Stonecrusher
12-09-2014, 02:59 PM
A lesson learned the hard way is best remembered. I have been messing with homemade gaschecks using .02" aluminum. I had originally made these to use in my Mosin sized to .3165" and decided to see if they would work with my .30-06 sized to .310". I was getting a little nose distortion when sizing in my 450 because of the thickness of the check. The base of the check was also a little convex. I guess the material has to go somewhere.
To correct, I bought a .309" Lee push through die and honed it to .310". Problem solved! Perfect looking bullets and the base is nice and flat. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone. For no good reason, I figured I would heat treat a few and see how they worked.
I was using coww w/2% tin and I put them in the oven at 450 degrees for one hour. Having never heat treated any boolits before I laid them flat on a cookie sheet:oops:. After an hour I dumped them into a bucket of water. They were harder! Great. I noticed a tiny flat spot on all boolits where they laid on the cookie sheet. It was less than .010" wide so I figured most would size out and the rest might not matter very much after going through the rifling.
I installed checks, sized and lubed. Yes I know, should have put checks on first. Everything was looking good.
This am I started dropping powder and seating boolits. First one looked visibly crooked after seating. I thought, huh? Never had that problem before. Dug out indicator and v-block and checked. Running out about .015" near the tip. Only thing that changed in my loading procedure was that I was trying out a new Lee collet neck size die. Being a Lee hater, that had to be it, right? I full length sized one with my RCBS die and expanded and seated, It was no better. By now I was pulling my hair a little.
I dug out some 7.62x54 I had loaded with some 316299's and they were only running out about .001"-.002" at the tip. Well, my equipment seems good.
I tried a few acww boolits and they seated straight about same as the 7.62x54. Hmmmmmm.
Then I got a good look at the heat treated boolits. Apparently 450 degrees is a little too close to the slush point of that alloy and all the noses slumped to the side. The picture below shows the damage. Fortunately I only ruined 40 boolits that I have to pull to remelt.:shock:
So, if you are as ignorant as I was about heat treating, don't lay boolits on their side and maybe use 425 degrees instead of 450. I don't know where my brain was when I did this. Lesson learned and I don't think I will forget.:bigsmyl2: And it only cost me half my hair and a couple hours of my life that I can't get back.
124025
To correct, I bought a .309" Lee push through die and honed it to .310". Problem solved! Perfect looking bullets and the base is nice and flat. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone. For no good reason, I figured I would heat treat a few and see how they worked.
I was using coww w/2% tin and I put them in the oven at 450 degrees for one hour. Having never heat treated any boolits before I laid them flat on a cookie sheet:oops:. After an hour I dumped them into a bucket of water. They were harder! Great. I noticed a tiny flat spot on all boolits where they laid on the cookie sheet. It was less than .010" wide so I figured most would size out and the rest might not matter very much after going through the rifling.
I installed checks, sized and lubed. Yes I know, should have put checks on first. Everything was looking good.
This am I started dropping powder and seating boolits. First one looked visibly crooked after seating. I thought, huh? Never had that problem before. Dug out indicator and v-block and checked. Running out about .015" near the tip. Only thing that changed in my loading procedure was that I was trying out a new Lee collet neck size die. Being a Lee hater, that had to be it, right? I full length sized one with my RCBS die and expanded and seated, It was no better. By now I was pulling my hair a little.
I dug out some 7.62x54 I had loaded with some 316299's and they were only running out about .001"-.002" at the tip. Well, my equipment seems good.
I tried a few acww boolits and they seated straight about same as the 7.62x54. Hmmmmmm.
Then I got a good look at the heat treated boolits. Apparently 450 degrees is a little too close to the slush point of that alloy and all the noses slumped to the side. The picture below shows the damage. Fortunately I only ruined 40 boolits that I have to pull to remelt.:shock:
So, if you are as ignorant as I was about heat treating, don't lay boolits on their side and maybe use 425 degrees instead of 450. I don't know where my brain was when I did this. Lesson learned and I don't think I will forget.:bigsmyl2: And it only cost me half my hair and a couple hours of my life that I can't get back.
124025