How long between casting, lubing, and shooting?

[Ferdinand]

I read a bunch of the stickies and am left with the understanding that lead castings change as time passes. How long should one wait between casting and lubing, then shooting cast lead projectiles.

At the moment, I'm casting .358 diameter 148 grain wadcutters for shooting at velocities under 900 fps. I'm not sure of the composition of the lead that I'm melting, but it was a counterbalance in an imaging machine.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[454PB]

If you're not heat treating, you can lube and shoot them immediately.

If you are heat treating, it can take up to a month for the boolits to reach full hardness. Also, heat treated boolits need to be sized quickly, before hardening begins. When I water drop, I size them the same day.

[beagle]

Depends on how anxious you are to try bullets from that new mould.......

I cast some this morning and then sized them. Of course they were air cooled at about 30 degrees due to the shop temps. I could have fired them this afternoon and they'd have probably shot all right.

Supposedly, it's about a week after sizing to allow good setup but that's not carved in stone. If you want to shoot them, go ahead./beagle

[Ferdinand]

Thanks for the replies. Now to get some lubed before bed...

[Lead Fred]

I ice water drop mine, so they are ready to go when Im done.
Pan lubing I let them sit on the concrete floor over night.
can load them the next morning:Fire:

[buck1]

With WW type alloy , I wait : two weeks air cooled, 3 days water dropped.
With lino or similer alloys..I dond wait at all.

[Marlin Hunter]

For plinking or similar situation, it wouldn't matter how long you wait. 1 hour or 1 decade wouldn't make a difference.

For target shooting, or maybe hunting, it would be a different matter. Lets say the crystal structure in a lead boolit continues to change for up to 2 weeks after casting. (I dont know if this is true, but it has been posted here before that the boolit changes hardness for a short time after casting or heat treating). If the hardness or other properties changed, then the performance inside the barrel under pressure, and accuracy, would also change. The key to accuracy is getting everything to be the same. Waiting for a few weeks until the boolits internal crystal structure (or whatever it is) settles to a norm would be beneficial to accuracy. The amount a boolit expands on impact (when used for hunting) may also change after a short time, although I do not think it makes a big difference in a hunting boolit. Accuracy should be the main or first concern with a hunting boolit.

[mpmarty]

I generally cast and tumble lube the same day. Size w/LEE push through the next day and tumble lube again. Then they may sit for a week or two before I load them up and shoot them.

[1Shirt]

:As a general rule, I cast/size/lube on the same day. The exception is for blts that I am going to shoot as cast that are plain based. For those it is when ever the mood strikes me. Example is 429421 which drops out of my mold at .432, and I run them thru a 432 sizer so no big deal. I water drop everything because I find it convenient. It is rare that not less than 3 weeks to a month minimum go by before what I cast goes down the tube, and in some cases that extends to months, and occaisionally to years.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[BD]

I have not noticed any change in hardness for air cooled WW boolits after 48 hours. My water dropped WW boolits gain max hardness in one week. Oven heat treated boolits take between 10 days and two weeks to get as hard as they're gonna get.

I let the pure soft lead stuff cool off enough that I don't burn my fingers before I load it. Same goes for WW boolits in the .45 acp if I happen to be out of ammo at the time.
BD

[Lloyd Smale]

at least 10 minutes ;)