heat treating

[csmopar]

Question,

I've got some old .45 ACP RN cast boolits, probably about 15 years old or so, been stored in an old 50 cal ammo can. Should I heat treat them and then lube/size them or size/lube, then heat treat?

[theperfessor]

What do you mean by heat treat? If you get them hot enough to harden them by quenching you will melt the lube off anyway.

Are you sure they need hardening for .45 ACP purposes? If they are the right size and you get good lube on them they should be fine.

[runfiverun]

ayep...

[csmopar]

What do you mean by heat treat? If you get them hot enough to harden them by quenching you will melt the lube off anyway.

Are you sure they need hardening for .45 ACP purposes? If they are the right size and you get good lube on them they should be fine.

Yes, harden them by quenching, I was under the impression that cast bullets can soften over long periods of time and that I would need to harden them to use them?

[paul h]

So long as the lube isn't oxidized and cracked, I'd just load them and shoot them. Not knowing what allow was originally used to cast the bullets, it's hard to say whether or not they have softened, or by how much. That said, a 45 acp is about as cast friendly as it gets, and I'd wager your bullets will shoot just fine so long as the lube is still good. Given them a tumble lube wouldn't hurt either.

[45-70 Chevroner]

If they have not been sized and lubed already, which is what it sounds like. I would either tumble lube them or size and lube them. I have about 3000 Lyman 44 mag boolits that are over 20 years old, unsized and unlubed. I will size & lube them just like they are and shoot them up if I live long enough. I'm not sure how hard they are but if I need harder ones I would rather cast some more and water drop them.
Correction! I only have 2000 of the 44 boolits.

[mpmarty]

You don't need hard boolits in a 45acp. Pure soft lead would probably work fine as long as the feed ramp doesn't catch them as they cycle.