This was probably my biggest issue when starting off. The only real information available for alloys came from books (like todays readers, but without batteries
), magazine articles, and advice from people who really didn't know what they were talking about. The local scrap yard would sell me whatever I wanted back in those days, and my alloy of choice starting out was linotype. It was cheap, and readily available at about 35 cent/lb. BTW, I still have some that I paid 35 cents/lb for. No, I'm not interested in doubling my money for it
. It worked of course, but I'm never the type to be satisfied after trying one single method, and I just knew that Lymans #2 alloy was superior, Skeeter said so. From there it was wheelweights, scrap lead, and mystery metal. I didn't realize in those days that there were ways of testing bullet hardness beyond the fingernail test. Yup, that's pretty hard! As my income improved and I could buy stuff, I bought my first hardness tester, a SAECO. This tester requires the user to cast a bullet for testing, and the results are evaluated on a chart. This method advanced my knowledge greatly, but I knew there was more to it than this, so I went through a series of testers and methods of determining bullet hardness. Remember, these were pre-internet days. We didn't even know that there would even
be computers at that point, so look at the screen in front of you and be thankful for the information it brings you every day. Information is what this is all about.
