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Re: 10 to .5 alloy

Posted: 21 Nov 2021 15:58
by Gunny268
I'm one of those guys who has been molding my own slugs for about 40 years. Every time I cast a batch I learn something new or probably something I have known but didn't think about. Way, way back, I checked several alloys of a known BHN and by trial and error came up with a chart that I would use to check the BHN of an unknown alloy. How it works is, take a piece of alloy of unknown BHN and pushing the pencil (by its long axis) you'll see if the pencil would write on the alloy but not scratch it. When you finally find a pencil that will scratch the alloy, you know the approximate hardness of the alloy. The pencil hardness is a little harder than the alloy. The chart below works pretty well cause I verified it, as best I could, years ago using an LBT tester. You can find most of what you need in one of those art pencil kits at Hobby Lobby or such. Watch a couple of vids on ByoobToob and you'll get the idea. Hope this helps.

Pencil Hardness = BHN
6B 4-5 (Pure Lead)
5B 7-8
4B 9
3B 10
2B 11-12
B 13
HB 14-15
F 16-18
H 20-22
2H 26-28

Re: 10 to .5 alloy

Posted: 22 Nov 2021 22:14
by Reese-Mo
GasGuzzler wrote:Gas checks are NOT cheap. I tried Sage's aluminum checks two different times and neither did I find them to fit. They were "gator check" brand...
I see 'em for about $42/1000 units. I dunno if that's panicdemic pricing, or more or less normal. My memory sez they should be cheaper than that, but I've not looked at gazz cheks for a while.

Re: 10 to .5 alloy

Posted: 23 Nov 2021 12:35
by Gunny268
Hornady makes gas checks for everybody (some are even packaged in "Vanity" brands). I use 'em on 357 and 30-30 ammo, but prefer plain base lead bullets in everything less than 1200 fps. Chamber pressures will always dictate the Brinell hardness for lead projectiles.
Current pricing is about $30.00 to no more than $36.00 per box of 1000 checks. If an advertised price as higher than that, then Reese-Mo is correct in the pandemic (scalpers) pricing. Not happy the pricing jumped 2 1/2 times more than what I was paying for them 2 years ago. You can make your own gas checks, but I tried that and wasn't happy with the results. Also, you'll have to get molds with the base shank for gas checks.

Re: 10 to .5 alloy

Posted: 23 Nov 2021 14:22
by Johnnyjr
I just use card wads now

Re: 10 to .5 alloy

Posted: 24 Nov 2021 06:12
by GasGuzzler
Yes, the Hornady .35 and .30 gas checks actually fit. I don't keep .45 gas checks because my Colt and AUTO don't need them.