A question for everyone who casts

[Beekeeper]

I recently had a visit from a neighbor who has a friend of a friends brother in law who casts.
He was looking at my semi portable casting set up and the way I water quench boolits.
Mr. know it all had many comments as to what all I am doing wrong.

One comment was I needed a water drop of at least 24 inches and a cooling medium of soluable oil or antifreeze.

Now I use a 2 1/2 gal bucket sitting on top of a upside down 5 gal bucket and always have.
I remember several posts about water dropping but my search skills are not the greatest so I would like to pick everyones brains as to what is the perfect water quinch method as it is one of the thing I have often wondered about and Mr. know it all made me have to stop and think about it (bad ju-ju for me, makes the brain hot and you loose hair)



Jim

[docone31]

I put a large pot on a chair.

[imashooter2]

Anti freeze will boil at a higher temperature and therefore *theoretically* give more hardness to your product due to better heat transfer.

The perfect water quench method uses an alloy of precisely known components, soaks the bullets in an oven of precisely known temperature and moves the bullets instantly from that oven into a large vat of agitated quench medium at a temperature just above freezing.

Unless you need more hardness, it is a waste of time and money. Dumping boolits from the mold into water is fast, easy and hardens them up some (depending on alloy).

This hobby can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make it...

[chaos]

Water dropping is now a science? I have a 5 gal bucket of water next to me at the bench and just dump moulds full of slugs in it. Matter of fact, I like to place blocks about 6 inches above the water before opening it so as to avoid too much splash.

I have yet to meet a wild hog that has complained about my methods after being on the receiving end of the 44.


Chaos

[fryboy]

colder water is better ( tho it bites in this weather to ummm reach in and empty the castings lolz ) a old t-shirt or something with a slit cut into it bungy corded to the top helps cut down on splashes but i use a 3 1/2 gallon old drywall compound bucket ( had to empty the ice out of it last time lolz and again if i use it this week ) the actual perfect water quench is listed in the lasc pages !!! the three fryer pans are awesum ! i have one saved for this and have been keeping my eye out for more , one could do two stacks at a time in a oven with no problem

[DeanWinchester]

Yeah, everybody's expert. [except here, where they actually are most of the time] It gets old. I've been quenching in a coffee can 2/3's full of water, not six inches from the mold, for longer than I can remember. When the water gets luke warm, dump it out and start over. I don't know what makes people want to turn it into some alchemy recipe. You harden any heat treatable material by heating it to certain temp. the rapidly cooling it. You do this to because when heated, molecular movement increases. Rapidly cooling locks the structure in position. Some steels are even crystalline like in structure. You temper, draw or anneal [take your pic] it back down by heating and slowly cooling it, relaxing the molecules.

Metallurgy is a very involved subject when it comes to temperatures and composition, but when it comes to brass and lead at home, people will tell you all kinds of blather that's just ridiculous.

You keep doing what you're doing. If it works, it's fine.

[woodyubet]

This is all I've ever used.......

[xr650]

Sounds to me like they are making shot.

[old turtle]

I use a 2 1/2 gallon bucket set next to me. Works fine. But then I tend not to over think things. That is when I can remember how to think.

[Beekeeper]

I'm with you old turtle.
I have been using the same 2 1/2 gallon bucket for as long as I have been casting.
And while casting I try not to think too much, makes the time go slower!

This guys info and ideas kinda got to me and I fielded all of the smart astrick answers except the water one.
Have all ways done it this way so didn't know if there was a prescribed way and said so.

Didn't seem to make any diference to Mr. know it all.
Even wanted to know if I had ever dunked my hand in the molten lead like the guys on Mythbusters had.
Claimed his source did it all the time.

Sure was glad when he left even if he called me a woose.
Thanks everyone for the answers as I didn't feel I was too far off.

Jim

[old turtle]

Beekeeper, how come he didn't stick his fingers in? I saw the Mythbusters show on this. I have also seen some things which they did which I know are not quite correct.

[dragonrider]

I have, and always will, water quench every boolit I ever cast. If it is right or wrong I don' know, it's convenient that's why I do it. I have two five gallon buckets, one fits inside the other. The former is full of water, the latter's bottom has many small holes drilled in it, lifting it strains the boolits from the water and hence no reaching into cold water with nice warm hands. Of course right now they are froze together. I suppose I should fire up the stove in the barn to thaw them out, I need to cast something, anything.

[Walter Laich]

My goal is to hit the bucket of water with the dropped bullets. Otherwise they end up on my feet

walt

[canyon-ghost]

I really haven't been water quenching long and then, only for the high velocity stuff. I shoot a lot of handgun that doesn't need it. I just pour a 5 gal bucket full from the garden hose, submerge an old tee shirt in it and go. I do set the bucket about 6-8 feet away from the lead pot so, I have to take an extra step. Already met that tinsel fairy. Caution advised.

Ron

[Trey45]

My lead pot is on an old Black and Decker workmate bench, a 5 gallon water bucket is under it. I sit to cast, due to health issues, and simply fill the mold, knock the sprue off onto a small table to my left, and open the mold over the bucket under the bench. Repeat this about 500 times and I'm done.

[67bear]

When I quench mine I drop them into a 5 gallon bucket about half full of water. When done, I pour out most of the water and retrieve the boolits. It's simple and works for me.

[ReloaderFred]

If you cover the water with a layer of foam packaging peanuts about 2" thick, it cuts down on the splash when dropping the bullets into the water.

As for Mr. Know It All, just post a sign near your casting bench that says "NO BLOWHARDS ALLOWED". If he comes back and starts spouting off, just point to your sign.......

Hope this helps.

Fred

[cbunt1]

When I water quench, I just use a labaratory approved 5-gallon(ish) bucket and drop the boolits straight from the mold.

My favorite labaratory approved buckets come from the lab-testing facility contained in the kitchen of my favorite BBQ joint...$1 each, cleaned out, and they come with lids...often found in the wild as "Pickle Buckets"

Of course, the reason I water quench has nothing to do with hardness, and everything to do with expediency...I water quench when I want to lube as soon as they're cast...I've been known to run out of boolits when I needed them for a match the next morning LOL

Bottom line, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If your method works well enough for you, then keep doing it. If it didn't, I'm sure you'd already be looking to make a change!

My $.02 worth...you got it for free, and it's worth everything you paid for it!

[Skipper488]

5 Gallon bucket 1/2 full of water sitting on floor next to turkey fryer. Somehow I manage to drop about 1 in 20 on the conrete floor. Oh well it'll melt again.

[woodyubet]

I wonder what quenching in pickel juice would do for hardness ?