Can some one refresh me at what temp you heat treat cast proj...i know that you leave them in the oven for 60 min, but at what temp setting
thanks

There are several ways and temps...Google this link for complete instructions and lots of other cast lead info...

www.lasc.us/brennan_4-5_heattreat.htm

or just Google "heat treating cast lead bullets" for lots of information.

45 minutes at 450°, quench, let sit for 12-18 hours to finish hardening...and many other "formulas".

thanks

Easiest is to just drop them straight from the mold into water.

I believe heat treating makes them tougher (good for hunting), while dropping in water makes them harder, i.e. more brittle. OK for higher velocities, but not so good for hunting.

When you do heat treatment you need to first size the bullets to the correct size in your lube-o-matic. Hereafter you heat them in the oven to just before melting point. You then drop them in water. Hereafter you size and lube them with a sizer die that is 1/1000 larger than the original sizer. By doing this you do not overwork your sizer dies and it place a nice thin layer of lube on the outside of the bullet. Doing it this way would give you zero leading.

You can heat treat Lead? I always assumed composition determined hardness.

Grizz

Grizzly,

Can't be heat treat lead, but alloys with antimony can be successfully heat treated.

Clarence

G'Day Fella's,

M98, here is a link to a thread I started on the www.NitroExpress.com forum.
http://forums.nitroexpress.com...=0&page=0#Post269335

Daryl_S is The Man on this subject!

Hope that helps

Doh!
Homer

And here you go:

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

quote:

Originally posted by whelenite:
I believe heat treating makes them tougher (good for hunting), while dropping in water makes them harder, i.e. more brittle. OK for higher velocities, but not so good for hunting.

Dropping them from the mold into a bucket of water is heat treating the bullets. Typically dropped from the mold into water they are not quite as hard as heating them in an oven and then quenching them.

Brittleness has more to do with what the lead is alloyed with than how they are heat treated.

quote:

Dropping them from the mold into a bucket of water is heat treating the bullets. Typically dropped from the mold into water they are not quite as hard as heating them in an oven and then quenching them.

Makes them plenty hard I use them up to 1500fps they well shoot through a lot of stuff

From Lyman's FAQ- Q: Is there anything I can do to make the bullets harder?
A: Cast bullets can be heat treated to increase their hardness providing your alloy has some antimony present. To heat treat your bullets: Cast your bullets in the normal manner, saving several scrap bullets. Size your bullets but do not lubricate them. Place several scrap bullets on a pan in your oven at 450 degrees and increase the temperature until the bullets start to melt or slump. Be sure to use an accurate oven thermometer and a pan that will not be used again for food. Once the bullets start to melt or slump, back off the temperature about 5 to 10 degrees and slide in your first batch of good bullets. Leave these in the oven for a half hour. Remove the bullets from the oven and plunge them into cool water. Allow them to cool thoroughly. When you are ready to lubricate, install a sizing die .001" larger than the one used to initially size them. This will prevent the sides of the bullets from work-softening from contact with the sizing die. Next apply gas checks if required and lubricate. These are now ready for loading.

I have done it, works well.

I have been told dropping the bullets directly from a hot mould into a bucket of room temperature water will harden the outer .003" of an inch. I do this and long ago stopped heat treating in an oven and I guess I really don't care about expansion for target shooting and plinking. I have used some lead for hunting here in Alaska and in Africa but for the vast majority of my hunting I use commercial jacketed bullets and save the lead for the range.
Cal
PS. I have never shot a lead bullet faster than 1750 fps and most are much slower than that. I have always had leading in the bore problems and from my posts here on AR this is probably due to my casting from hard wheel weights. I should mention I shoot cast in only nitro doubles from .400 up to .600 (reverse 75% rule for slower velocity), black powder doubles from .450 to .577 in the express and 12-10-8-4-bore in the larger bore rifles. Some of the accuracy is as good as I get with jacketed bullets or so close I'm satisfied. Also, I'm not that good of a shot anyway.

I've tested the theory that quenched cast bullets are only "surface hardened", and found that it's not true. I filed 1/3 of the diameter away on some of my quenched bullets and found the hardness goes at least that deep.