Great forum here guys, thanks for all the useful information I've already picked before getting around to this first post:
Using A-Neat's Lino & Pure lead formula 25:75, I had done a couple of practcie runs to get the cast mechanics familiar to me. Initially decided to go with Lee micro groove 6x molds and have cast some 240 swc in 44 and (more) 125 rn in 9mm.
after these test runs I sat down last night and cast about 400-450 of the 9mms. I set up a cardboard bullet chute that allowed me to drop the bullets out of the mold and directly into a coffee can full of water down on the floor. I was using a lee 20lb bottom pour pot and it took maybe 1 1/2 hours to do these even after a slow start. I ran the pot pretty hot (no thermometer, dialed 1 under max i think) for fast pouring and didn't get any frosting on the surface of the bullets. I am going to try and get away without sizing (as i don't have a sizer at this point) and roll them in liquid alox when time to lube.
An alloy calculator i downloaded suggests this combo of lead and linotype would be around 9.25 bnh. I assume this would be immediately after the cast cooled down with no quenching or heat treating. I mic'd a bunch of them and they all measured out a little bigger than the .356 spec that Lee has on them, by .0005 - .001.
I plan on shooting these through a S/A IMI UZI and possibly various 9mm Glocks (iIam aware of the Glock Barrel issues/concerns and will move slowly and consider various aftermarket barrels if i get there...) The UZI is tolerant of hot ammo, medium ammo, cold ammo, pretty much shoots anything.
OK, now the questions:
1- The quenching- as described above, what kind of bnh hardness would you estimate I moved up to by quenching?
and
2- Do quenched bullets of this alloy still stand to harden up some more if left alone for a couple weeks? I've seen posts here stating that a little time will help harden up most softer aloys. So do I get a double effect or does the quenching already do as much as I could expect?
Thanks ahead of time for your input and any comments/ advice/ warnings/ encuragement/ harrasment you care to toss into the thread. (To be kind, I left my fat-chick avatar back at GT for now)