Heat treat bullets

[lead chucker]

How long do heat treated bullets last before they start to get softer?

[BABore]

How long do heat treated bullets last before they start to get softer?

Usually til well after you've shot the last one.:)

I've got OHTWW boolits that are over 5 years old that are still the same hardness. It is said that after they reach peak hardness in a month or so that the hardness will degrade over a time period, then stabilize at a new, slightly lower hardness where it is more or less stable. Others say that it will degrade over time til it reaches its typical air cooled state. I've seen neither with WW's or 50/50 WW-Pb alloy. OHTWW's will in fact grow in size after an extended time if they are not sized following OHT. I found some of my 0.478 boolits that were 0.483 after two years. I re-heat treated them and sized immediately to use them.

[Shiloh]

Well I have several hundred of 311041, 311299, and 314299, that were cast several years ago.
Still plenty hard. I have been shooting a bit softer, water hardened boolits from those molds. Tat is the only reason I still have them, I just haven't got back around to them yet.

[reloader28]

BABore

I'm just learning the heat treating stuff, but doesnt it soften the edges if you size it after oven heat treating?
I thought you were supposed to size then heat treat.

[HORNET]

It takes a little time for them to harden after heat treating. If you size them fairly quickly, like within an hour or two, they're still soft enough to size and will still harden up the same as if not sized. Wait too long and it gets much more difficult to size them and the cold-working can cause some surface softening. How much depends on lots of factors.

[BABore]

It takes a little time for them to harden after heat treating. If you size them fairly quickly, like within an hour or two, they're still soft enough to size and will still harden up the same as if not sized. Wait too long and it gets much more difficult to size them and the cold-working can cause some surface softening. How much depends on lots of factors.

Yep, I size mine right away. You can delay the hardening effect if you put he freshly OHT boolits in the freezer til your ready to size them. I've never went more than a day. On the opposite side, you can speed up the hardening by keeping the OHT'd boolits someplace warm. Like near a woodstove where they can get up around 120 F. The speed at which hardening takes full affect is directly tied to the antimony level. OHTWW's may only take a few days to peak out. OHT 50/50 WW-Pb can take 7-10 days. I really prefer to wait at least a month before I shoot the boolits. Especially rifles boolits. I've been burnt by weird flyers more than once cause I rushed the process.