PacMan
07-08-2011, 06:27 PM
Lot of you guys already know this i am sure but for those that do not here it is.
In Verals Smith book be describes annealing cast bullets.
The ideal is to take a hard bullet and make it softer. Instructions are to place any lead alloy in an oven for 1 hr. at 350 deg. and then let cool. The slower the cool rate the softer the bullet up to a point. Wheel weights showed the annealed hardness would be 12 bhn if cooled slowley.
The hitch is that after approx 2 weeks the alloy will return to its orginal air cooled hardness approx 14 bhn for ACWW.
Wanting the 14 bhn of ACWW you would still have to wait the two weeks or so.
I decided to cast some up using my ww and 1% tin and water drop them and then anneal once they reached a high bhn than 14. After about 8 hrs and they were at 20 bhn i put them in the oven at 350 deg. I took some out at diffrent times and will not get into that right now but after 1 hr i let some of them slowly cool down in the oven which took a while.
Some were droped into uncooled water and some let cool at room temp. approx. 70 deg.
Results are.
Oven cooled 12 bhn
Air cooled 14 bhn
Water droped approx 14 bhn.
This was two days ago and i beleive that the air cooled and water droped are stablized enough that the reading should remain the same.
Just as info.
Dwight
In Verals Smith book be describes annealing cast bullets.
The ideal is to take a hard bullet and make it softer. Instructions are to place any lead alloy in an oven for 1 hr. at 350 deg. and then let cool. The slower the cool rate the softer the bullet up to a point. Wheel weights showed the annealed hardness would be 12 bhn if cooled slowley.
The hitch is that after approx 2 weeks the alloy will return to its orginal air cooled hardness approx 14 bhn for ACWW.
Wanting the 14 bhn of ACWW you would still have to wait the two weeks or so.
I decided to cast some up using my ww and 1% tin and water drop them and then anneal once they reached a high bhn than 14. After about 8 hrs and they were at 20 bhn i put them in the oven at 350 deg. I took some out at diffrent times and will not get into that right now but after 1 hr i let some of them slowly cool down in the oven which took a while.
Some were droped into uncooled water and some let cool at room temp. approx. 70 deg.
Results are.
Oven cooled 12 bhn
Air cooled 14 bhn
Water droped approx 14 bhn.
This was two days ago and i beleive that the air cooled and water droped are stablized enough that the reading should remain the same.
Just as info.
Dwight