Originally Posted by
Huskerguy
I found this chart helpful, I did not do the work, just copied it. I do not water quench my bullets when pouring them. I have quenched bullets right when taking them out of the oven from coating them. I just grab the tray and slide them right into a 5 gallon bucket of cold water. I have no way of knowing if it really does make the lead harder as I do not test. I also use primarily range lead that tends to run a bit softer but in many thousands of bullets, I have never had a leading problem even with I used 45/45/10. The one advantage of water quenching freshly coated bullets is I can get started sizing them right away. Never had a problem with sticking or bumping them together. I would add that I do not push bullets hard, I don't have the need and I do not load lead for rifle.
TATV Test
Alloy= COWW BHN Hardness Gain
air cooled 12.22
water cooled 27.2
air cooled PC 12.86
air cooled cast/quenched PC 21.62 75%
quenched cast/air cooled PC 14.46 -50%
quenched cast/quenched PC 23.18 -15%
Note: This is dependent on the amount of antimony and arsenic in the alloy.