Wheel Weight bullets and quenching

[David LaPell]

I am hoping to get into casting bullets in the next few weeks and I have a line on alot of wheel weights. (About 20 pounds worth and they are already sorted by material so its all lead). The question I have is, after the bullets are smelted and I start to melt down whatever ingots made from WW's I have, how much does water quenching add to the hardness of the bullets I am going to make. I am trying for some .38 caliber bullets for my .357 and .38-44 Outdoorsman and I am figuring for velocities around 1200 fps. I am going to try for around 15 BHN or so. So does quenchin make that big a difference?

Also, I really don't have a place for a propane powered furnace for the outdoors, and with a little one running around indoors, I am looking for a electric hot plate or something to melt down my wheel weights on, any suggestions?

[BulletFactory]

you are going to need to reach around 700*F, I don't think a hotplate is going to work, but some of those coleman stoves work, and they are cheap.

[Wireman134]

50% Clip on WW's mixed with 50% stick on WW's or Pb, water dropped will give you close to 15Bhn. Air cooled around 8Bhn good for most pistol velocities.

[BulletFactory]

When I use a BHN of 8.7 in the XD .40 I get a lot of deformation on the nose as it hits the feed ramp.

[Dennis Eugene]

Just use straight WW's and water drop them. They will be some what harder than what you are looking for but at 1200 FPS will work very well. Get a little bit more experience and you can start experimenting. Small steps are nothing to be embarrassed about. Dennis

[bobthenailer]

to save time water drop your bullets directly from the mould in to a 5 gallon bucket of water ,
WW will be around 25 BHN
50% WW mixed with 50% lead will water drop th around 15 BHN
The only draw back from this method is ! you will have to lube & size bullets withen 1 or 2 hours after casting as they will start hardning process and they will take more effort to push through the sizer.
Ive been useing this method to cast my bullets excluslevy for over 25 years with excellent results and you can make more bullets in the same amount of time and saves the clutter of having boolets cooling on a pad and having some hot bullets touching , where they touch they will cool slower and cause that side to be softer.

[parson48]

I've melted hundreds of pounds of WWs in a stainless steel pan on a hot plate. It certainly isn't the fastest way to do it, but it will work.

[fredj338]

Yeah, 20# will go pretty quick. My water dropped 50/50 (range lead & ww) run around 17-18BHN. There maybe a bit more to some of my range metal than pure.

[theTastyCat]

Would you all recommend quenching WW bullets for 750-800 fps in a 1911, or would they be better softer?

Many thanks.

[fredj338]

Would you all recommend quenching WW bullets for 750-800 fps in a 1911, or would they be better softer?

Many thanks.

No need, but you can try & see if they shoot better. Some of my guns like wc & some like ac ww or 50/50 alloy the same way.

[bobthenailer]

Ive water drop from the mould for all cast bullets for rifle or handgun in every caliber . and for any velocity from 700 to 2,000 fps for over 25 years with excellent results and accuracy in every case

[jsizemore]

Or you could do straight clip on ww and air cool them for bhn 11-12 that should work at the velocities you intend to shoot.