Cure Time??

[Grampie not Grumpie]

I am sure this has been covered before several times, but .....? After you melt/pour or cast your lead how long does it have to cure to reach the final hardness?? I know it will get harder after it cools .... but a couple of days - a week or longer??

I recently got a hardness tester and now I am more conscious of this.

Thanks,

Grampie not Grumpie,

[BABore]

If it's cast air cooled, it will take a few days to a week. Water dropped or oven heat treated, it takes at least a week. The higher the antimony & arsenic level, the shorter the cure time. Cure time can be reduced by keeping the boolits warm. Like 120 F or so. Cure time can be delayed by freezing the boolits. This is useful if you can't size them immediately after heat treating. They should be sized right away if you can. Frozen, you can buy a day or so.

Being in a rush has cost me a couple times. For accuracy testing I prefer at least a month of cure time. More is even better.

Heat treated boolits that are not sized right away will grow in size proportional to the antimony content. Very useful if you have an undersized boolit and some time on your hands. Once to the desired size, they should be re-heat treated, sized to final dimension, then cured for a month minimum. Why wait an additional month? Cause you just had to wait 6-12 months to gain a couple thousanths. What's another month for good boolits.:bigsmyl2:

[Grampie not Grumpie]

Thanks,

Since I got the hardness tester I have found that I have a lot of lead that is too hard. I have been remelting it with a lead sinker thrown in and getting the BHN where I want it. I knew it will get harder as it ages but wondered how long before it was where it stabilized.

I am shooting mostly Ruger SA .44 Mag. and .45 Colt. At my age my wrists and hands don't like full power loads so I like my boolits on the soft side. Around BHN 12 or so.

Thanks,

Grampie not Grumpie,

[220swiftfn]

Hey Grampie, I think the general consensus is about a month, but air cooled about a week..


I know you're not grumpy, 'cause that's me.....

Dan

[45-70 Chevroner]

Grampie: I hope I don't push any buttons here, but I think with the type of loads you are talking about it won't make any difference if they have cured one day or however long, as long as they are not real hard to begin with ie. hard alloy.

[35 Whelen]

Interesting post. I usually shoot air-cooled WW's and try to let them cure for at least two weeks. But just this evening I shot one of the best groups I've ever fired out of my K31 with bullets that were cast 2 weeks and 1 day ago.
When I'm in a hurry, I water-quench bullets and routinely size, lube and shoot them the same day. They never seem quite as accurate as the air-cooled bullets, but they're pretty good.
35W