Too hard!!!

[Deadeye]

I cast a few bullets a while back & they ended up too hard (29bhn after quenching). I want to soften this batch (approx 10lbs). I have some lead roofing pipe jacks that are pure lead.

I'm thinking they would have ended up at about 25-26bhn without quenching.
I would like to see 20+or-.

How much roofing lead would you add?

[Ricochet]

Do you really think you'll see any difference in how they shoot between 25 and 29 BHN?

Just wait a few months and they'll go back down that much.

[dubber123]

If they are WW boolits, heating them in an oven to 425° and then quenching gives me right around the 20 bhn # you are looking for. If it's another alloy besides WW, you're on your own for a re-heat treating temp.

If you melt them and re-cast, I would add 2# pure to your 10# batch.

[grumpy one]

I cast a few bullets a while back & they ended up too hard (29bhn after quenching). I want to soften this batch (approx 10lbs). I have some lead roofing pipe jacks that are pure lead.

I'm thinking they would have ended up at about 25-26bhn without quenching.
I would like to see 20+or-.

How much roofing lead would you add?

There is no way an air-cooled cast bullet can be 25 BHN unless it is pure typemetal, and it would have to be one of the exotics at that: pure linotype, air-cooled is only 22 BHN.

Air-cooled straight WW comes out at a consistent 10.4 to 10.7 BHN when I cast it.

[Deadeye]

They are cast from WW & Tin solder, I just put too much tin in the mix.
I would like them to be at 18-20bhn.

[NSP64]

try heating them to 450 in the oven and let them sit and cool off.

[runfiverun]

you would have had to put 20% tin in them to get that hard.
to de-temper you only need to hold them at 250 for about an hour. will get you down to about 21 or so.
but if you are using tin and lead [no antimony] then water dropping or heat treating won't work.

[Deadeye]

I heated them to 450 for an hour & let them cool. They came out at 13bhn. :???:

Could somebody please explain the 16point difference here? I would never have thought quenching could make them that much harder. Is that big of a spread even possible.

I don't have a hardness tester (can't afford one right now), I mail them to a friend who tests them for me. I'm beginning to wonder about the accuracy of his testing method.

These bullets are cast from WW lead (mostly clip-on with some stick-on) & 50/50 solder. I just guesstimated how much solder to add.

I only heat treated a few bullets, still have almost 300rds. that I need to do something with. I'm still shooting for 18-20bhn. Should I heat treat them at a lower temp? At this point I don't know weather to **** or wind my watch!

[runfiverun]

for about 18 bhn all you need to do is water drop your ww's with tin mix and wait about 3 weeks.
the water pulls the antimony to the surface causing the exterior hardness.
i have used the waterdropping method and the alloy method to get almost the same hardness and the only thing i have noticed between them is that the alloyed ones are more brittle when hitting the berm.

[454PB]

You could just store them for a year. Heat treating goes away with time.

[jhalcott]

I'm wondering what you are using 20+ bhn bullets for? MY ww alloy runs around 13BHN ( no stick ons). I've killed quite a few animals with this alloy from ground hog to big Maine deer. I use it in rifles at 2000+ fps or handguns at 800 to 2200. From .22 to 45-70 caliber.