Well that escalated quickly.

C

Chainsaw.

New member
Got a new lee 125 grain truncated cone mold, fired up the pot and got to work. Dropped in a 5 pounder of lead that I THOUGHT was ~10bhn, I figured it might be a good time to try a little linotype to firm em up a hair. So I knock off about a pound with the splitting wedge and drop it in the pot. Get to casting, all going well, water quench, cool, there about a hunnerd, good test foder. Chuck a couple in the PC jar and then in the oven, Im impatient. Take one over to the hardness tester......24!!!??? What in the......how the.....wow...well.

??
 
Been there.
Done that.
Last time I fired up the pot (multiple posts about that debacle here, last year), I ended up with a bunch of BHN ~20 bullets that were supposed to have been roughly COWW (BHN ~12).

And, about 9 years ago, I cast over FIVE HUNDRED bore-rider bullets for my .444 Marlin single-shot, from a single-cavity brass mold (heavy!), only to discover that I had used pure Linotype instead of the intended (softer) alloy. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah it happens every once in a while. When I do that I usually just set the whole batch aside and add it to other alloy as needed. Always pays to go slow and do a little check on things when working up a new batch.
 
While I am not a bullet caster, I do work on materials a lot.

Lead hardness has to do with grain size in some degree. There are several things which can affect grain size...cooling rate and impurities being two of the more common ones. Smaller grains is going to result in a harder bullet.

Take an Oregon Trail bullet, test it, clean it, melt it and recast it. :D
 
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