Idaholewis

I Recieved The 3 Lee R.E.A.L. 250 Grain Bullets From Ron Today, Jon’s Bullets. The appearance was very much that of Pure lead, They look identical to the 3 bullets on the left pictured on the Coat, These were NOT Frosty looking like the 3 on the right. I was Gonna wait til my wife got back from her trip and try to get the Test on Video, She left at 5am this morning and won’t be back til Monday. Instead of waiting I decided to test the bullets by photo, So you will have to take my word for it.

The Way this Tester works is EXTREMELY simple. You never test on the Sprue, You set the bullet by hand and turn the handle until it just grabs the bullet and holds it in place, The dial should read 0, You Take note of where the brass pointer is pointing on the Large Nut (Bottom of picture), As you can see the Cranking handle runs through that Large Nut with the numbers on it, Once you have the bullet Snug in place and the Dial reads 0, You make 1 EXACT full turn and stop on the Number you started, And read the Dial. Then Cross reference that number with Your Cabin Tree Chart. That gives you your Brinell Hardness

These 3 Bullets measured .042, .044, and .045 on my Dial, They are a True 8 BHN, The highest reading i got was the .045 and that was a bullet i tested sideways to Compare, It is VERY close, But i would go with the .042-.044

As you can See from my Chart, 8.5 BHN (My alloy of choice) starts at .045, Jon’s bullets are just under this by 1, and 3 points, Again his bullets are 8 BHN According to my Tester, 8 BHN is actually not that hard, BUT one must remember that Pure lead is 5 BHN, And there is DEFINITELY a difference! I have no doubt a Lead bullet with ANY level of hardness would do VERY well in Ron’s Test

I Start by making sure i have a Nice Flat surface on the Nose, Do this with a File. The Sprue ALWAYS goes against the Spring.


Bullet in place, Dial is on 0, and the Brass pointer at the bottom of this pic is pointing on 2


Make 1 EXACT full turn on the handle and stop on 2 (Where you started), And Read the Dial. As you can see the Dial is on .044 (8 BHN)


Close up of the Dial


Another Test, Bullet filed off sideways (I don’t trust this 1 quite as much, but it’s DARN close) Beginning of the Test


And End of the Test, Note the beginning, and the end, the Brass pointer is on no. 2, Meaning i made 1 Full Turn and the Dial is reading .045, Which would indicate 8.5 BHN, But again I trust the Nose tests, These 3 bullets were 8 BHN

Muley Hunter

They didn't look like pure lead in Ron's test. No expansion.

MountainDevil54

they are perfect in both hardness and penetration.

You sure wouldnt want to test that chilled lead stuff because those bullets are real hard.

No expansion pete? you are full of pooper scoopers! The bullet I tested expanded to .696" diameter. Then again, if they pan caked flat, we'd hear how useless these conicals are because they flattened out and did not exit... right?

The whole argument you 2 made about them was that you both claim Ron shot one of the frosty chilled lead bullets.

Im perfectly happy with the bullet results and hardness. Lead pipe must run a we bit harder, but still perfect for both patched ball and these conicals.

Idaholewis

Here is a picture i just took, The bullet on the left is my REALLY HARD 15 BHN, Bullet on the Right is Pure Lead or Close to it. What this picture is tended to show is the Sprue cuts, Notice the Sprue cut on the Pure lead bullet on the right, it is more of a Smear Cut (my Certified 40:1, 8.5 BHN stil does this EXACT same thing)

Now notice the bullet on the left, it has little holes, More like a Tear. In my experience i have found this starts happening in the 9.5-10 BHN range. This is decent indicator to go by, It’s not gonna give you the precise BHN, But you can definitely determine if a bullet is Soft, or up to around 8.5 BHN if the Sprue is a Smear type Cut, If the Sprue is more of a Tear, with tiny pin looking holes, You can be certain they are Fairly Hard

Muley Hunter

80gr of BH at 25yds into a torture test. I wouldn't call it a lot of expansion. A PRB of pure lead would have flattened.

Muley Hunter

When I saw the test on MM all I said was it doesn't look like pure lead. I never said it was good or bad.

It still doesn't look like pure lead.

MountainDevil54

incorrect pete. I actually shoot animals with round balls and when I recover them, not often... They are pan caked flat with the same lead 54bore tested for us today.

Idaholewis

Jon, I am 100% Guilty, By Ron’s picture of the test bullet, and your pictures of your Soft and Chilled Shot R.E.A.L.s, I SWORE that Ron had the Chilled shot, His test bullet picture and your Chilled shot bullets looked identical to me, That is a prime example of a picture being deceiving.

And after Ron’s Test the recovered bullet looked like what i would expect a HARDER bullet to look like after a test like that.

Pete and myself didn’t think the recovered bullet looked like pure lead? And after Hardness testing these 3 bullets they are not pure lead, Where i am TOTALLY wrong is thinking that you pulled a fast one and sent the Chilled shot bullets, That 1 is on me and i take full credit for it. Fact is the Little 250 Grain bullet at 8 BHN performed FLAWLESSLY. I would be EXTREMELY happy with a Dump truck of that lead pipe! Along with others i know

MountainDevil54

Its no problem bud.

I would be more than happy to send you a few of the chilled lead bullets for hardness testing. They fit a lot more snug in the bore which is what I need. Would be interesting to see what these come in at.

I to would love more lead pipe or roof lead.

Muley Hunter

I don't understand why it matters what the lead is? It's not like you're selling them as pure lead conicals. Use whatever works.

I've found the NoExcuses to be very soft. Compare the lead hardness in yours to his.