de-tempered cast boolits......

[saskgunowner101]

So in the course of some internet wandering, I came across a little snippet by Paco Kelly?? about de-tempering water dropped cast boolits. Basically setting them in some water and running a torch over the top half until a slight color change. Anyone ever tried this and if so, what kind of results did you have. Thought it would be neat for the 45-70 to get some good expansion.

 

[ben hunchak]

Lead bullets that have been altered by heat treating, will start loosing their hardness in weeks and revert back to their orig. cast state. With this happening, I wouldn't try to alter them even more with heat/quenching, as it can make them brittle. The same antimony that makes quenching work also makes bullets brittle.
To me it makes more sense to cast them of the right alloy to begin with, use an alloy with 2% tin and match hardness to your velocity for expansion on game..IMHO

 

[Andy]

It's fun to experiment, but I gotta agree with Ben. Just cast with a hardness consistent with the pressure and resulting MV and be done with it. I find that good old wheelweight + 2% tin gives about the perfect hardness for my 45-70. Who needs expansion with a 45 cal anyways? It's more important that the bullet hold together and not fracture, as some bullets cast too hard can do.

I have seen posts where bullets were done in two pours - the first about half full with dead soft lead (peek down to see where it sits against a reference point inside the mold, then let it sit for a few seconds), and then top off the mold with linotype. It gives a soft nose bonded to a hard base, kind of a "cast partition". It doesn't matter how precise you are, as you can sort by weight, which would not vary much anyway.

 

[saskgunowner101]

Yeah, I suppose a 45 cal hole poked in anything wouldn't do it much good. I had shot some 405's that were water quenched, with a mild load of Unique and was surprised at the penetration. They went through a 12" to 14" chunk of seasoned log and tore a path into the dirt and clay about 7" at an angle. I recovered a few and besides the rifling they were basically the same, with minor distortion on the noses.

Always lookin' for the poor mans way of making something better.