water hardening cast boolits

[thunderthud]

Hey Guys,
I've seen in a few posts hardening boolits by dropping them in water when hot? I would think this is dangerous, possibility of water splashing into the mold cavity and pouring molten lead in/ next pour ? maybe i'm missing something/ procedure I would guess.

[dannyd]

Keep the bucket far enough away and its fine.

[daloper]

When I water drop from the mold I drop them onto a towel set at an angle so they roll down the towel and drop into the bucket of water. The fall from the towel to the water is a very short distance. This way I don't get any splashing of them dropping into the water from the mold.

[kaiser]

I use a large coffee can and put a soft cloth in the bottom. I then fill it no more than 1/3 full with water and place it within reach, but away from the casting pot. I've not had any "splash-back" to date.

[BK7saum]

I water drop a lot of my boolits. I use a bucket with a towel clamped to the top, so that I drop onto the towel and the boolits roll/drop down into the water. I have had the occasional splash of water back onto my hand or mold. However, any water that gets splashed up on to the mold will be turned to steam and gone before you can get any lead back into the cavity. Water doesn't last long on a 500 degree surface.

[mdi]

An aside about water in the casting area; I Have been melting lead for sinkers since the late 1950s and casting since 1988. Just yesterday I was casting some bullets and was working with a touchy mold that go too hot quickly and I just sprayed it with water from a spray bottle (fine spray from a distance). The mold is hot enough to very quickly evaporate any water to get into the mold. When I'm done casting sometimes I'll spray water on top of the melt to speed cooling (I do not like to leave a pot of molten lead unattended). The water immediately turns to steam and if there any drops of water, they dance around on the surface until evaporated. I have even poured water on a pot of molten lead (I used to make sinkers on Ma's stove and occasionally had to evacuate the kitchen fast) and no, no Tinsel Fairy, no explosions. For an explosion to happen water must quickly get below the surface of the melt. No drop of sweat, sneezing, rain drop falling through the roof, water needs to travel below the surface like a wet/soaked bullet dropped into the melt. (think of what a water vs lead reaction is; water gets below the surface of the molten lead and immediately turns to steam expands many, many times, dunno the ratio, and is in effect a small bomb below the surface of the melt and an "explosion" takes place throwing lead everywhere, aka Tinsel Fairy. So, if you choose to water drop your bullets and a splash throws a drop of water onto/into your mold 99.99% of the time it will evaporate before you get your mold back under the pot...

[dbmjr1]

I use a 5 gal bucket, with about 2 gals of water in it. I've never had an issue. They really don't splash much, and any splash generally stays in the bucket. If it did splash a bit on the mold, it would instantly evaporate because the mold is close to 700F.
I still water drop, out of habit, but now that I powder coat my bullets it's really not necessary. I loose any hardness I gain from water dropping when I bake them in an oven.
At 94/4/2, my alloy is not particularly hard, but they hold up well, with no fouling, once I powder coat them.

[swheeler]

I use a 5 gal bucket with about 4 gal of water in it. I float 7-8 small wet Dollar Store sponges on top of the water, a bullet just tips the sponge and dumps. If you do slash water in a cavity it is gone instantly anyway so no worries.

[Hossfly]

To give an understanding of expansion rate of water to steam, a tea cup of water will turn into 10,000 tea cups of steam, that’s a lot, one drop or some moisture on a ww or remelt old rejected boolit into 700’ pot will result in steam eruption. So dropping hot boolits in water is ok mostly to speed up sorting process if not in a hurry just drop on old bath towel wet or dry.

[Hamish]

5 gal. bucket with a towel draped over the bucket with a slit in the middle and draped cone shaped down into the water. Towel is wetted and when I open the mold the bullets land on the towel and roll down into the water and then through the hole down to the bottom.

It works very well.

[Grmps]

Water ON molten lead is NOT a problem. Plumbers use to smelt lead and lead pipe joints in the rain. It's trapped moisture in anything going into the molten lead where the tinsel fairy rears her ugly face.

It never hurts to err on the safe side.

[tazman]

I water drop everything directly from the mold into my water container. I have a 2 quart plastic bowl that I keep about 1/2 full of water. It sits about 18 inches below and 3 feet off to one side of my lead pot. I fill the mold, knock of the sprue, turn, and dump into the bowl. In all the years I have been casting, I have never had a drop of water make it from the bowl to the lead pot.
If I get a nice rhythm going, I will need to cool the mold periodically. I use a wet towel for that.
When I get done, I scoop the boolits out of the water and lay them on a dry towel and roll them around for a bit, then leave them to finish drying before I size and lube them. It only takes a few minutes for the boolits to completely dry.

[bangerjim]

I drop my boolits (ONLY to cool them, not to harden!) in a 9x12 cakepan with a terry cloth towel under the water on the bottom. The towel keeps from damaging the fresh slugs when they hit the bottom and each other. Once the pile up, I just pick up one end of the towel and roll them to the side. Easy way of casting.

