have the Saeco lead tester. I bought mine a few years back. About $100.00 then. I just checked Mid-South shooters on-line now its $134.94 but it has those magical words behind it we have all learned to love. ON ORDER. The Saeco is very easy to read. And accurate enough for my needs. One of the Hard core casting forms I go to they knock the Saeco but like I said I'm happy with it. I have read where guys have had trouble reading the one Lee puts out. The Saeco has a graph that comes with it to convert the Saeco reading to BHN. An example. Pure lead on the saeco is 0 But the BHN scale would be 8.

 

[the fatman]

Thanks for the replies. The gentleman I contacted at space coast bullets apparently made a spelling mistake which threw off my google search. Like I said I had never heard this term before. But confirms my suspicions that maybe I still have alot to learn.