BHN after powder coating

[MR CHEN]

I was able to get a Lee Hardness Tester, and after checking - air cooled @ 13.4 and air cooled PC @ 13.9 it looks like there is no softening to be concerned about.
I'm going to test the air cooled/water dropped pc next.
Thanks everyone.

[TRM]

I was able to get a Lee Hardness Tester, and after checking - air cooled @ 13.4 and air cooled PC @ 13.9 it looks like there is no softening to be concerned about.
I'm going to test the air cooled/water dropped pc next.
Thanks everyone.

thank you another myth busting.

[fredj338]

It looks like I have 4 that say no (will not soften) 1 yes, and five off topic.

IT does soften the alloy a bit, if you water dropped out of the mold. Easy enough for anyone to test.

[mehavey]

If cast air-cooled to start/before PC'g
it will be exactly the same after air-cooled PC'g

(Make that Five saying No Difference)

[la5676]

Can anyone 'splain to me the difference in the chart on page one of water cooled (showing a BHN of 27) and a quenched cast/quenched PC (showing only 24 BHN). Is this showing the loss in quenching from only 400 degrees on the PC step, whereas the original quenching (water cooling) would have been from 700 degrees +/-.

[bmortell]

ya heat treating from a higher temp makes harder boolits. then reheating in the oven resets it to be heat treated at a lower temp this time in the water. but from the mold is probably like 475 ish by the time it hits the water, at 700 youd be pouring liquid from the mold

[la5676]

ya heat treating from a higher temp makes harder boolits. then reheating in the oven resets it to be heat treated at a lower temp this time in the water. but from the mold is probably like 475 ish by the time it hits the water, at 700 youd be pouring liquid from the mold

Uhhhhhhh, there's that. But, ya know what I meant.

[MR CHEN]

As I stated in post #21, "I'm going to test the air cooled/water dropped pc next".
It didn't go so well. I dropped right out of the oven, waited a day then measured for hardness and saw no increase in BHN.
Right out of the oven I tell ya! What could be wrong?

[tazman]

I would have expected the antimony in the wheelweights to cause at least SOME hardening when quenched. When I water drop wheelweight lead, it gets much harder than air cooled. How much, I can't say. I don't have a tester.
I can scratch the air cooled boolits with my fingernail but not the quenched ones.
I have to wonder if you are testing the hardness of the PC coating as opposed to the lead?
I am not familiar with the process of lead hardness testing so perhaps my question is a bit on the ignorant side.

[bmortell]

it deffinitly works I do it with almost everything I shoot, towards the end of cooking I get it up to 425 for a few minutes, then fast as I can take the tray out and throw it in bucket with some ice water. then let em sit for a week to get hard. I expansion tested after 1 day before and it showed there harder than air cooled but not as hard as aged it takes time. I use half ww half pure and they get pretty hard, pure even harder

you can always put em back in the oven if you need to, nothing is lost either way

[Gohon]

pure even harder

I've never heard of pure lead getting hard after water dropping unless antimony is added.

[bmortell]

ah, pure as in pure wheel weights instead of half and half lol

[MR CHEN]

I would have expected the antimony in the wheelweights to cause at least SOME hardening when quenched. When I water drop wheelweight lead, it gets much harder than air cooled. How much, I can't say. I don't have a tester.
I can scratch the air cooled boolits with my fingernail but not the quenched ones.
I have to wonder if you are testing the hardness of the PC coating as opposed to the lead?
I am not familiar with the process of lead hardness testing so perhaps my question is a bit on the ignorant side.

I'm using a Lee tester and removed the powder before testing. With the Lee you file a flat spot on the bullet to test.

[MR CHEN]

it deffinitly works I do it with almost everything I shoot, towards the end of cooking I get it up to 425 for a few minutes, then fast as I can take the tray out and throw it in bucket with some ice water. then let em sit for a week to get hard. I expansion tested after 1 day before and it showed there harder than air cooled but not as hard as aged it takes time. I use half ww half pure and they get pretty hard, pure even harder

you can always put em back in the oven if you need to, nothing is lost either way

I did not use ice water, garage temp. Not real cold but cool.