is this the correct way

[canuck4570]

put on the GC size them but no lube

after oven heat treat them and after water quench

then lube them with a .0001 over the bullet diameter die

this is for 30 caliber bullets

[JimB..]

Is the goal a traditionally lubricated water quenched 30 cal bullet?

Cast, drop from mold into water.
Apply GC while sizing and lubing.

Determining size is a different issue, but starting at .001 over bore is good.

[Neverhome]

I’m not sure if your goal is clear but here is my take on what I THINK you’re trying to accomplish.
Sounds like you want to oven heat treat them already sized and then run them through an oversized lube sizer to not wreck your heat treat. Is that correct?

If that’s the goal the order of events sounds right. .0001 oversized lube die might take some work if that’s your actual intent. Did you mean .001?

[onelight]

Is the goal a traditionally lubricated water quenched 30 cal bullet?

Cast, drop from mold into water.
Apply GC while sizing and lubing.

Determining size is a different issue, but starting at .001 over bore is good.

I would do it like this /\ don't understand why you would size twice .

[stubshaft]

If you are trying to get the hardest quenched bullet possible, yes, as sizing will work soften the boolit.

[JimB..]

Sorry, I’ve never heat treated bullets in an oven, but this article was interesting http://www.lasc.us/HeatTreat.htm

On the second pass through the sizer I’d use the same die, it seems a little excessive to polish out a second die to ensure that it’s a fraction of a hair oversized.

[gwpercle]

Yes , it is the proper way to get a sized , hard boolit with conventional lubes .
It will get you the hardest possible boolit ... if hard is what you are looking for .
They will be hard and may even be brittle so test them to make sure they fit your needs .

The casting and dropping hot boolits into water to harden them is just a quickie attempt to shortcut the full hardening process . Also sizing a water quenched boolit does two things , makes sizing much harder and the cold working softens the lead back to soft...you are defeating the purpose by doing it the short cut way .
The way you outlined is the correct way to size , harden and lube rifle boolits !
Gary

[canuck4570]

I will try to answer all you responses

yes I put GC on size them to .310 oven threat them and leave them to hardened by time
when I need some I put a .311 in my sizer and lube them
putting a .001 lager lube die prevents the work soften of the bullet

one more question. will this process have side effects on the GC

[Neverhome]

I heat treat mine with gc already installed. I don’t see any issues on target or bore.
I’ve annealed my checks before as well. Probably pretty similar.
I haven’t however done a side by side comparison so I don’t have any true data. It just seems to work.

[megasupermagnum]

Your way should work fine. The way I do it is very similar. I size my cast bullets, then heat treat. Then through the same sizing die, I install the gas check, and lube the bullet. There is no reason to purposefully use multiple sizing dies, unless you don't have a smaller die for lubing bullets.

[onelight]

Well see, you guys taught me something new . About how to make hard bullets !

[swheeler]

I will try to answer all you responses

yes I put GC on size them to .310 oven threat them and leave them to hardened by time
when I need some I put a .311 in my sizer and lube them
putting a .001 lager lube die prevents the work soften of the bullet

one more question. will this process have side effects on the GC

IMHO no it will not, gilding metal anneals at +-700F I do believe you heat treat several hundred degrees below that

[gwpercle]

There are no side effects on the gas checks . Copper , brass and gilding metals can be annealed but it takes much higher temperatures...way above the melting point of lead alloy ...so , no affect on gas check .

Tip ...don't rely on oven thermometer 100% to adjust oven temp. Place a few boolits in the oven and keep adjusting temp. higher untill the boolits start to slump ... then back off setting untill oven heat will not melt boolits.
Nothing worse than a pan full of melted boolits because the oven got too hot !
Gary

[canuck4570]

thank you Gary

will do