Sizing Vs. Hardness

[Shiloh]

I usually cast my boolits and size as I load them, Does sizing affect the hardness of a boolit. It maybe an option in the future when I know which size best fits each rifle, but until then, I size and lube just prior to seating. Let me know folks. TIA:-D

Shiloh

[Ricochet]

Working lead cold softens it. Check out the swaged Speer bullets sometime.

[Shiloh]

Does this affect the whole boolit or just where the size/lube die touches it??:?:

Shiloh

[Char-Gar]

Sometimes in this cast bullet shooting, we like to "major on the minor". The cuss, discuss and bat about all the fine point of of alloy metals, sizing and so on.

Most often it doesn't mean a thing. I cast bullets from three basic alloys, AAWW, No. 2 and linotype. When they are cast I store them raw in bulk. When I am getting ready to load, I pull them out and size or whatever, for the individual rifle. I don't worry if they have lost or gain some hardness or what, when and how much to size them to retain hardnes. There is plenty of latitude in each alloy for the various changes that age and sizing bring about.

I am currently sizing and shooting a batch of 311467 (linotype) I cast in 1982. I cast several thousand of them, and they have been lost for over 23 years until I found them again. They work just fine.

If, I were into some very high level of shooting competition where every tiny fraction of an inch might mean the difference between winning and losing, I would buy foundry fresh alloy and then worry about all of this stuff..but I don't do that. What me worry?

[Shiloh]

Thanks. Kinda what I thought. These are basic "shooter" rifles. '03's and Krags.
I'm not talking about some high precision match rifle that may possibly realize the
dis/advantage of these boolits. Thanks for the responses

Shiloh

[leftiye]

Chargar's point is well met. Nevertheless, size as little as possible. If you are going to heat treat, size beforehand. If you set some basic guidelines, some of the finer points are as easy to apply as any other method might be.