Old thread!

Pure lead is BHN 5.

For duplicating the "FBI Load" you want a LSWCHP that is very soft... pure lead. BHN 5.

For duplicating the Buffalo Bore 20A "Heavy" load you, likewise, want a LSWCHP that is very soft... except that in that case you also want it gas-checked. Rim Rock, who actually makes the bullets Buffalo Bore uses in that load, clearly state that their bullets are BHN 5.

I've always assumed Hornady and Speer swaged bullets are BHN 5 or thereabouts. But they've always been pretty tight-lipped about that. Not doubting what you were told, noylj, but I confess I'd be completely and utterly shocked to find Hornady is BHN 13! Heck, a bullet that has a BHN of 10 is four times as hard as a bullet that is BHN 5. They've never felt that hard to me. I think I have an old box or two back on the shelf somewhere... if I do maybe I'll run 'em through the hardness tester this weekend.

The dirty little secret of the commercial cast bullet world is the need for extremely hard lead bullets - BHN's of 18, 20, and on north. The real reason they make their bullets that hard isn't because it makes them better... they make them that hard so their bullets won't become dented and deformed during shipping. But, hey, why get in the way of a good story! A good marketing department has to earn its keep!

But you'd have surprised Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton and the rest of those boys who mostly dropped 10-13 BHN bullets from their moulds.