Cheap hardness tester?

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I found this old thread at CastBoolits that looks very interesting.  Does anyone know if it really works?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?69416-Low-cost-Lead-Hardness-Tester

Basically it was take and ingot of lead and an ingot of what you want to measure.  Place a steel ball between the two and smack it with a hammer.
Then measure the indents of both, square the measurements, devide the unknown into the Lead value, then multiply the result by 5 and this should give you the brinell hardness.

Then another person took a spring loaded center punch to do the same thing…

Any thoughts on this?

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[cliftonmorris]

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There are also people who have worked up a hardness table based on which hardness of artists sketch pencils will mark the bullet. Im sure if you search castboolits you can find it. I think that is probably the most repeatable process. Otherwise the SAECO tester seems to have good reviews but is not cheap at about $150.

[dannyhunleyParticipant]

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I use the Lee version.  I have tested it for repeatability and it seems consistent.  It works fine for what I need and the price is reasonable.  Just IMHO.  I hope this helps.

[lar45]

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I think that I’ll try to find somone local that has a hardness tester and compare them side by side to see if it is even close.  If not then I’ll just have to get a regular one.

Thanks
Glenn

[steveleonardParticipant]

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Going through some old copies I keep of interesting articles this weekend, I found an article on using a staple gun and 3/8″ staples for a hardness tester. I think it was with a model T50. I believe you used a known standard sample of different lead alloys and measured the height of the staple shot into it. This gave a way to compare unknown alloy BHN with known alloy samples BHN.

EDIT: This was an article in Journal 129, page 15 of “The Cast Bullet” by David Berry, September-October 1997. “The Cast Bullet” was a publication of the Cast Bullet Association prior to “The Fouling Shot”.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?7984-Cheap-way-to-test-Lead-Cast-hardness

Another method is discussed on “The Cast Boolit” forum using various pencils of a particular hardness to estimate the hardness, depending on which pencil hardness designation scratches the alloy.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?75455-Testing-hardness-with-pencils

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