PC and alloy hardness

[luober]

i'm sorry if i'm asking a question that has been already asked, but what affect does the oven temperature (400 degrees) used to cure the pc coating, have on alloy hardness?
thanks

[RP]

Kind of a tricky answer if you want to get right down to it, If you water dropped your bullets to increase the hardness heating them will most likely reverse that effect if you air cooled them almost no effect. Thing is when you air cool you bullets they take time to reach the lets say natural hardness of the lead. Safe side depending on temp they are stored in is around a month. So if you cast air cooled PC then aged the bullets a month I would say no effect that would matter if you water cooled them to get more hardness then PC it is kind of a wash. Some water drop them after PC to gain hardness but I can not say what effect it has since I have not tested any using that method.

[runfiverun]

your alloy pretty much comes out of your mold at that temp or within 25-f.

the only difference is 20 minutes is not enough time to soften the inside of a P/C boolit.
now if all your boolits slump into puddles or to one side then you got it hot enough to affect the entire boolit and can then gain bhn from the alloy if you water drop it.
[I don't know why you'd want a real hard blob of lead and pc though]

heat treating works by heat soaking the entire boolit to a high enough and uniform enough temperature to allow the antimony to be able to move within the matrix then freeze it in place before the SbSn chain can rebond. [a full hour or more soak time then an instant cool down]

that might sound a touch out there.
but think about why it takes your air cooled alloy 7-10 days to reach it's full bhn.
and water dropped takes more like 30 to get close to it's final bhn.

[Alan Bycroft]

your alloy pretty much comes out of your mold at that temp or within 25-f.

the only difference is 20 minutes is not enough time to soften the inside of a P/C boolit.
now if all your boolits slump into puddles or to one side then you got it hot enough to affect the entire boolit and can then gain bhn from the alloy if you water drop it.
[I don't know why you'd want a real hard blob of lead and pc though]

heat treating works by heat soaking the entire boolit to a high enough and uniform enough temperature to allow the antimony to be able to move within the matrix then freeze it in place before the SbSn chain can rebond. [a full hour or more soak time then an instant cool down]

that might sound a touch out there.
but think about why it takes your air cooled alloy 7-10 days to reach it's full bhn.
and water dropped takes more like 30 to get close to it's final bhn.

So you're essentially saying water quenching has no real effect in the long run?

[popper]

No, WD after cooking takes a couple days for near full hardness. AC takes ~1 week. The 1hr or more cook is due to the coating acting like an insulator around the boolit.I cook on a hot plate, then WD - takes ~20min. to get the bolit to temp.