I do 90% of my season's casting in the winter..as I do not like casting in hot weather, I do this casting out in the pole barn ( I would rather be cold than hot). Well it gets cold enough out there to freeze a bucket of quenching water between sessions. Normally I have always emptied the bucket after use and just drew a new one the next session. I do not have to now
I winterize alot of forgotten/re-po real estate with that pink RV antifreeze. So awhile back I gets to thinking...hmmm if I use that for my quenching bucket I will not have to empty it everytime. The lazy man in me really liked that idea. So I filled my bucket with a 60/40 mix of RV antifreeze and water and it has been working out great.
Now the neat part:
The last time I cast boolits I towelled them off and let them dry in the house for a bit and then sized. I thought the boolits were going through the STAR easier than normal as it was pretty obvious the difference in pressure required.......this calls for some investigation says me.
Today I cast about 800 RCBS-35-200's out of 50/50, towelled them off and then let them dry inside for an hour or two in front of the heater....... and then I sized them. I was right as normally these do not go through my .3595 die all that easy..not hard mind ya, but not easy either. Them 800 boolits absolutely flew through the sizer and I am a happy caster. Aparrently that cotton candy colored RV antifreeze has a mild lubricating quality. A quality that is still there even after they have been towel dried and left in front of the heater for awhile.....and there is no stickiness like one would assume...I say win/win says I
I know some of you cast in the cold...just thought I would share,
Mike