Water Drop?

[Ringer]

:confused: I'm going to cast some358- 158RF boolits for my new to me Rossi 38-357mag Puma from straight wheel weight ingots.Have a new Lee 6cav mold. Should these boolits be water dropped, or can they be towel dropped as I have been doing for my BP boolits. Thanks for the advice, Ringer

[44woody]

Ringer it depends on what you are going to do with the bullets if you just want to punch paper then I would not if you want them hard for hunting then I might depends on what I was hunting I myself do not like to get water around my casting area because of the dangers of getting water in my lead (steam explosions ) which can be very bad for you :castmine: 44Woody

[TAWILDCATT]

You dont need to water drop pistol loads.I think even for hunting ww are hard enough.I dont in my 45 colt trapper.

[imashooter2]

I, on the other hand, really like the convenience of water dropping and do so as a preference to air cooling. You can put thousands into a bucket and never have to shift the pile and damage from hot, soft bullets falling on each other is nonexistent. I place a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full on top of a second bucket and place that just behind my left shoulder. I have to turn about 100 degrees or so to drop the bullets. Any splash that may happen will have to travel a long way through my body to get to the pot.

I would only air cool a few if I wanted them soft for hunting.

[wiljen]

I air cool anything I intend to size. I can always heat treat them later to increase the hardness.

[rhead]

I water drop everything for the convience of the cushioning effect and I am going to have to drop them somewhere. If I wanf them soft I aneal them to 425 degrees and cool them at a controlled rate, and if I want them hard I heat treat then to 450 degres and quinch them in water again. The control of having the whole batch the same hardness is worth the extra steps to me.

[Uncle Grinch]

I water quench almost all of my rifle and pistol boolits. My 5 gallon water bucket is slightly to my left, at least half full. I place a towel over the top (secured with a bungie cord) and push the middle down to form a little depression. In the middle of that I have a 3 or 4 inch slit cut that allows my boolits to roll into the water below with no splash.

[**oneshot**]

I have a similar set-up to what Uncle Grinch does. Don't know where the idea came from but it works great. I have an old T-shirt with a hole cut into it, I set it up so the hole is to one side of the bucket and submerged 1/4 into the bucket. I then put the towel with the hole cut above the water and on the opposite side of the t shirt hole. The bullets are dropped on the towel and enter the water through the hole then roll down the t-shirt to the other hole. I figured this eliminated 99.9% of dings from bullets hitting each other while soft.

I don't do this to increase the hardness, just for the ease of keeping good boolits good.

[Shiloh]

I drop them i a bucket similar to imashooter2. Do they have to sizzle to become hardened??

Shiloh

[felix]

Shiloh, it depends on how hot the boolits were when dropped out of the mold, and how small the boolits are, and the ambient temperature. Your looking for a very fast heat exchange to the ambient as being either air or water to harden the boolit(s). You know the boolit is still 220F or greater if it sizzles, and that is all. ... felix

[jonk]

I have recently started water quenching; generally speaking, I do it for rifles, and magnum handguns. For regular handguns I still don't bother. Your mileage may vary.

[tom barthel]

I have quenched in water. Now, I just drop on an old piece of carpet. I only hunt paper, cans, and rocks. I just like blasting. Close is good enough for me. Every gun I have can out shoot me. I just enjoy casting, reloading, and shooting. As long as I have NO leading problems, I'm a happy man.

[Searcher1911]

I water quench all my cast bullets for both rifle and pistol. Also, I use the water to cool my Lee aluminum molds when they get too hot and the bullets start getting too frosty. With a pour in the mold and the sprue still intact and the handles closed you can dip the mold under the water to drop the temp of the mold. It steams and hisses but works like a top. I would not do it on any mold but aluminum and then only when full and closed. I have had rotten luck with bottom pour furnaces (leaking) so I have stayed with the simple pot and ladle and temp control is more difficult.

[Ken O]

Like the others above, I water drop only for convience, not to make them harder.

[OLPDon]

I water drop, I also float about 3" or 4" of the styro packing peanuts in the 5 gal water bucket no splashing to worry about. And if I run out of peanuts I just order some new shooting stuff and bingo justification for buying something new.
Don

[1Shirt]

Water drop for convenience and hardness. Like to hear a sizzle when I drop heavy 30's and heavier 375's and 457's. Like somebody else said, they have to drop someplace.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Sundogg1911]

i don't water drop anymore. I usually cast in large quantitys, and if they set around long enough they soften up to original hardness. If i drop 'em on a towel they will slightly harden up for a few months and then they come to a final hardness. the same goes for heat treating. It doesn't last forever. I have some boolits (mostly odd caliber rifle) that I cast over 5 years ago and haven'y used them up yet so water quenching them would be useless.

[versifier]

Some of my rifles like harder boolits for target shooting, but generally that just means adding one or several ingots of lino to the ww in the pot and air cooling them. The only boolits I water drop with any frequency are soupcans that I want to be shooting above 2500fps. I only have one rifle (a .308) that will keep them stable and on the paper at those speeds. Other than for that, I think it's generally much more hassle than it's worth.

[Ringer]

Thanks for the input. Never expected such a large response to my question. I decided to air dry. I drop the cb's on a towel that I place over a carpet sample used as a cushion. No damage this way. Regards, Ringer