Pistolero
Well-Known Member
I bought a few hundred pounds of mixed SAECO and LYMAN home cast ingots from a guy who
got them from a friend's estate.
Most are marked with a stamp. LOTS have "333", many say "LEAD" (got that one figured), some
say "TIRE WT" (yep, figured that one, too). Some say "HV", thinking 'high velocity' maybe a harder
alloy? So, I finally broke out the LBT tester and filed a nice flat on a number of them and started
testing. Two "tire wt" ingots went at 13.5 and 14 BHN, right in there, as expected. The HV was 11.5 BHN,
hmmm, no clue what HV might have meant. I was guessing that the 333 might be alloy percentages,
3Sn-3Sb-3As ??, they tested 12 BHN, so kinda like low end WWts, IME. The LEAD tested well below 5 BHN,
so that was accurate!
Any ideas on "HV" or "333"? The guy was an old timer bullet caster, even older than me - I started in
the later 1970s. Maybe those might have been more common alloy designations way back when.
Bill
got them from a friend's estate.
Most are marked with a stamp. LOTS have "333", many say "LEAD" (got that one figured), some
say "TIRE WT" (yep, figured that one, too). Some say "HV", thinking 'high velocity' maybe a harder
alloy? So, I finally broke out the LBT tester and filed a nice flat on a number of them and started
testing. Two "tire wt" ingots went at 13.5 and 14 BHN, right in there, as expected. The HV was 11.5 BHN,
hmmm, no clue what HV might have meant. I was guessing that the 333 might be alloy percentages,
3Sn-3Sb-3As ??, they tested 12 BHN, so kinda like low end WWts, IME. The LEAD tested well below 5 BHN,
so that was accurate!
Any ideas on "HV" or "333"? The guy was an old timer bullet caster, even older than me - I started in
the later 1970s. Maybe those might have been more common alloy designations way back when.
Bill