Tale of two thermometers

[Big Boomer]

Have a TEL-TRU thermometer (has a long shank and perfect for checking a pot temperature) that I have used for years and happened to notice my wife had an EKCO oven thermometer in a drawer in our (read "her") kitchen. I put both thermometers in my Oster convection oven to check and see whether they would be together or at least close in temperature. Had a bunch of 150 gr. .3575 boolits cast from 50/50 stick-on/clip-on wheel weights plus some tin that I decided I would shake and bake and cook standing up on parchment paper. Have had good luck just laying them on their sides but decided I would stand these up. The TEL-TRU thermometer went up to about 430 degrees pretty quickly. The EKCO was much slower to reflect a higher temperature. Finally the EKCO creeped up to 400 and I reset the timer for a full 15 minutes after the EKCO reached 400. After 15 minutes at 400 I dipped each of the two trays in water to quench them. They sure look good. No buggers anyplace on them and fully covered, including bases. According to the EKCO thermometer I may have been under-curing the Smoke's clear I've been using. However, have not had any problems with former method. No smudge in barrel or any trouble cleaning a barrel. Will have to do a smash and scrape test to be sure. Hate to smash any of these boolits, they look so good. Big Boomer

[Smoke4320]

Temp Matters
glad you discovered the difference
stay coated my friend

[fredj338]

Side note, I will often coat 1 or 2 poorly filled out bullets just to smash test them instead of tossing them back in the pot.

[Big Boomer]

fredj338 … that's a great idea! Almost always have a few I have to toss back into the pot. Big Boomer

[LabGuy]

A man with one thermometer knows what the temperature is. A man with two thermometers is never quite sure.

[Conditor22]

I beg, bum, borrow, steal, buy test thermometers until I find 2 that match. 99.9% of countertop ovens setting are OFF due to the design/location the thermostat