A couple of questions or experiments

[shooter93]

We all know about water quenching or heat treating cast WW's. Has anyone here ever experimented with water quenching into boiling water or when heat treating....standing the bullets in a container and plunging them into very cold water but only up to the first or second driving band?.. I know the temperature difference is minimal...but would it in the case of quenching in boiling water give a hardness inbetween air cooled and regular water dropping? And in the case of heat treating...would the base area be measurably harder with softness growing towards the nose?

[jhalcott]

I THINK the water turning to steam will tumble your bullets over and cool the whole thing. As for using BOILING water ,a splash from that is worse than one from a cold water dip. Standing the finished bullet in a shallow pan with water over the driving band and heating the nose with a propane torch MAY get you a soft nose. I could never quite get the hang of it though!

[docone31]

With the low temperature of lead, I doubt very much there would be any measureable difference.
I would think, the casting would almost have to be semi liquid to enact any difference.
When I worked with steels, when I either oil, or water quenched, there was a major temperature difference between the quenching medium and the steel. Then, the stellatite layer could be produced.
This will be an interesting thread. If someone did indeed test quenching methods to produce hardening, both surface or alloy through heat treatment.
Now, short duration quenching, I wonder if that might be an asset to the finished casting.
Of course, during a "normal" casting session, how in the dickens would someone be able to control the quench?
The Buffalo hunters of your, from what I have read, used a two part casting. Soft casting for the nose, quenched for the final casting.
My wonder, how in the dickens did someone put a small casting in the nose of an hot mold, then cast the main body? Also, how did they keep the casting together after casting? I can visualize a multitude of nose shapes with a spud to hold the projectile together.
I have heard of that done. I never have done it, nor could I figuire it out at this time. I am still dealing with wrinkles. I like to keep it simple. All the wonder castings in the world mean nothing, if I cannot hit what I am aiming at.

[theperfessor]

Check the sticky in the "Molds maintenance and Design" section for a good thread on casting soft nose bullets from conventional bullet molds.