Bullet hardness tester

[Shutinlead]

FWIW,
I have several methods, my first was I took an automatic center punch and silver brazed a ball bearing on a tip and use a small pocket scope to measure the diameter of the impression made - but you have to have known materials to establish a base line... over the years I've determined that. I prefer that the most and doesn't require a bullet to be cast, you can check any material and have an idea of what it is... My second tool I gathered up was a Saeco hardness tester - it's made to test a bullet size object which is all fine and dandy but not all of my lead is in bullet form. My most recent method, acquired about 5 years ago off eBay is a Shore Scleroscope - far more than one needs but with a little time working through it - there's no question "knowing" what the hardness of the material is- A little overkill for most- eveytime I use it I spend 30 minutes trying to figure out the operation and working through the details... Lee makes a tester that is similar to my first method and in my opinion if you really want to know your lead hardness and not have to learn and re-learn everytime, it's simple.
My 2 cents.
Greg