Quenching

[relic]

I am new here and spent hours reading various subjects.I dont want to ask the same questions over but do you guys have any idea how much info is in here?My question, do I have to quench my bullets after casting? Using lyman #2 alloy.Only target shooting. 25-20 70 grain and 85 grain flat points.Next, I have 900 plus rounds thru my newly religned mod 92 25-20.I am testing loads and keeping track of every single round.When I figure out how to post pictures I will post some targets.Is it normal for a barrel to need 10 -20 rounds to warm up and shoot better? I know it is cold out now does that make much difference?Sometimes I get really good group 4 touching and 1 will be out a half inch or a little more.70 year old eyes with peep sight at 25 yards.When I know the loads will shoot at 25 I will move out.It just seems as the barrel warms a bit the groups close up. I am also expiermenting with cleaning after a 50 rounds 100-200 etc.That is a whole nother subject. I did go 390 rounds and 395 were all touching.Using LBT soft blue one and two grooves filled on bullets.Has any one done any testing with bullets that have the bases rounded instead of perfectly flat? I have a batch ready to test ,just need to get to my range down the road and try them. Oh I shoot 5 and 10 round groups is one or the other prefered for testing? OK enough for now. Thanks relic

[DLCTEX]

Quenching is not usually necessary on lower velocity boolits, but individual guns vary. You have to experiment with your gun to know what it wants, It may depend on the particular boolit design. As a general rule, quenching will not hurt if proper fit of boolit to gun, but with ill fitting boolits a softer boolit may upset to fill the lead and bore better. As velocity or abruptness of the start (faster powder/more powder) goes up, softer boolits may slump. The barrel needing warming in cold weather may indicate the lube is not a cold weather lube. Check out the sticky on Ben's Red lube. As to rounded bases, if the rounding is perfectly uniform (unlikely) then it will not have bad effects on accuracy. Bevel base boolits are used by many to good effects. When the rounding is not uniform then the gases jetting unevenly at the muzzle will kick the boolit askew at exit.

[williamwaco]

Short answer:

NO.

The old timers shot one hole groups with pure lead. You do not need hard bullets.
You do need the bullets you make to fit properly.
.

[btroj]

I quench out of habit. Others never do.
With Lyman 2 alloy ou don't need to for 25-20. Heck, you don't even need that hard an alloy in the first place
Rounded base are bad. Square, even, nick free bases are the key to accuracy.

In the end you need to find out what our rifle likes. Getting a load that works in your rifle is what matters, how it does in mine means little to yours.

[prs]

Aside from internal ballistics and resistance to barrel leading, hand loading with harder alloy gives us a small edge in avoiding boolit deformation. Once you have all the details worked- out, does no matter so much in that regard.

prs

[cbrick]

For a cartridge with the heaviest boolits and top end loads that barely breaks 25,000 CUP NO, you don't need to quench. It could even be detrimental and cause leading and inaccuracy. What is far more important than harder boolits is a good fit in your firearm.

Rounded bases BAD. My first inspection of my boolits is opening the sprue plate before I open the mold blocks and looking at the bases. There is no easier time to see very vividly any incomplete base and if there one (it happens) it goes straight into the sprue pile, don't care what the rest of the boolit looks like it's no better for shooting for accuracy than shooting the sprues themselves. The base of the boolit steers the boolit.

Good bullet fit in the firearm and perfect bases.

Rick

[runfiverun]

see the above post one more time......
your lube is just taking a little longer to even out in the barell.
i generally soften my lube for winter time use.
1 or even 2 shots is acceptable for the barell to be reconditioned but a long string is not necessary [for target shooting]
for hunting you want that first shot to go where you aim it,this generally means either conditioning the barell before the first shot,or using a lube that is soft/slippery enough to overcome the change of the lube left in the barell.
unfortunatly you really can't find one lube that does it all [yet] where it goes from cold to hot and first shot to long strings.
trust me we are trying to make it happen.

with a shiney new smooth barell a slightly soft lube should be a slightly better shooter anyway.
the older rougher ones seem to like a bit thicker make-up of lube.

[35 Whelen]

I water quench for one reason: I'm in a hurry. I can WQ the bullets and use them immediately. Other than that, it's not really necessary.

35W

[1Shirt]

I water quench everything because it is convenient. I also try to at least size on the same day.
1Shirt!

[Moonie]

I tend to water quench boolits used in semi-auto's and higher velocity rifle rounds.

[on1wheel01]

I quench mine as its just east to drop them in a bucket of water

[dragon813gt]

During the summer I was quenching everything. Now that it's cold I stopped doing it. I forgot how much easier it is to drop them in a bucket full if water. I've had a higher cull rate due to damaged bullets. This has more to do with my current setup but it doesn't happen when the bullets hit the water first.

[MtGun44]

"Water quench to use immediately", LOL. Takes longer to dry them than for them to cool. By the time
my mold is put away and I am ready to size, they are room temp or pretty close.

Water quenched is unnecessary for pistols and for most pistol caliber rifles, all the way up to max magnum
loads. Stuff like Linebaugh and .454 Casul, maybe need it, don't know - never had one, but the normal
magnums don't show any benefits when I have tried it.

Bill

[ohiochuck]

Relic,
Another source of good information is the Marlin Owners Forum under the 25-20. Currently has over 68 pages of info on cast boolits, powders, primers, etc. http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/reloading/26002-25-20-reloaders.html

Jim