How long to you allow freshly cast bullets to cool before sizing

[dtknowles]

I found this here https://www.totalmateria.com/page.as...during%20aging.

Solution Treating and Aging
Adding sufficient quantities of antimony to produce hypoeutectic lead-antimony alloys can attain useful strengthening of lead. Small amounts of arsenic have particularly strong effects on the age-hardening response of such alloys, and solution treating and rapid quenching prior to aging enhance these effects.
Hardness Stability. For most of the two-year period, the solution-treated specimens were harder than the quench-east specimens. Other investigations have also shown that alloys cooled slowly after casting are always softer than quenched alloys. The alloys with 2 and 4% Sb harden comparatively slowly, and the alloy containing 6% Sb appears to undergo optimum hardening.

This might also be helpful
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chap...Metallurgy.htm

[Larry Gibson]

Over the years of sizing, GCing and lubing thousands of cast bullets of various calibers and alloys I've broke 2 or 3 link pins on my four Lyman 450s. The metal was crystalized at the break. When they broke, I wasn't doing any forceful sizing. I simply replaced them with stainless bolts from Ace Hardware or Lowes. However, I have sized some bullets which were "hard" to size but I've used successively smaller H&I dies. I've never really sized "hard" bullets in one step.

I also have sized down some AC'd COWW + 2% tin .325 323470 & 323471s already lubed and GC'd down to .314 in one sizing. Never had a problem with that.

[243winxb]

Oven heat treating, water cooled bullets harden at different rates, depending on the % of antimony. 2%= 2 weeks. 6%= 24 hours.

[dtknowles]

Over the years of sizing, GCing and lubing thousands of cast bullets of various calibers and alloys I've broke 2 or 3 link pins on my four Lyman 450s. The metal was crystalized at the break. When they broke, I wasn't doing any forceful sizing. I simply replaced them with stainless bolts from Ace Hardware or Lowes. However, I have sized some bullets which were "hard" to size but I've used successively smaller H&I dies. I've never really sized "hard" bullets in one step.

I also have sized down some AC'd COWW + 2% tin .325 323470 & 323471s already lubed and GC'd down to .314 in one sizing. Never had a problem with that.

I never had a pin break but I cracked the handle were the pin went through the strap. I don't remember what I was doing but I was certainly putting more force on the handle than I should have. I might have been swaging down jacketed bullets. I have done that successfully on pistol bullets but I might have tried something more extreme.
Tim

[marshall623]

I've always size my water quenched bullets as soon as they are dry or within a few hours , I can load them then but don't shoot them for 2 -3 weeks .Most of the time they go into a container. Air-cooled bullets go into a container and get sized as I need them . I cast most everything from COWW with 2% tin added . So far it works , I tried reading the metallurgy section fron Cast Book #4 but it was just a blur . I'll dig into it later

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