Question about quenching

[hammer58]

Hello folks. I am new here and I can see that there is a wealth of information! So I will look to your sage advise for some answers to a couple of questions. I have just begun casting my own bullets for my 357. I am using wheel weights from a local tire store for my casting. I haven't added anything (tin or antimony) to the lead. The first 50 rounds that I fired ended up leading the barrel. I later realized I had used load data for a jacketed bullet so I'm sure the load was too hot for that mix.

But what I would like to know is how much difference would there be in BHN if I quench the bullets? A friend of mine used a Lee hardness tester and came up with a 14 for the mix I have been using. So if I quench them, what BHN would it raise them to? If I just reduce my load to a light target load will that stop the leading?

Gary

[waksupi]

I would first check the boolit diameter. They are probably undersized. Drop a boolit in each cylinder. You should feel a bit of resistance pushing them on through with a pencil or something similar.The air cooled wheel weight boolits should handle factory velocities just fine.

[sqlbullet]

waksupi has given you great advice about bullet size. A bhn of 14 should be plenty for even hot 357 mag loads. And a BHN of 30 is not hard enough to fix leading from an undersize bullet.

You need to slug the cylinder throats (each one) and the barrel. You want your bullets sized .001" over the largest slug size. You are also making sure the cylinder throats are at least the same size of a little larger than the barrel diameter.

You may also want to sure your bullets are still full sized after loading and crimping. I suggest loading a dummy round, then pulling the bullet and measuring it.

To you original question, water dropping those bullets from the mold will probably put you in the mid 20's BHN wise. If they are undersized, your leading will most likely get worse, not better from a hard bullet.

[hammer58]

Thanks for your advise guys. It looks like I have some work to do. (what a shame)8-). sqlbullet, do you know of a link where I can learn more about slugging the barrel?