Water Harding Bullets

[flinter62]

Newbie here,Cast some bullets last week.Water quenched.Lubed&sized 20 same day.Sized real eazy barely nicked sides of bullet. Sized more today it was hard getting in&out of sizer.What's up with this? Is it best to size day of casting? Thanks Flinter62

[wiljen]

That's a tough question to answer unless you know the exact composition of your alloy. Some alloys are hardest immediately after quench and gradually soften over a period of time, others do the opposite. Wheel weights when quenched tend to harden for a period of days or even a few weeks after casting before stabilizing then slowly soften again over a much longer period.

[flinter62]

Wiljen, Iwas putin about 3# lino in about 15# ww. Mold rcbs45-405 sizer.458

[wiljen]

I knew I had a link somewhere but was looking for it.

Try here:

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

that has great info regarding casting and alloys.

Wiljen

[flinter62]

Wiljen,Thanks for the link. Flinter62

[Ricochet]

As I posted a few days ago, you need to lubricate the boolits to push them through the sizing die. One way to do that is simply to dip each one in water immediately before pushing it through. Works well enough. Adding a little soap makes it slicker.

[UweJ]

Ricochet
Your advice with the soapy water made my day! I usually lubed them but just for quickly sizing them the soap method is just great,thanks.
Uwe

[BigSlick]

Well, if that ain't one hell of an idea.

Thanks Ricochet

Now I can size 'em all in the Lee push thru and save 'em for when I'm ready to lube 'em up with Lar's or heat treatin in the oven.

Learn something new every day around here.
________
How to use vaporite

[OLPDon]

As I posted a few days ago, you need to lubricate the boolits to push them through the sizing die. One way to do that is simply to dip each one in water immediately before pushing it through. Works well enough. Adding a little soap makes it slicker.

Amazing I just wonder how many items we have in our households that we could use besides Money!

I might just have to start a thread Household Items used for Casting and Reloading Wifes and Girlfriends stuff included!

[44man]

C'mon all of you, you know any alloy with antimony will keep hardening and growing in size until they stabilize. Size soon after casting and they will stay harder and then expand a little for a better fit. Size later and the surface will soften and it takes more force to size and the boolit will be smaller.

[flinter62]

44Man, I guess I'll just cast &size the same day. Thanks Flinter62

[Ricochet]

It also works well to size, then oven heat and water quench the whole batch. Takes little effort, a little over an hour's time (I heat mine at 475°F for an hour after the oven beeps that it's reached "preheat" temperature and then dump 'em straight into a big bucket of cold water as they come out of the oven), and the boolits all end up at the same hardness.