Lee lead hardness tester

[DarenN]

so, i wanted to see just how pure my free lead is.
i bought a Lee hardness tester, but i'm not impressed.
this tester is mounted in a C/F cartridge loading press. it makes an indent in the lead, and you read the diameter of the indent with the included 'scope. a chart then tells you what hardness the lead is on the BHN scale. the problem is that the chart ends at an indent of .079"; BHN of 8.0. pure lead has a BHN of 5. the 'scope reads to .10". i've got ingots that i have poured that show an indent of .097 (highest), and .088 (lowest).
i contacted Lee and they replied that the hardness tester was not designed to test pure lead. the 'scope reads to .10, but the chart ends at .079. :idunno:
do you think there is a way to figure out the BHNs beyond the data that Lee provides?

thanks;
Daren........

 

[R.M.]

I've seen on another forum where a guy made up a chart to cover that. I'll hunt around and see if I can find it.
How's this. http://www.sixshootercommunity.com/articles/harry_o/cast_bullet_hardness.html

 

[DarenN]

Dang! thanks RM!! :hatsoff:
that's exactly what i was looking for when i emailed Lee. i think i'll email them a copy (properly accredited, of course).

now, for our PRB MLing purposes, what BHN would be concidered acceptable? what BHN is too hard?

 

[Idaho Ron]

I have a cabin tree tester. Man that thing is so easy and it does NOT need anything else except a chart. It is easy to read and easy to do. I like mine. Ron

 

[mazo kid]

Not very scientific, but if you have a known soft lead piece, you can just squeeze a steel ball between that and the unknown piece in a vise and do a comparison of indents. That should tell you whether the unknown piece is harder.

 

[DarenN]

i had read about that method, but didn't have a piece that i could trust as pure lead.

i have poured and tested about 50- 1/2 pound ingots, and useing the expanded chart from the link provided by RM, i've found most all of it to be pure soft lead. but for a few pieces that are from earlier stuff that was kinda questionable. (some even seems to be softer than #5BHN.) the few ingots that are a bit harder will be cast into .375" balls for slingshot ammo.
that expanded chart turned a bad purchase into a usable tool! :hatsoff:

 

[Idaho Ron]

i had read about that method, but didn't have a piece that i could trust as pure lead.

i have poured and tested about 50- 1/2 pound ingots, and useing the expanded chart from the link provided by RM, i've found most all of it to be pure soft lead. but for a few pieces that are from earlier stuff that was kinda questionable. (some even seems to be softer than #5BHN.) the few ingots that are a bit harder will be cast into .375" balls for slingshot ammo.
that expanded chart turned a bad purchase into a usable tool! :hatsoff:

First off if you would like me to test some lead I would be happy to a single bullet or some about that size would work. I know that 5 BHN is supposed to be pure. But I know my tester can read different levels to a small degree. I do know that my dial will read .020 to .030 for 5BHN. I have seen lead so soft that it reads below .010 on the dial. My rifle like lead to be in the .032 to .035 range. Ron