Water Dropping Same As Air Cooling Hard Alloy Mix?

[emrah]

Ok, so I cast pure wheel weights and usually water-drop. Mostly because it's real easy and convenient (pour out the water in the bucket and there's your boolits, all nicely contained in one place). I don't mix in any other metals or alloys like Linotype, tin, etc. Wouldn't even know where to begin even if I wanted to. Might sound lame to you more seasoned casters, but honestly, it sounds like too much math and too much work.

Anyway, I know you can get hard(er) boolits by mixing alloys. You can also get hard boolits by water dropping. So, for you guys who want a hard boolit, if given the option, do you water-drop or mix alloys to get the hardness you want?

I realize there's a big difference between pure, air cooled lead (under 9 BHN) and one that's water dropped (20-25+ BHN???). But let's say you wanted a very hard boolit; would you substitute water dropping for alloying? Do they "end up" the same?

Emrah

[runfiverun]

what do you want the boolit for?
for hunting at velocity then the water manipulated softened alloy would be the better option.
if you need to make the nose or body of the boolit larger, then the harder alloy is the better option
or you have to change the mold itself.
but if you need options for the mold then a pairing of the two options can be viable.

if you just want to push the boolit hard for targets or whatever then alloy manipulation will be your best bet.
you can waterdrop or heat treat the harder alloy too ,you won't gain as much hardness for what's in it, but it will get harder.

[bobthenailer]

I water drop all of my WW cast bullets reguardless of caliber & velocity .
You are correct in your hardness numbers for water dropped WW I get between 25 to 30 bhn.
If you mix 50% ww with 50% lead they will water drop to about 15 bhn , but is only usefull if your mould will cast bullets large enough for your purposes with that alloy.
I usually can only do 75% WW & 25% lead with some moulds. since most moulds are spc with lyman #2 or lwarence mag or in the case of RCBS there rifle & sil moulds are done in lino ,
I only in some instances add tin , lino or mono type to WW alloy .

[Defcon-One]

I like softer lead, properly lubed & fit to the bore. I never water drop.

I do mix my alloys to meeet my needs. I avoid the math and hassles by using Bumpos calculator (found on this site somewhere) to do all the thinking for me. I Punch in the amount of WW I want to use in pounds then ad Tin and Lino as required until the output fileds say what I want by %. Then I just mix those amounts of each metal and melt together and I have my alloyed ingots ready for casting.

No water on my casting table!

DC-1

[white eagle]

never ever hardly w/d any boolits
like you another move that is unnecessary

[Calamity Jake]

No WD here, if I want them hard I oven HT or do about the same as Defcon-one

[dnotarianni]

3 parts isotope 1 part WW water drop at 15 age to 22 after a week.
Dave

[excess650]

My mix drops around 12bhn, but is water dropped and hardens to about 15-18bhn in 3-5 days. I can push 'em pretty fast, but they're low enough in antimony content so as to no be brittle.

I have another pot with "soft" mix in. Typically its 25-1 or similar in hardness, and usually just dropped on a towel.

Its been a while since I did a straight up test, but I recall my water dropped alloy reached peak hardness in 3-5 days but air cooled it took a couple of weeks and didn't get as hard.

[emrah]

Dumb question: what is an "isotope" with regard to casting?

Emrah

[Defcon-One]

"Isotope Lead" is lead from the containers that they ship nuclear medicines and x-ray procucts in. They are lead cylinders or plugs that are standardized into two types at 2.5% Sn, 2.5% Sb, 95% Pb and 1% Sn, 3% Sb, 95% Pb, so they make great bullet alloy as is. Just melt them down. Very pure no fuss alloy.

I love the large cores (1% Sn, 3% Sb, 95% Pb)!


Go here for much more:

http://www.fellingfamily.net/isolead/

[fredj338]

"Isotope Lead" is lead from the containers that they ship nuclear medicines and x-ray procucts in. They are lead cylinders or plugs that are standardized into two types at 2.5% Sn, 2.5% Sb, 95% Pb and 1% Sn, 3% Sb, 95% Pb, so they make great bullet alloy as is. Just melt them down. Very pure no fuss alloy.

I love the large cores (1% Sn, 3% Sb, 95% Pb)!


Go here for much more:

http://www.fellingfamily.net/isolead/

Now the big question, where do you score such tasty treats as iso containers? I can't imaine it's as easy as hitting up the x-ray tech at the local hospital.