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dk17hmr
05-16-2006, 11:25 PM
I have read that dropping bullets from the mold into a bucket of water with a towel at the bottom makes them harder. It make sense to me that they get harder, but why do this?

Is it better to have a harder bullet for hunting purposes?

bare with me Im still learning
Dk

dltaskey
05-16-2006, 11:32 PM
If you make it harder, you can drive it faster. The odds of a cast bullet expanding on critters is pretty slim anyway unless it's real soft. Of course then you get leading if it's driven fast enough to expand. Gas checks help a bit.

keeper89
05-17-2006, 07:53 AM
Just a small piece of advice for you--if you are going to water quench your boolits straight from the mold you will want to use something to cover the surface tension of the water to avoid any dangerous splashups from the pail--personally I put a layer of those damn packing peanuts in the bucket, enough to cover the surface of the water....when the boolits drop into the pail they go straight through the layer of peanuts into the water and the splashback is minimalized....hope this helps......:-D

7br
05-17-2006, 08:29 AM
My new found favorite answer is "It depends". If you want maximum penetration for bear, pig, etc, waterdropped is probably the way to go. If you want maximum wound channel diameter, go softer.

A couple of months ago, a guy wrote in the IHMSA News that he was using pure lead for revolver bullets for deer. He was getting acceptable accuracy, they were hitting same point of aim as harder bullets, and he didn't shoot enough of them to seriously lead his revolver. Expansion was akin to a lead round ball. At his personal limitations, he had all of the penetration he needed for deer. I haven't worked up the nerve to try it , but I have dabbled in two alloy bullets following the lead of BruceB.

From my experimentation with a .41 235gr lbt lfn bullet, I found that at 25 yards, a 210 JHP would penetrate about 4inches of soaked phone books and expand about 2x. A waterdropped cast bullet penetrated almost 12 inches with little expansion. For my two alloy bullets, I found the nose alloy wasn't quite as soft as I had hoped. It was aircooled and the nose slumped down to a little more than bore size. All had 95% or better wieght retention. Two alloy bullets are a pain in the behind to cast but the quantity needed for for experimentation and hunting isn't that great.

I generally waterdrop all of my bullets. For ME, it keeps things running smoothly on the production line. Bullets are cool immediately and I don't burn my fingers examining them. They aren't rolling around loose and they don't get dinged up as much.

Cherokee
05-17-2006, 10:44 AM
Since I am not trying to drive cast bullets to top rifle velocities or heavy pistol magnum velocities, I air cool all my bullets, even for my rifles. Never have a problem in the respective firearms. My standard alloy for vast majority of bullets is wheel weights + 2% Tin. If I need a hard bullet for penetration, I go to a harder allow.

Uncle Grinch
05-17-2006, 01:23 PM
I typically drop all my boolits in water to temper them. To avoid splash-back, I use a 5 gallon bucket of water about half full and cover with a towel (use a bungee cord to hold it on). Push the top of the towel down to form a depression and cut a slit about 5-6 inches in the towel.

As you drop the boolit from the mould, it falls in the depression and rolls to the slit and falls in the water. No splash-back.

doc25
05-17-2006, 06:10 PM
I use a leg from cut off jeans to fit my bucket and drop it on that. It rolls down the jeans and hits the water. There is not much worry about the water splashing around anyways. Don't know how much difference it makes water quenching bullets 'cause I don't have a firearm for the bullets I'm casting for yet!

StarMetal
05-17-2006, 08:05 PM
You want to quench your bullets asap as it leaves the mould. As it leaves the mould it's losing heat. Rolling it down that jeans leg soaks up time and heat. Just move your bucket alittle further away from your pot. Actually a drop of water in your melt just fizzles away. It takes either a large amount of water to get in the melt or for any amount of water to get under the melt...that is like throwing in a piece of alloy that you didn't know was wet, especially if it is porous.

Joe

BAGTIC
05-17-2006, 11:06 PM
I don't drop my cast bullets directly in the water. When casting you will notice that the total elapsed time between filling the mold and dropping the bullet can vary. This will induce variations in the hardness of the bullets. The only way to have them all come out the same is to heat them in an oven and drop all of them at the same time into the water.