Boolits growing

[Boerrancher]

I had something strange happen and it has never happened before. I loaded up some 44-40 today and they wouldn't chamber. I tried everything and couldn't make them work. They had been casted and sized for a couple of months. I took one out of the box and it meAsured .432 as did all of them. I ran one through my .429 sizer and checked it and it was .429. It was the same sizing die as I used the first time.

I have never had my boolits grow before in over 35 years of casting. The alloy was my standard 50/50 of WW and pure. This is the craziest thin that has ever happened to me excluding my first visit from the tinsel farry.

Best wishes

Joe

[RickinTN]

I've been playing with heat treating. I have noticed my bullets grow soon after treating. I'm in the process of trying to get a handle on just how much. The last batch seems to have grown about .0003 in a few days' time.

[Boerrancher]

Mine are just air cooled. Nothing special with them at all.

[GabbyM]

high tin alloy will grow on me. Probably you also. Using scrap you never know when you may come into some high tin.
I cast up some RCBS 30-180-FN last year from 4:5 alloy. Loaded up just short of 200 rounds in 30-30 and now the bore ride noses have grown to at least .301" and chamber very hard in my lever action Win 94 AE.

[mroliver77]

I have heard of it but never witnessed it. .003! I cannot imagine growing that much.

If that happened to me I would assume I screwed it up somehow ;)

Keep an eye on the resized and see if'n they grow again.
Jay

[tomme boy]

Let them sit for a month or two then size them. No more growing. A little harder to size sometimes, but I like to do it this way.

[HATCH]

Let them sit for a month or two then size them. No more growing. A little harder to size sometimes, but I like to do it this way.

That's what i do unless i am in the middle of doing a loading run and need more boolits. i cast and let them sit for a few weeks.

[felix]

Antimony is about the only metal we use (on purpose) that grows. Tin might or might not help in that growth in some way, but by itself if does not make a lead alloy grow. ... felix

[HangFireW8]

I've had them grow .002" in 2 years. Most everything I have is WW+Tin or WW+Pb+Tin in various ratios. Nothing exotic.

I've never seen anything grow .003" in 2 months. I'm wondering if you have something in the alloy that makes it springy, at least on the first sizing. Just a guess.

HF

[tomme boy]

Bismuth or copper?

[popper]

Only time I had any 'grow' was when I sized immediately, but only .001" larger 1 month later. No tin, just Sb or Sb & Cu (stable after 2 days). High Sb will spring back like brass so unless you measured after sizing, they could be much larger when you did measure. Made a mistake a yr ago, made high tin/Pb. Sized in a .401 Lee and they were .399-.400 and stayed that way. Tell me about lead city.

[Char-Gar]

I rebarreled a Krag action with a new Remington 03A3 barrel and after it was all done and the stock made I decided to slug the barrel. It came out .310 in the grooves. I did it again with the same results. I was sick and kicked myself all over the place for not slugging it before I used it. I put the project aside for two years.

Two years later I decided to slug it again and it came out a perfect .300 X .308. To be certain, I did it again with the same results. So the barrel must have shrank during the two year period it was sitting on the shelf.

Well, you know the answer, I either did it wrong or measured the slug wrong the first time. I have no idea how I did that as I have been slugging barrels for 50 years without pulling that stunt.

Maybe you really didn't measure correctly or used the wrong sizing die. I know you checked twice to make certain you didn't do that, but hey, barrels don't shrink and bullet down grow that much. So what is left? Yep...das it!

[243winxb]

Bismuth bullets grow. :mrgreen:

[abqcaster]

I have quick question. Given that antimony makes bullets "grow," would it be fair to assume it would lower the density of my alloy such that I can adjust boolit weight with it for a particular mold. Put another way, I have been blessed with some Linotype (high in Sb) and would like to use it to "lighten" my alloy for a particular mold that seems to cast too heavy a bullet for its nominal weight. I have used tin in the past to adjust the weight but it has become scarce to me, I have no experience with using linotype in that manner. Thanks.
-ABQ

[felix]

Yes, to your answer, but the boolits made with high antimony are good for range time only unless there are elephants around that need head shots. Use tin for lowering weight of finished boolits, keeping antimony just high enough to maintain accuracy at velocity contemplated. ... felix

[abqcaster]

Thank you, Felix! you all are fonts of knowledge and wisdom.
-ABQ