Water drop bullets

[AABEN]

Has any one on here used water to drop your bullets in from the mold if so does it make the bullet harder Thank to who ever can give me so info

[Rcmaveric]

Yes it does.

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[tazman]

If you have an alloy that responds to heat treatment, yes it does. The hardness varies depending on the alloy in question. Also the time it takes to reach full hardness also varies by alloy.

[waksupi]

Lots of info if you use the search.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/goog...815j5444189j16

[Dieselhorses]

Just a suggestion but make sure you have an ample means of testing hardness (Brinell Hardness Number). I never "assume" anything when it comes to casting!

[dragon813gt]

Read this: http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

And use the search the function. This question has been answered many times over and one post won’t cover all of it.

[joe leadslinger]

TATV Canada has a you tube channel he has done extensive testing on cast hardness , water drop vs air cooled. His testing has interesting results.

[waco]

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

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Here is a pretty good thread with at least one technical description of what happens during water quenching.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...g-cast-bullets

[Hossfly]

I drop all cast boolits into water bucket, mainly to be able to process faster, also drop tray into water after powder coating. Same reason, I’m not patient, and want to move things along. They do seem to be a bit harder maybe by a factor of 1-2 BHN. Mostly cast with COWW and powder coat everything.

[flyingmonkey35]

Same

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[mudygmc]

Just curious, does water temp make much of a difference when quenching bullets? I would think water would get you to a point varying slightly by temp. But in the end would probably come down more to alloy than anything. Are there or is there any optimal alloy ratio per weight velocity to bore size or such. I've really only casted for plinking but want to get more into the bigbore hunting bullets.

Adam

[Hossfly]

Big bore hunting boolits should be soft and slow.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

does water temp make much of a difference when quenching bullets?

Yes it does.

is there any optimal alloy ratio per weight velocity to bore size or such.

Yes.

[1bluehorse]

I drop all cast boolits into water bucket, mainly to be able to process faster, also drop tray into water after powder coating. Same reason, I’m not patient, and want to move things along. They do seem to be a bit harder maybe by a factor of 1-2 BHN. Mostly cast with COWW and powder coat everything.

Water dropping COWW into cold water straight from the mold will increase the bhn by more than 1 or 2 points. Air cooled COWW will "typically" run around 11 or 12 bhn, water dropped (after a week or so) they will run 18 or better. Obviously that can vary depending on the alloy of the wheel weights, but I've found over the years this is very close.

[243winxb]

https://patents.google.com/patent/US5464487
Method of making a hardened bullet.

[crackers]

TATV Canada has a you tube channel he has done extensive testing on cast hardness , water drop vs air cooled. His testing has interesting results.

Wow. That guy's a refreshing dose of quick facts. Thanks.

[mvozz]

I was able to get some lead from a gentleman that had to give up on bullet casting due to health and age issues. He mixed 2 to 1 and 4 to 1 COWW to Linotype. I don't water quench during casting but I was after powder coating. I checked the BHN after 1 month and it exceeded 30!!! I am experimenting with mixing the 4 to 1 50/50 with pure lead and air cooling after powder coating. 24 hours later the BHN sits at 9 - 9.5. I want them to rest about 1 month before I check again. I was amazed to find out how much harder water quenching made the boolits over time.