Naphtali
08-09-2008, 12:07 PM
I am casting .459- and .512-inch bullets, both of which have nose-to-crimp length of .400 inch. I understand there is a method to differentially harden these bullets -- that is cast a hard bullet, then anneal a portion of it.
If what I wrote is accurate, what is the procedure to soften the .400-inch nose of a gas check bullet while retaining full hardness on the remainder?
1. When do I size and install the gas check to retain base hardness?
2. Must bullets cure before annealing noses?
3. Must bullets cure before sizing?
4. What must be present in the alloy to allow differential hardening? What would be among the more useful lead mixture chemistries or compositions to achieve reliable differential hardening?
5. How uniform will be the annealing process -- that is, will gradient or demarkation between harder and softer lead be uniform in distance from base to nose, so that bullet's performance is predictable from shot #1 through #5? How can uniformity be ensured?
6. What is the procedure, from first wobbly step to finished, differentially hardened bullet?
If what I wrote is accurate, what is the procedure to soften the .400-inch nose of a gas check bullet while retaining full hardness on the remainder?
1. When do I size and install the gas check to retain base hardness?
2. Must bullets cure before annealing noses?
3. Must bullets cure before sizing?
4. What must be present in the alloy to allow differential hardening? What would be among the more useful lead mixture chemistries or compositions to achieve reliable differential hardening?
5. How uniform will be the annealing process -- that is, will gradient or demarkation between harder and softer lead be uniform in distance from base to nose, so that bullet's performance is predictable from shot #1 through #5? How can uniformity be ensured?
6. What is the procedure, from first wobbly step to finished, differentially hardened bullet?