Cast Lead Thread ?

[akaroa1]

Nice Hornets, what alloy are you making them out of?

The Hornet bullets were cast pure soft because you can with PC

But didn't shoot well in the vintage hornet I tried them in
I have two other vintage Hornets to test them in yet and have given some to mates to test as well

I will cast and PC some harder alloy of the same bullet and test those also

Soft lead in the Hornet isn't so important anyway
I was just playing with fully soft because it's been a great options in my vintage big bore rifles

[rossi.45]

I didn't put them through the chronograph
The load was straight Nick Harvey's reloading book and half way between the starting and max loads
So 10% more to get to max loads
If the group is still good it will still only be under 1900 fps because barrel is only 14 1/2"

nice group n good speeds . . . can i ask what powder your using ?

[rossi.45]

sorry if this has been asked somewhere else . . what kind of increase in diamater would you expect on a just cast .309 bullet with powder coating ?

[akaroa1]

sorry if this has been asked somewhere else . . what kind of increase in diamater would you expect on a just cast .309 bullet with powder coating ?

I'm consistently getting a 1 thou coating so 2 thou bigger

But I size to fit the gas checks
Or could for gas checks and coat afterwards
So plenty of diameter options for old rifles and worn bores

[Oldbloke]

DIY BRINELL HARDNESS TESTER. ( BHN )
Just found this thread. As mentioned earlier there are a few ways to do this.

Lee test kit. I haven't used this but reports suggest it works fine but a but fiddly to work with.
Pencil test. I have only just seen this. For a quick guide seems sensible but there is a problem. It is a "scratch" test not a true "pressure" or "deformation" test which is what the brinell test is. Scratch is a resistance to wear, not pressure. They are different physical properties.

I don't have a great need as only cast occasionally. So I went down a different track being a tight arse didn't help and into DIY to. lol. I built one and its pretty easy and I've compared it to pure lead seems very accurate. All you need is:

Reloading press.
Some weights.
A PC to use a excel spread sheet.
A small amount of ingenuity.
Some weights. (I use old bar bell training weights)
A PC or mobile app to use an excel spread sheet.
A small amount of ingenuity to make the platform. My platform is a little different to the one on the link. The lead sits on the ram platform and the ball is held above.
Small ball bearing. Say, about 4 to 5mm
Vernier caliper to measure the "dent"
Perhaps a magnifying glass to help with accurate measurements.


Here is the link I got the info from. Its easy to follow and I will upload the excel spread sheet.

https://mountainmolds.com/lyman-bhn-tester/

[Oldbloke]

My tester in action.

[Cordite]

A helpful video on telling whaf wheel weights are made of.
From Youtube channel "Ruger Old Army Girl", now sadly deceased from an illness which is evident in the video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7htLBgWxkp8

[shooternz]

A helpful video on telling whaf wheel weights are made of.
From Youtube channel "Ruger Old Army Girl", now sadly deceased from an illness which is evident in the video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7htLBgWxkp8

The thumbnail test is all you need, Lead Wheel weights can be marked with the thumbnail the others can't, After sorting a few thousand you can identify them by sight
if you don't want to use your own nails a any nail will do

[T.FOYE]

I gave up on the idea of wheel weights. Had a few chances to grab monotype and there's a fella in Onehunga that sells big Toblerone looking bars of regular lead

[T.FOYE]

Hey does anyone make their own gas checks? Any tips on who to get flashing from that comes in .015" thickness?

Ive been emailing a person on ebay (Matteson Eng) who make a set of dies. Looking at getting a custom set to make checks that actually fit the shank of .460 cast bullets. Around .430" x .05" deep cup size will be good i reckon. The hornady ones are for 45acp i assume as you have to snap them on.

Im gonna keep using them as i blast out my cast projectiles as fast as i do jacketted ones. Even though ive dug out non gc bullets from the clay and not witnessed melting or defamation. GC are still neater into the neck when seating, and they help minimise contact with powder / pc on the bullets. They say they clean the barrel but who knows

[No.3]

What material? Mate was making them out of Lion Red cans. Not sure if it had to be Lion Red, but that's what he used. Note he refused to participate in the act of emptying the cans... The method of making the checks was rather crude, a hole punch to make discs and a punch and die that produced a cup that fell straight through into a cup and was ready to be used. Hammer-operated, and I recall it was a mind numbing job. Probably the kind of thing a Lion Red drinker would enjoy to be fair...

[rupert]

@T.FOYE: I am using scrap litho plates which I bought from a metal scrap dealer. The plate measures 0.012" in thickness. I believe that is the standard thickness for litho plate in NZ. There is a member on the cast bullet website Castbullits.com who has been making/selling gas check makers for some years. That is the system I have begun using. I bought the gas check maker second hand from Trademe. The aluminium cans are a bit thin for the tools I have, 0.004". I tried a double layer but did not have any success in making gas checks from the 0.004 x 2 layers.

[No.3]

Yeah, I recall that the one I encountered was made to use the can material as the shim stock. You can buy steel and brass shim stock from engineering supplies outfits by the sheet or the pack, possibly not the cheapest. If you make the punch/die set to suit the stock you have available, that kind of gets around the sourcing issue for shim stock. I don't think there was any functional issue with the can material as far as I can recall, but the die and punch clearances needs to fit the shim stock.

[T.FOYE]

Hey look, I made a firecracker...
OK so I made an error and needed to pull my first batch of 308s put into 30-30 cases. Got 19 out no issues but the last one shed its bloody gas check.
Absolutely no way to safely get that out so it's gonna get a viking funeral

[Squirrel]

I had some like this in 308, just pushed one edge down with screwdriver so it rotates and can then pull out with needle nose pliers. May depend on how much airgap there is