Water quenching boolits?

[Rich219]

Sorry for the newb questions but I'm planning on starting to cast boolits as soon as spring arrives. From what I read water quenching seems to be the way to go. Does the amount of water you quench them in affect anything?

[acoilfld]

This post has some information that might help you.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=73062

[Rich219]

Thanks, that link helped a lot.

Would using a 55gal barrel be overkill?

[acoilfld]

WAY overkill, hard to get the bullets out of.
I use one of those 2 gal square buckets that kitty liter comes in.

[warf73]

I use an old coffee can fill it up to the 2nd rib with cold water from the tap.
Works great for me. Just a side note keep the water far enough away from your molten alloy as possible(within reason). My can is about 3 fee lower than the top of my pot.

[Wayne S]

Just a side note keep the water far enough away from your molten alloy as possible(within reason). My can is about 3 fee lower than the top of my pot.

This is one thing you don't want to say "ask me how I know" !! I use a cardboard box thats about 4 ft long 8" wide and 3 to 4" tall, and make a trough out of it. I open one end up so I have a about a 6" open top with sides,secure it my bench and the other end rests on the top of a small ice chest.
I just drop the bullets out of the mold into the "opening" and they roll down and into the water.
I may loose a little tempeture but it keeps al water far enough away from the pot.

[chris in va]

It also depends on what caliber and speeds pushing the boolit. I was informed not to water drop my 45ACP boolits but haven't reloaded any yet. My CZ 75 likes water dropped more than air cooled when pushed at lower speeds.

[Kragshooter]

Years ago I was melting lead to pour cast iron plumbing, was about freezing and I was working on a large school project. Ice cycle fell off roof right into my pot as I was getting ready to pour. I can tell you all about water hitting lead. Still have the scars 50 years later on my hands and arms. Be careful!

[timkelley]

I use a three gallon bucket covered with a slit towel to minimize splashing. I put the bucket on a folding chair a couple feet to my right (right handed) and down. Works very well.

[JSnover]

Water quenching is the Way To Go if you want water quenched boolits. I started quenching because I was beating my boolits up by dropping them on top of each other. As my technique improved I didn't feel the need to quench and I don't need the boolits to be any harder than 12-14. Results will vary with different alloys.
When I did quench, I used a plastic beach bucket about half full. The bucket sat on the floor, far enough away so I wouldn't kick it over. The pot was up on the bench, about 3 feet off the floor. Never had a problem with water jumping into the melt.

[bishopgrandpa]

For MANY years I have used wheel weights with a tad of lino to keep a bhn of 14-15 and never put hot lead and water together. I run my 357 and 44 mag around 1250 fps and use it in my 450's and 45-70's with out any leading. Water quenching is the rage, but why? Harder you don't need and is an added step. Don't tell me it is needed to push rifle bullets at 2800fps and more because few if any are doing that. I know this will bring flak but that's what makes casting interesting.

[badgeredd]

Rich219,

Since you are just getting into casting, I'd suggest that you air cool about half of your castings to start with. The reason I say this is that you will find that hardening your boolits isn't necessarily what you'll want to do. Some cartridge/gun combinations work better with a/c than with w/d boolits. You'll find that some guns and loads work much better with a/c boolits. IF you want those boolits harder you can always oven heat treat to harden them even harder than water dropping. It is all about experimentation, fit, alloy, hardness, and powders so you'd be well served to leave some a/c for your load development.

FWIW, I have one rifle I have shot a/c WW at 2200 fps with no adverse results and it doesn't like harder boolits in the design I am using.

Just a suggestion and some food for thought.

Edd

Well lookie there, I am now a silver boolit Master with this post! COOL!!!!!!!!!

[KYCaster]

I still don't get it....guess I never will.

The only valid reason for water dropping that I've heard is that it allows you to harden alloys that would otherwise be too soft for the application. As far as I'm concerned, the same thing can be accomplished with the proper alloy and you don't have to worry about hardness changing in the future.

It certainly can't be considered EASIER since you're adding several extra steps to a fairly simple process to make it more complicated.

I consider it the same as any other specilized or exotic method used to accomplish a specific task in the casting/reloading process. I can think of VERY few applications that can't be accomplished more conviently, more easily or more accurately with other methods.

Now, if you just like to do it that way, just say so. That's something I can understand, but you'll have a hard time convincing me that it's somehow a BETTER method.

Just my opinion, and you know what that's worth.

Jerry

[Char-Gar]

Rich... Just for the record, there are some of us who don't feel water quenching is the way to go as a matter of routine. I have been at this bullet casting game for over 50 years and this water stuff is a recent wrinkle. Well, recent in my way of thinking. Here is my 2 cents worth, which will draw fire from some. Of that I am certain!

1. In handgun shooting, there is no condition known to mankind, that requires a bullet as hard as you get from droping them in water. More often than not, softer will give much better results.

2. In rifle shooting, air cooled wheelweight is plenty hard for speeds up to 1.9K fps or perhaps a little more depending etc. etc. etc.

3. If you are going faster than what ACWW allows, then a harder alloy like No. 2 or Linotype is the way to go.

4. Tempering of wheelweight metal was developed as a means of taking a cheap metal and making it as hard or harder than linotype for upper end rifle loads.

5. Tempering is best done in an oven followed by an even quench of entire batch at once in water.

6. Droping the bullet direct from the mold will give an uneven quench as no two bullets will hit the water the same way.

7. There are fads in just about everything in life and bullet casting is no exception. Water droping is one such fad, that is expoused as a cure-all, which it isn't. Folks new to casting tend to swallow it, hook , line and sinker.

If folks want to plop their hot bullets into water, I don't really care. I just wanted you to know, that their are other voices that demur from the current fad.

[bishopgrandpa]

AMEN to good common sense.

[Recluse]

Some of us water-drop our boolits because we get tired of burning the ends of our fingers picking up the boolits to admire them.

Water-dropping is a tool, and like any tool, a good caster needs to know why he is using that tool and for what purpose and means.

Lot of folks will read things that long-time casters (or reloaders) do, and never even think about it or question it--they'll just do the same thing without any thought. And that really doesn't accomplish much at the end of the day.

[acoilfld]

I find it more convenient, plus it allows me to accomplish more in the little spare time that I have

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I didn't know it was a current "Fad", As Recluse says, know what you are doing it for and mind your safety issues with the water if you decide to water drop....we could argue this till next year...we all have reasons for why we do different things in this game...as stated it isn't "Necessary", but it is an easy way to get a lot of boolits hardened to about 19-21 BHN
if you want a hard boolit......if you are going to shoot them in the near future, if not then heat treat them in the oven, you are getting a good cross section of views

[chris in va]

I'm new to casting. Can someone explain why my CZ likes the harder water quenched boolits as evidenced by these groups? Upper right and lower left are water dropped.

[sheepdog]

I'm new to casting. Can someone explain why my CZ likes the harder water quenched boolits as evidenced by these groups? Upper right and lower left are water dropped.

If the harder ones leads less youre probably pushing them faster than the non-water cooled like.