Cast my first boolits today!

[Jector]

Bent up my stainless steel spoon yesterday to make pouring easier since I don't have a ladle. Just thought I'd share...

There was a picture here but the server deleted it for some reason.



The lead pours much more controllably through the bent up spout at the tip.

[Jector]

Here are some VERY back of the napkin hardness testing results...

The bullet on the left was heat treated in my kitchen oven at ~430 deg F for one hour then quenched in cold water for 5 min. Then let sit for 2 days to age harden. The bullet in the middle was quenched from the mold (dropped in water). The bullet on the right was air cooled from the mold. I simply laid the heat treated bullet next to each of the others one at a time and squeezed with a vice-grip pliers at no particular pressure. From the results you can see the heat treated bullet is much harder. All were cast from the same batch of alloy, wheel weights.



I also did the squeeze test against a bullet for Oregon Trail that I was told has a BHN of 24. It did leave a mark in my cast .45...



Makes me wonder if my heat treated .45 is too hard?

[Jector]

Oh, and just for comparison, here's Quenched from mold on the left vs. Air cooled on the right...



Same alloy as above.

Quenched; obviously a bit harder.

[Rangefinder]

Makes me wonder if my heat treated .45 is too hard?

Too hard? Nope--you aren't gonna get a lead alloy even close to the hardness of a copper jacket, and if you can find a way to make it harder than the steel of your barrel (which is about they only way I could consider a projectile too hard), then you really ought to retire on the billions you get from the chemistry patent. Looking pretty good from where I'm sitting.

[snuffy]

Here are some VERY back of the napkin hardness testing results...

I'll say! Now get yourself a lee hardness tester, so you really know how hard they really are. Good thinking though, relative hardness is a good tool to estimate, or see results.

[Jector]

I'll say! Now get yourself a lee hardness tester, so you really know how hard they really are.

I'm actually working on building a hardness tester, the formula is simple enough...


Formula from Wikipedia / Wikimedia.org.

[snuffy]

Yeah, that formula and $42.99 will get you a lee hardness tester. Nice idea for testing hardness, but you need machinery to do it, not mathematics.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=731364

A certain sized ball, pressed with measured pressure into the material being tested, then being able to read how far that ball penetrated that material. That's what hardness testing is all about.

[trip_sticker]

Basic Rules for Harding Lead-


For every 1% additional tin, Brinell hardness increases 0.3.
For every 1% additional antimony, Brinell hardness increases 0.9.
For a simple equation,
Brinell = 8.60 + ( 0.29 * Tin ) + ( 0.92 * Antimony )

[Jector]

Thanks snuffy and trip,

I came to my senses and ordered the tester. I was gearing up pneumatic cylinders with microcontrollers and sensors ( I do like building [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color]) to get some simple data. Anyone want to buy a pneumatic cylinder, 2" bore - 1" stroke.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

2" bore, 1" stroke.... I am looking for a 3" bore, 25" stroke, 38.25" retracted, 1.25" pins, 3.5" base clevis, 2" rod clevis, and rated to 3200 PSI.. If ya got 2 of these layin' around, I'd be interested...