Can anyone tell me what hardness that cast LSWC's would be from straight wheel weight material

I HAVE NEVER TESTED THE HARDNESS BUT ALL I HAVE EVER USED IS STRAIGHT WHEEL WEIGHTS AND THEY WORK FINE FOR THE LAST 34 YEARS. JUST KEEP THE METAL FLUXED AND MIXED WHILE CASTING.

Im with ya there for sure. Was basically wondering about hardness as compared to shrinkage. From what Ive been reading the harder a "slug" is the smaller is might be and that leads to leading in the barrel if you are really driving them.

With clip-on wheel weights, my bullets come out at 11 BHN.

Don

AND you can improve the hardness by dropping them from the mould into a 5-gal bucket of cold water. Just be scrupulously careful not to get any water on the mould, or into your pot, as it can result in a small steam explosion which can splatter hot lead all over the room, including you.
What I do is to drop them onto a sloped burlap surface where they then roll into the bucket.
.44 cal. Keith bullets cast this way can be driven out of my .44 Spls. by Elmer's load of 17.5 gr. 2400 with no leading. Works well with his 170 gr.
.357 SWC as well.

Just my experience,
Larry

Greetings
Generally the harder the bullet the LESS it will shrink..
WW generally holds fairly well to cast size.

Typically I test my wheel weight bullets at 11 or 12 BHN with a Lee hardness tester. Neat little tool that dont cost much. I have not found dropping the bullets into cold water to change anything. Sorry, but lead aint steel and it just does not work that way. It also does not "work harden" either, like some metals {brass for instance.} You make lead harder by adding antimony...softer by adding tin. Very important to keep it well stirred when casting because the antimony tries to seperate and floats on top...that light gold colored spider web looking stuff you see when casting is the antimony coming to the top and if you see it you need to flux and stir or your bullets will be softer than they should be.
Not sure that a few BHN numbers one way or the other would necessarily cause lead to shrink or swell enough to be detectable, it is very dense and really dont shrink or grow either way that I can tell...I have cast and shot lead bullets for 30 years and I will tell you this, for certain the biggest factor affecting a cast bullet leading up the bore is the powder you load with, not the hardness, not the alloy and definately not the lube or size you make it. Fast burning powders that shoot "clean" cause alot of leading. Slower burning powders that leave alot of unburned residue will generally not lead much at all.

Pure wheel weights are about 12BHN. Water drop them and it will rise to 20BHN depending on the amount of arsenic in them.

No, lead is not steel and wheel weights are not just lead. Tin doesn't soften, it hardens. If you read Elmer Keith at all you will see a "hard" alloy for him was 10:1, lead to tin while a normal alloy was 16:1.

If you want to know more about cast bullets, there is a forum dedicated to them. The people there are great and will help you through just about any problem you have. Some will get kind of smart with you, but hey, you are the one asking the questions!

I haven't cast as long as some. I have cast long enough to know first hand how things work. Water dropping or even oven heating after casting and then water dropping will make bullets harder than you will ever need for most handgun loads.

What causes the worst leading is size. If you have too small of a bullet, it doesn't matter how hard it is, it is going to lead. If you have too soft of a bullet and drive them too hard, it is going to lead. The only time I haven't had a problem with leading is when the size of my bullets are at least .001" over bore size. I can make them as hard as I want, sometimes I add Linotype (which has a high tin content), and shoot them slow or fast, and I get no leading.

I have some pistol caliber carbines I throw lead chunks out of that are traveling over 1800fps, no leading. Why? Because they fit the barrel, period.

As Skip said, size is the most important factor. I shoot 50/50 clip on to stick on WWs at 1750 fps without leading, but I size at .359" for .38 Special and .357 Mag.

Lead will work harden some, so I never file a flat spot when I check hardness. Normally, I just check ingots that are already flat.

Mucho THANKS guys. I got some really good info.

...............

__________________
Andy

Here's a post I made on another forum about my methodology in respect to hardness testing with the Lee Tester.