1st batch of heat treated boollits-oops....

[coverbw]

Well I tried my hand at heat-treating boolits just for **** and giggles. I used a mihec 477 640 pb mould and clip on wheel weight alloy. I didn't have a oven thermometer so I just set my toaster oven to the 450 setting for about an hour. I figured it wouldn't get too hot. I was wrong. After quenching i poured the boolits on a towel to to dry and they sounded like nuts and bolts lol. After inspecting them I could see several of the boolits had what look like they "sweated lead" and a couple had started to slump. I'm coming up with BHN of 33 on my lee hardness tester.

I picked up an oven thermometer for my second attempt and and cooked the boolits for an hour at 450 degrees. After quenching and letting them dry I noticed that I could still scratch them with my fingernail. I figured I had did something wrong or the thermometer was off. I set them aside and forgot about them for a couple weeks. Last night I checked on them and could no longer scratch them with a fingernail. I tested them with the lee tester and I'm coming up with a BHN of 30.

I found it interesting that the set that was right at the slumping point were hard instantly but the second batch took time to harden(same alloy). I'm going to try another batch at 425 and see what happens...

[35 shooter]

I heat treat my ww at 460* for 1 hour and then water quench. They actually harden up pretty quickly after a few hours but are softer like you said right after drying. After 12 hours i can't scratch anything off with a fingernail. I've shot them from a 35 whelen after 48 hours with no decrease in accuracy @ 2400 fps. as compared to waiting any longer.
Oven thermometers are invaluable as you found out as ovens are usually at least 50* hotter than what their settings show....at least in my experience. Only time bhn was tested, it showed 27 bhn but that probably varies lot to lot on ww.

[pls1911]

With the oven thermometer , I heat treat at 450 for an hour and quench in ice water. My alloy is roughly 59/50 WW/ pure lead.
Hardness remains in the mis 20s.

[catskinner]

I use some reject bullets to set the temperature in my oven when I heat treat. Find out what the max temperature will be and then back off a little before I put good bullets in the oven.

[Shiloh]

After quenching and letting them dry I noticed that I could still scratch them with my fingernail. I figured I had did something wrong or the thermometer was off.

Give it time for the treatment to take hold.

Shiloh

[blackthorn]

Poster #4 said "I use some reject bullets to set the temperature in my oven when I heat treat. Find out what the max temperature will be and then back off a little before I put good bullets in the oven."

This is the right answer. Different alloys will melt/slump at different temperatures, so each batch of bullets cast of a "new" alloy have to be tested. You were lucky not to have had alloy running out of your oven!

[Djones]

I use cheap little matching baking pans to hold the bullets and the other as a "lid". This keeps the top bullets from being exposed to direct heat.

[Bullshop Junior]

Why not drop them in a bucket of water right out of the mold?

[DonH]

I did some Thing 20+ years back. I did not have an oven thermometer but sewt oven on 450-475 range.I too let ww bullets "soak" for one hour and quenched in a bucket ov cold water right from the oven. I got 35 on my LBT tester! That is hard; copper is 40bhn.
I didn't want or need bullets that hard so repeated only for 15 minutes and got 21bhn.

If you want less hard bullets go for less time, not lower temp. As I understand it is the hear, just below where the lead starts to go soft that does the trick.

[Djones]

Why not drop them in a bucket of water right out of the mold?

The process of oven heat treating is much more controllable and consistent.

That is unless you are a master caster and can/do control alloy temp, mold temp and time it takes to drop the bullets out of the mold etc!

I find it easier to be "sloppy" on the casting end and the oven heat treating makes up for all of my shortcuts and poor process control during casting!

[Changeling]

The process of oven heat treating is much more controllable and consistent.

That is unless you are a master caster and can/do control alloy temp, mold temp and time it takes to drop the bullets out of the mold etc!

I find it easier to be "sloppy" on the casting end and the oven heat treating makes up for all of my shortcuts and poor process control during casting!

Maybe you should do a search for the correct procedure (and equipment) on casting and water quenching, it takes no time increase, works great with minimal effort.

[coverbw]

Why not drop them in a bucket of water right out of the mold?

I have water dropped bullets before and it worked good. I had never heat treated boolits and figured what the heck! I have no need for boolits that hard in my 475 but it was fun learning something new. I thought it was interesting that the ones that were right at the slump temp hardened much faster.

DonH- I'll try the next batch at 15 min. Thanks for the tip.

I have come to the conclusion that casting/reloading is the ultimate OCD hobby! And I started casting and reloading to save money...lol!

[243winxb]

Q: Is there anything I can do to make the bullets harder?
A: Cast bullets can be heat treated to increase their hardness providing your alloy has some antimony present. To heat treat your bullets: Cast your bullets in the normal manner, saving several scrap bullets. Size your bullets but do not lubricate them. Place several scrap bullets on a pan in your oven at 450 degrees and increase the temperature until the bullets start to melt or slump. Be sure to use an accurate oven thermometer and a pan that will not be used again for food. Once the bullets start to melt or slump, back off the temperature about 5 to 10 degrees and slide in your first batch of good bullets. Leave these in the oven for a half hour. Remove the bullets from the oven and plunge them into cool water. Allow them to cool thoroughly. When you are ready to lubricate, install a sizing die .001" larger than the one used to initially size them. This will prevent the sides of the bullets from work-softening from contact with the sizing die. Next apply gas checks if required and lubricate. These are now ready for loading.
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/faqs/bullet-casting.php The alloy needs at least 2% antimony for heat treating to work. Boolits will fully harder in 2 weeks. If using 6% antimony, boolits will fully harden in about 1 day or less.

[RobS]

Using wheel weight alloy or similar, once heat treated or even water quenched from the mold a person can speed the aging process up by simply waiting some hours later (about 4 hours or so is what I wait) and then heat the boolits back up at 200 degrees for a hour or two. I will also just leave them in the oven to cool back down. Boolits will reach the upper end hardness levels in 24 hours or less. If you are a curious type person you can test the boolits hardness just before reheating up at 200 and then test again right after to see the change in BHN. As a control group simply leave a few out from the 200 degree oven.

Now when others have time, myself included, simply waiting a week or two works just fine however I find "life" getting in the way and when find an opening in my schedule well..................... Anyway I choose to speed age my boolits when needed and it provides me another option.

[jakec]

I have come to the conclusion that casting/reloading is the ultimate OCD hobby!

i think the same thing! i told my gf its perfect for me. when i lose intrest in these little shiny things over here i can go play with the other little shiny things over there! enough different stuff to do to keep my tiny attention span from losing intrest. i can spend hours just organizing (kinda!) my loading and casting bench.

[hickfu]

Ive been water quenching since I started casting but now I want to play around with different bhn's so Im playing around with HT'ing boolits. I have 2 different toaster ovens in my reloading room (1 is a convection) but I have a problem holding the correct temp on the convection oven so I guess I will just use the regular toaster oven... I took a pan and drilled holes in the bottom so when I take it out and put it into the water, the water can come in quicker from the bottom... yeah I have way too much time on my hands and a scattered brain!

Doc