Question for the rest of you experts out there. I was wondering is it worth buying a lead hardness tester. I was thinking of getting the LBT one but I'm just not sure if I should. I cast my own in 41 mag, 44 mag, 7-30 Waters, 357 Max, 38-55 . I shoot the Postal Matches in the CBA, and after 25+ years of casting my own I want to try and make the best bullets I can for the Matches. If you guys can help me out I'd appreciate it thanks much. Peter

I have an LBT tester and I think it is a handy device. Necessary? Hell no.

If you cast from WW's, you'll find little difference from lot to lot and if you use lino or pure lead...well, it's a moot point. Now, if you're into trying to reinvent the wheel and cook up some 'special' alloy, the tester will pay its way. I keep things simple by using air cooled weights for most everything, water quenched weights with a spoonful of magnum shot added for high speed work and reserve lino for the best work I plan on doing. A touch of this and a dab of newts ear and bat wing won't make anything better than quenched WW's will. The KISS principle never had a greater meaning than when casting bullets. A hardness tester only confirms what you already know...once the quantity of hardness is learned. In other words if WW's cast a 12 Br. bullet today...more than likely it will 6 months from now.

Bartman = save your money or rather spend about 25 cents on this. But first check out.... Dave Corbin's method of testing lead hardness

Brent

Thanks for the lead to Dave Corbin's site. Quite a bit of good information. Mike

I have a cabinetree lead hardness tester from Jim Cornaggia. Cost was about 75$ 5 years ago and mine also checks cartridges for runout. I like it and find that alloys I thought were just as hard as each other were not. If you just want to bang away at something a fingernail is fine. If you want to balance pressure and hardness and lube I think they are a good tool. Gianni.

I agree with Gianni. I've found lead with quite a bit of difference, and i recycle the lead from my range. The antimony content drops on these when shot it seems, and the batches will need ammending. If you are shooting the comparatively low velocity pistol loads, you most likely don't need one. I shoot several chamberings in the 2100-2300 fps range, and I feel they are more necessary at these pressures.

I've always used the fingernail method. If I can scratch it, it's too soft. Bill T.

Mines the Saeco Lead Hardness Tester by Redding. To me it's been worth the money. I've melted down alot of lead that was of unknown hardness, (old cup sinks and lab window weights mainly). It appeased my curiosity. Plus my neighbor brings a bullet by everynow and then to have checked. Some won't agree, but it's been worth it to me.

Have you considered the new Lee Precision Harness testing kit? Very functional and costs under $40 from Midway.

I just checked several suppliers and it appears that the Lee Lead Hardness Testers are all back-ordered. Has anybody had a chance to use one? If so, how does it compare to the $90 offerings from LBT and Saeco?

Dutch and everyone else.

A friend of mine who calls himself 35remington uses the new Lee Hardness Tester. Some of you may remember 35remington from the Malin Talk Forum. Found it to be very functional and useful. The man is a fanatic about cast bullets.

If anyone would like to ask him about it you can usually find him over on the new Marlin owners forum under the 336 discussion board. www.marlinowners.com

I have had a SAECO lead hardness tester for fifteen years and find it very useful. It has also been learning took when it comes to how age effect bullet hardness. If I lost it, I would buy another.

Here is the cheapest hardness tester, it has been around for a quite a while, I hope there isnt a problem copying it:

"From the Cast Bullet Journal No.129 Sep/Oct 1997 p.15
A simple method for determination of alloy hardness
by David Berry
Staple Penetration in Inches
Arrow T-50 Stapler - 3/8" staples

ALLOY 1 2 3 4 5 Ave BHN
lead 0.102 0.107 0.115 0.109 0.12 0.11 5
WWs 0.209 0.18 0.186 0.177 0.186 0l188 9
2-6Alloy 0.223 0.216 0.217 0.19 0.214 0.212 15
Linotype 0.255 0.24 0.238 0.258 0.234 0.245 22

Using a common staple gun, I have found that measuring the penetration of the staple into an alloy can be used to determine its relative hardness when compared to a series of standard known lead alloys. The staple gun provides a quick and economical means to test hardness of unknown alloys and I have found it to be reliable and accurate.
The process is simple. I merely inject a staple into the alloy sample and measure the portion of the staple that protrudes. I obtain five readings on each know standard, average them a prepare a calibration chart versus known BHN values. A sample chart is shown below. Unknowns are then subjected to the same procedure and resulting measurements are compared to the chart to determine relative hardness.
I first started working on one pound ingots of the same size, but found tat size and shape is not all that important, the sample just needs to be large enough to hold the staple gun against it. I apply about twenty pounds of pressure on each sample (determined with a bathroom scale) while I enject the staple. I have used a Bostich electric staple gun and this also works well. A 3/8" staple is about the largest that can be used, as longer staples deform. This can be overcome by determining the actual penetration, subtracting the protrusion, as measured above, from the total length of the staple post.
I find this to be an extremely easy method to determine alloy hardness. It works very well on odd sample shapes and sizes. Each staple gun must of course be calibrated as well as the batch of staples being used."

Whew! thats a lot of typing, I put this up just for information.
Note: for some reason the columes wont space out, you will have to separate them yourself, they are fine in the draft.

Dutch 4122: Cabelas lists it in their shooting/reloading catalog. I was just in their Kearney, Nebraska store but failed to look and see if they had any in stock. My bluder.

Anyway so far the reviews have come back very positive on the Lee Hardness Tester.

Thanks 7-30 Waters. I'll check out Cabelas.