Some time ago I acquired a lead hardness tester along with a bunch of BPCR related reloading and shooting items, a lot of it came with Browning BPCR rifles I buy and resell. It’s a CabinTree Dual Purpose Tester sold by Jim Cornaggia at CabinTree LLC. I’ve since sold most of the stuff but kept the CabinTree tester even though I also have an LBT tester. So let’s discuss the pros and cons of currently available lead hardness testers.
There may be others, but I’m only aware of four reasonably priced commercial testers on the market for reloaders. They are available from Lee Precision, LBT, SAECO and CabinTree. I have not used the more recent Lee Precision unit, but have used the SAECO, LBT and now the CabinTree tester. Of the three the CabinTree is, in my estimation, by far the best for several reasons I’ll touch on below.
Lee Precision: I’ve heard good things about the Lee Precision unit, especially the price, but it is rather slow to use, requires the use of a pencil-like microscope (included) and somewhat subjective measurements. Plus some setup modification would have to be made to measure large pieces of lead such as 1lb ingots, etc. It requires the use of a cross reference or conversion chart to determine the Brinell hardness number (BHN). For a good article go to
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links).
Midway price $50
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) The
SAECO tester has been around for many years. It certainly has a small and handy form factor but because of the form factor it’s pretty much limited to testing cast bullets. It’s the highest priced of all and requires using a conversion chart to obtain the BHN.
Midway Price $149
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) ===============
Oops, it seem I ran into the 2000 character max. So this is continued on the next post.
Wayne