Black Powder Rifle Ammunition - Testing the Lee Lead Hardness Testing Kit

In this video the Lee led hardness tester is put to the test showing the full procedure using a variety of different test bullets from both commercial and homemade varieties. The determination is made to see if the lead that is in the home casts is soft enough for the muzzle loader as compared to the pure lead bullets. The variety tested is for the Tradition Hawken 50 caliber as well as the Connecticut arms.
Lead purity is critical when making your own rounds for muzzle loading weapons. Both for safety and accuracy.
Pure lead is generally cut with Tin and Antimony to increase hardness and desirable in modern firearms, but not in muzzleloaders. The BHN is a measurement of lead hardness and thus purity.
The commercial rounds tested were Hornady.
Thanks to Buffalo Bills shooting gallery in winter park..
technocoma.blog...

[@PilotMcbride]

Many years ago when I was fit enough to use the muzzleloaders I had a big old Brown Bess with a 44" barrel. It was a coincidence that one day we had telephone techs working out the front of our house doing a major cable splice using a lead "torpedo", and they stuffed it up. Well, after the colourful language and blame game ended I confronted the guys as they were not happy about taking the destroyed unit back to their workshop. Pure lead!!! I made so many 75cal, 45cal balls and 58cal minis out of that thing it wasn't funny, it weighed a ton (figuratively of course), gave the remainder to a friend (about 1/3) when I could no longer use my smoke-poles due to health. Sadly he passed not so long ago and his son brought back the last remaining piece, about 2", as a keepsake for me.
Thanks for posting this, very informative, really enjoyed watching.
Cheers from Down Under
(where the men fart like thunder)

[@retrotechandelectronics]

If I had that much lead land in my lap I would probably make my own roundball en masse' again

[@larslutton2925]

the standard rule of thumb in black powder round ball lead is if it can be scratched by your fingernail-be curious to know if your 'homemade' balls pass that test?

[@retrotechandelectronics]

The homemade shown to be of greater hardness are significantly more difficult to push down the barrel than the pure lead store bough bullets as a first indication. Im sure there are accuracy differences when using inconsistent mixtures, though this becomes somewhat subjective