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Thread: Oven Tempering v. Direct Quenching - anyone compare BHN?

  1. #21
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    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by huntinlever View Post
    SNIP>>>

    One thing I'd ask ...

    I noticed after quenching that they (gas checks) had changed color somewhat. Paler, maybe. Have these been compromised?

    Thinking of just tossing all (52 only) back into the pot, and going back to "the old ways." - cast and quench, dry, size and gas check, lube in 0.001+ lubrizer.
    When I heat treat GC rifle boolits, my GC get discolored also, no big deal, the only compromising could be, will they stay on, mine were still crimped/clamped on tight to boolit base. I suspect at that temp, it's more of a heat stain, than actually fully annealed.

    So whether you go back to your old ways, or not, don't melt these down. Save them for a test, shooting comparison. My previous post in this thread was made tongue-in-cheek, because I don't think you will see any difference on the target paper at the range. A test would be a good thing...and who knows? maybe I am wrong.
    Good Luck.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  2. #22
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    rintinglen's Avatar
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    For my 2 cents, I eschew water dropping and only use the oven heat treat system due to the variance in temperature that the former introduces.

    I have loaded and shot many thousands of 30 caliber boolits that were heat-treated in the oven, and then fired at velocities over 2000 fps from various 30-30 rifles. An Engineer named Dennis Marshall described the technique in a pair of articles, one in Lyman's 3rd Edition Cast Bullet Handbook and the other in the RCBS Cast Bullet Manual. Heat the boolits for 30 + minutes at 450 degrees and then plunge them into ice water. I sized them .310 and seated the gas checks on my boolits before heat treating. The 311-465 and the 311-466 respond very well to this. Using wheel weights I was able to get a BHN of 24-26 using wheel weight metal with a smidgeon of monotype. Whether they got harder down the road, I don't know, because I used them up just about as fast as I shot them, but they were amply hard for my purpose (lever action silhouette) the next day. I then lubed them with two medium coats of LLA or Recluse 45/45/10 and shot them with minimal to no leading in a 60 round match.
    Last edited by rintinglen; 06-11-2023 at 10:02 AM. Reason: wrong name. missed it the first time.
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  3. #23
    Boolit Master
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    So uncle joe is running low on anti tank ammo and you guys are gettin ready to fill the gap ??

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check