Casters. What hardness lead are you using to cast 45 lswc?

I just picked up a Lee aluminum 6 cavity 200 grain LSWC mold that is a copy of the H&G 68. I'm looking to cast up some for practice, and short line use, and wonder what you casters are using for lead hardness on the low end target loads.

9(ish) is what I try for.  I use reclaimed range scrap from our indoor range when I smelt it down.  Very little dirt.

Works for both short & long line bullets.

Al


PS:  As was mentioned, knowing what your exact BN hardness is, isn't crucial for casting bullets that will shoot good groups.  Bore fit is paramount, followed by perfect bases. As far as a hardness level, anything from 8-11 will work in our low pressure loads quite well. When you're pushing a 200 gr bullet at 650-800 fps you can shoot any bullet in that hardness range.  The softer ones will obturate and seal the bore easier than those on the harder end of the scale.

An important thing is to have a repeatable mix that you can work with. Not all hardness levels shoot the same load/bullet the same.

This won't do you any good but I'm using wheel weights and I don't know anything about hardness or changing it. Make ingots, make bullets, and tumble lube. No sizing. Although my gun is getting rebarreled soon so the new barrel will dictate if I need to size or change molds.

Tim:H11 wrote:This won't do you any good but I'm using wheel weights and I don't know anything about hardness or changing it. Make ingots, make bullets, and tumble lube. No sizing. Although my gun is getting rebarreled soon so the new barrel will dictate if I need to size or change molds.

What bullet are you casting? Ive only used lubsizers, and never tumble lubed before. Depending on the size the mold drops I may not size. I have a old well used barrel in the gun, and shes a bit sloppy!!

I dont test for hardness, except using my thumb nail.

Very soft, near pure lead alloy will cause* the bullet nose to deform for me. It has even caused feeding problems when the nose sticks on the ramp. Shooting a very old Gold Cup 45 .

 The base of a flat base bullet may deform , on firing, as lead is swagged towards the base, if the alloy is to soft.

Doesn't seem to matter with a bevel base.

I now add some linotype to all scrap, even wheel weights. 

s1120 wrote:

Tim:H11 wrote:This won't do you any good but I'm using wheel weights and I don't know anything about hardness or changing it. Make ingots, make bullets, and tumble lube. No sizing. Although my gun is getting rebarreled soon so the new barrel will dictate if I need to size or change molds.

What bullet are you casting? Ive only used lubsizers, and never tumble lubed before. Depending on the size the mold drops I may not size. I have a old well used barrel in the gun, and shes a bit sloppy!!

I'm using a Lee Aluminum 2-Cavity Mold for a .452, 200gr LSWC with a lube grove for a lube and sizer but I don't. I just tumble lube with Lee's Liquid Allox. It's not a great mold. It's a budget mold. It heats up too fast and slows production. Good for the hobbiest but for a competitive shooter I'd say get something that puts out more than two or at least a good steel mold. 

I shoot a Range Officer upper on a Mil Spec lower (both Springfield) and use the factory barrel/bushing etc. but again the gun is soon to see an over haul.

Tim:H11 wrote:

s1120 wrote:

Tim:H11 wrote:This won't do you any good but I'm using wheel weights and I don't know anything about hardness or changing it. Make ingots, make bullets, and tumble lube. No sizing. Although my gun is getting rebarreled soon so the new barrel will dictate if I need to size or change molds.

What bullet are you casting? Ive only used lubsizers, and never tumble lubed before. Depending on the size the mold drops I may not size. I have a old well used barrel in the gun, and shes a bit sloppy!!

I'm using a Lee Aluminum 2-Cavity Mold for a .452, 200gr LSWC with a lube grove for a lube and sizer but I don't. I just tumble lube with Lee's Liquid Allox. It's not a great mold. It's a budget mold. It heats up too fast and slows production. Good for the hobbiest but for a competitive shooter I'd say get something that puts out more than two or at least a good steel mold. 

I shoot a Range Officer upper on a Mil Spec lower (both Springfield) and use the factory barrel/bushing etc. but again the gun is soon to see an over haul.

Ya, I know its not the best. Most people seem to like the bigger 6 hole molds, then the smaller 2 hole ones. Maybe just the extra mass make them cast with a little less effort. All my other molds are old lyman ones. Right now I'm shooting a vary old Remington Rand that was adapted to bullseye shooting back in the 60's. Its a fun history lesson on the line.

some hardness charts  here for popular mixes.

also some approx. combinations you can use to harden different mixes

http://www.lasc.us/castbulletalloy.htm#alloyrecipes

You can use any hardness you want for target bullets. There are several companies that swage bullets of near pure lead.