And I keep my pan at lease 2-3 feet away from my pot, well within arm's reach!

And yes.....as said above.....remember a drops of water on TOP of a casting pot will just sizzle and dance around. It is when you get water UNDER the surface that you have a mess and the tinsel fairy shows up. So don't worry about drops of water or sweat or rain or bugs. Bugs = flux!

And cast away!

bangerjim

[thunderthud]

hello all you guys that answered:
thanks for all your knowledge, gee, I guess I was in the stoneage. most of my casting was for rb ml and hardening not an issue. casting for handgun boolits different.

thanks again,

[John McCorkle]

I've had more issue with my sweat getting into the pot than water getting out of the bucket.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

[dwtim]

I kept my water bucket about five feet from my pot, because I'm clumsy. Think about this: the mold will probably be more than 400 degrees when you're dropping the bullets. Even if a tiny droplet of water makes it up to the mold, the water will vaporize in a split second.

[Flailguy]

I water drop all my boolits into a 5 gal bucket mostly full of water. I keep the bucket underneath my bench incase water splashes it hits the underside of the bench.

[243winxb]

Lyman - Heat Treatment of Cast Bullets to Harden Them

Q: Is there anything I can do to make the bullets harder?
A: Cast bullets can be heat treated to increase their hardness providing your alloy has some antimony present. To heat treat your bullets: Cast your bullets in the normal manner, saving several scrap bullets. Size your bullets but do not lubricate them. Place several scrap bullets on a pan in your oven at 450 degrees and increase the temperature until the bullets start to melt or slump. Be sure to use an accurate oven thermometer and a pan that will not be used again for food. Once the bullets start to melt or slump, back off the temperature about 5 to 10 degrees and slide in your first batch of good bullets. Leave these in the oven for a half hour. Remove the bullets from the oven and plunge them into cool water. Allow them to cool thoroughly. When you are ready to lubricate, install a sizing die .001" larger than the one used to initially size them. This will prevent the sides of the bullets from work-softening from contact with the sizing die. Next apply gas checks if required and lubricate. These are now ready for loading.

[swheeler]

Lyman - Heat Treatment of Cast Bullets to Harden Them

Q: Is there anything I can do to make the bullets harder?
A: Cast bullets can be heat treated to increase their hardness providing your alloy has some antimony present. To heat treat your bullets: Cast your bullets in the normal manner, saving several scrap bullets. Size your bullets but do not lubricate them. Place several scrap bullets on a pan in your oven at 450 degrees and increase the temperature until the bullets start to melt or slump. Be sure to use an accurate oven thermometer and a pan that will not be used again for food. Once the bullets start to melt or slump, back off the temperature about 5 to 10 degrees and slide in your first batch of good bullets. Leave these in the oven for a half hour. Remove the bullets from the oven and plunge them into cool water. Allow them to cool thoroughly. When you are ready to lubricate, install a sizing die .001" larger than the one used to initially size them. This will prevent the sides of the bullets from work-softening from contact with the sizing die. Next apply gas checks if required and lubricate. These are now ready for loading.

Dang you sound like Dennis Marshall! ;-)

[RED BEAR]

I water drop all the time for magnums and long guns .the one time I had a problem was when water splashed into a large cavity mold and when I went to pour the next bullet the lead exploded out of mold causing me to spill the ladle full of lead across back of my hand. I have a fine reminder not to do that again ( scar across back of hand ) . I have moved my water farther down. And I actually use ice water for dropping.

[Chad5005]

im in a wheelchair and cant reach to far,i drop my boolits in a hospital wash pan with a towel in the bottom and water as deep as the towel,my lead pot sits on one side of my bench and the wash pan on the other and I break the sprue in between,works well for me

[GARD72977]

I water drop everything into a half full 5 gal bucket. If a splash did hit the mold Im sure the water would would not stay long. Water dances around when you put it on a hot surface. An open mold facing down is not going to hold water.

[Tripplebeards]

I air cool all mine now that I PC. But when I wq my boolits. I fill a pail up with water and ice cube with a towel over the top. I would let my boolits fall out of the mold and roll down the side I'd the soft towel into the water. One little quick sizzle.

[Shopdog]

Using an old enamel washpan. Oval shaped white with red rim version,it was my G-ma's.Been using it for 40 or so years. Folded hand towel in bttm. I'll cast until there's a decent coverage on the towel then VERY carefully roll them into bttm and cast some more. Really gets my OCD's fired up seeing bullets landing on top of each other coming out of a mould....... the larger footprint of the washpan gives me more sq inches of real estate.

[Mal Paso]

99.99999% of the time water hits a mold and evaporates but If you cast fast enough it is possible for a water drop to last long enough in a cavity to pour hot lead on top of it. Makes really ugly Boolits and the sizzle and pop will let you know right away. No harm done but it did get my attention.

[sutherpride59]

Personally I have found a cheap styrofoam cooler filled with water on a little stool next to me to work best. The bullets fall into foam and they cool instantly. Easy, cheap and no denting of bullets.