Read the beartooth article, "This assures that the bullets will temperature stabilize at 460˚F and soak for at least one hour. Upon completion of the soak time, the basket of bullets is quickly removed from the oven and placed in the quenching pan and the insulating cap is placed over the aluminum-annealing block. See Figure 2. This allows for a 1 1/2 hour cool down period. " I'm talking just a few seconds, then air cool. That is the difference. Thermal conductivity of lead is very low, time it takes for heat to travel through lead. Bullet is a heat tank, extracting from one end depletes the other end but the process is relatively slow, not like a water tank.
The article does indicate that the terminal results would be desirable.
The other solution would be to quench the entire bullet, then use a heated plate to anneal the nose.