Heat Tempering copper plated bullets ?

[preventec47]

I have some thin copper plated bullets with soft lead cores and
was wondering if anyone has ever heated them up and then
quenched them quickly and caused the lead to get harder ?

Is that possible? or does the lead have to reach molten stage
and then cooled ?

If I were able to do this I would probably want to push them through
a sizer to make sure they were still the correct diameter.

As far as that goes, are their sizers for .401 caliber bullets that I
could put a bullet in and hammer a little bit with a rod to compress
or shorten the bullet a teeney bit ? Just flatten the nose a little
is what I am talking about and take the dish shape out of the
back end of the bullet.

Thanks

[runfiverun]

they are using pure lead is my understanding.
if so, then a heat treat would do nothing except change the color.

[zuke]

Why do so?

[ku4hx]

I have some thin copper plated bullets with soft lead cores and
was wondering if anyone has ever heated them up and then
quenched them quickly and caused the lead to get harder ?

Is that possible? or does the lead have to reach molten stage
and then cooled ?

If I were able to do this I would probably want to push them through
a sizer to make sure they were still the correct diameter.

As far as that goes, are their sizers for .401 caliber bullets that I
could put a bullet in and hammer a little bit with a rod to compress
or shorten the bullet a teeney bit ? Just flatten the nose a little
is what I am talking about and take the dish shape out of the
back end of the bullet.

Thanks

What you're basically describing is tempering. Tempering steel involves locking a specific impurity (carbon for instance) within a certain portion of the material's crystal lattice. There are specific processes that accomplish this.

The lead in plated bullets is not perfectly pure lead, but it's close enough for swaging and the impurities required aren't there in sufficient quantities to allow even rudimentary tempering. Not to mention lead melting at such a relatively low temperature.

But I'm with zuke. Attempting what you describe is akin to bronzing your Olympic gold medal to improve it. Why bother?

[375RUGER]

annealing the jacket? or tempering the jacket? do you want it softer or harder?
the lead will soften and expand inside the jacket and push out before you get the jacket to annealing temp. IMO.
heat one up with a hair drier or in the oven, you'll see.
I'm not sure you can actually temper harden near pure copper. usually quenching and tempering is for the bronze alloys.

[preventec47]

Why do so?

I just wanted harder bullets for many of the same reasons you guys shoot
the hard cast bullets. Basically wanted them to not deform quite so easily
and be more able to withstand higher velocities........

Thanks

[bld451]

Lots easier to acquire casting equipment and cast'em hard. Don't see a way to get there with those bullets.

357Ruger, about the plating, if you heat and quench copper, it will end up totally annealed, dead soft, but you have to get it hot hot (dull cherry red). Pure copper hardens (and not much at that) through working the material. They'll be unuseable before you get there with heat if you're trying to change the plating.

[ku4hx]

I just wanted harder bullets for many of the same reasons you guys shoot
the hard cast bullets. Basically wanted them to not deform quite so easily
and be more able to withstand higher velocities........

Thanks

Boolit casters know the limits and capabilities of their particular alloy and the process in general. Yes we test, but we are all aware of certain boundaries that limit our craft. And those limits may be metallurgical in nature and they may be practical. In the case of what you're wanting to do, attempting to alter the properties of the lead inside a plated shell is just an exercise in futility.

But if you wish to try hardening that lead, please do so and report you findings back here in such a manner that we might all benefit from them if you get the results you want. For that matter if you don't get what you want report that too. We'd all like to know of a process we might use to make a better boolit or processes to avoid for whatever reason.

It's what my mother use to describe as "trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." You might can do it, but considering what you get in the end, the effort is too high to make it worthwhile if not downright impossible.

If you want harder boolits either buy them that way or cast and harden your own. I vote for casting and hardening your own. I did it for decades and the process is both simple and well known.