When to run through the sizer?

[Hairy Clilpper]

I have been casting boolits since about 1973 and have always let them cool and then size them. However, with the things I read about hardness peaking about two weeks after being cast, I now wonder if this is the right thing to do. SHould I be waiting for a couple of weeks or?

Any recommendations?

Hairy

[MT Gianni]

Size as soon as convinient unless you are water dropping then size ASAP.

[Gunslinger]

Size as soon as convinient unless you are water dropping then size ASAP.

Please define ASAP?! Within 1 hour? 4 hours?? I assume it can be a pain to have to size them so quickly after casting. You would have to run back and forth between the sizer and the (still hot?) pot in order to do this... Or maybe it's just me :violin:

[arcticbreeze]

Foe me when water dropped ASAP means with in a day or 2. However I don't water drop hardly anything any more.

[snaggdit]

Foe me when water dropped ASAP means with in a day or 2. However I don't water drop hardly anything any more.

+1 on 1 or 2 days for water dropped. Same day if possible, but within 2 is OK. Air cooled, I size within a week or so. I pan lube many of my air cooled pistol boolits so after casting I usually need 3 hours to lube up 1000 boolits. Often this ends up being several days. Then I size the ones that need it and that helps squish the lube into the grooves. Those that are already at cast diameter for use just get added to containers for rapid use... Gotta load um to shoot um!

[Nora]

Size as soon as convenient unless you are water dropping then size ASAP.

I've seen this in many places, and will not dispute the validity of it, I just don't sweet it myself. I water drop almost everything I'm going to feed to a rifle and size when I get to it. If you don't do it right a way, it will just take a little more muscle to push them thew. I'm in the middle (have a lee reloader press mounted on my comp desk for multitasking) of sizing and GCing about 500 of the C312-185's that I cast and Alox'd a week and a half ago.

[Ricochet]

I start sizing my water dropped boolits as soon as I've gotten a batch cast, and rarely go past 300 or so in a batch. Before I can get the last half of them sized, they're already getting hard to push through the sizer.

If I've got a big batch or have let them harden up too long, I oven anneal the whole batch, size them, then oven harden them all at once. Improves uniformity of hardness, anyway.