Sounding board

[XWrench3]

i tried a little experiment about a month and a half ago. the boolits that i cast are 1/3 linotype, and 2/3 wheelweights. they are 340g .461" (as cast) flat base boolits. i water dropped them as well. the experiment was to see how much, if any, the boolit diameter would grow or shrink. i ended up with two different results. the ones that i sized right away, grew 0.0005". the ones that i left as cast, grew an average of 0.002". none of the boolits have been lubed. i did not want that to affect the results. does this come close to anyone elses results?

[44man]

Just about. I don't size my .476" boolits, just lube and run through a .476" Lee die. They will get hard to chamber after aging, going to .478".
I have had to run them through again.
However, I am using straight water dropped WW's that water harden to 22 BHN.
That is why I say never to measure right after casting unless you are using soft lead or pure.
I don't see much difference when I use a harder alloy. They don't seem to get any larger.
I also see no difference if I shoot .476" or .478" as long as they go in the gun.
It sounds funny but if I load with .476" and let the rounds sit, the boolit will actually expand the brass and increase case tension.