Green Boolits? How long to wait
- Thread starter JWFilips
- Start date
Ain't but one way to know, isn't there?
I personally think 2 weeks is minimum for air cooled. Water dropped or heat treated I think 4 days is good.
More time is never a bad thing. I don't think your 4 weeks is too excessive. More important, if it makes you more confident in the bullets and ammo then keep doing it.
Try this. Take a known, accurate load. Cast some bullets. Load them all at the same time, maybe a day after casting. Shoot a 10 shot group at various times after casting. See if a pattern develops.
I have done the above and time does matter. Missed a couple deer last year with green bullets. Same ammo a few months later shot great at twice the range I missed the deer. Made me a believer.
I personally think 2 weeks is minimum for air cooled. Water dropped or heat treated I think 4 days is good.
More time is never a bad thing. I don't think your 4 weeks is too excessive. More important, if it makes you more confident in the bullets and ammo then keep doing it.
Try this. Take a known, accurate load. Cast some bullets. Load them all at the same time, maybe a day after casting. Shoot a 10 shot group at various times after casting. See if a pattern develops.
I have done the above and time does matter. Missed a couple deer last year with green bullets. Same ammo a few months later shot great at twice the range I missed the deer. Made me a believer.
What's more important is that they are all the same within a group. If you shoot varied BHN bullets within a single group you can expect larger groups than with consistent bullets.
Missed a couple of deer huh? Now the shooter didn't have anything to do with that did he?
Missed a couple of deer huh? Now the shooter didn't have anything to do with that did he?
35 shooter
Well-Known Member
I have shot my heat treated ww bullets many times at about 3 days and can't tell any difference in groups @ 100 yds. or poi. I've never tested my ac bullets like that yet though.
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
Hi guys....just to stir the water a little. I believe that velocity has a lot to due with the time you should wait. But what really keeps me awake is a statement in an old Layman reloading manual that stated no matter how long you let them cure once you size them you have to wait all over again because sizing changes the crystalline structure . So i guess you end up with a hard bullet and soft bands. Just saying that is what they claim. Me,I wait a week, size and shoot as desired. But then again I do not push them all that hard, maybe 1600 fps tops.
williamwaco
Active Member
I use only air cooled.
I wait just long enough to be able to hold them in my bare hand.
Then I size them and if needed, load them.
Don't think I ever shot them the same day but I have shot them the next day many times.
I find them to be just as accurate the next day as they are six months later.
I wait just long enough to be able to hold them in my bare hand.
Then I size them and if needed, load them.
Don't think I ever shot them the same day but I have shot them the next day many times.
I find them to be just as accurate the next day as they are six months later.
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
WW done that
The fist couple of groups I posted of my pb were shot within a couple of days. I do think they get better with age. But the groups I shot today with my overnight bullets held their own against those cast six months ago. Alloy 50% lino,50% lead, 1% pewter. Again I do not push them hard, mostly 1450-1600.
The fist couple of groups I posted of my pb were shot within a couple of days. I do think they get better with age. But the groups I shot today with my overnight bullets held their own against those cast six months ago. Alloy 50% lino,50% lead, 1% pewter. Again I do not push them hard, mostly 1450-1600.
yodogsandman
Well-Known Member
I normally use COWW's with 1% to 2% Sn. The AC'd bullets, I wait for 3 weeks (21 days) and if oven heat treated, I wait for 5 days. It just works for me to have this standard.
Hey! I have coffee cans full of bullets cast about 20 years ago, too! I need to get a gun to use up the cans of bullets sized and lubed at .310" (RCBS 30-180 SP and 314299's), I guess. Also have a few cans of 358477's and Lyman Makarov bullets that I've been just picking at. I'm sure glad I marked them well with the date, composition, size and bullet mold!
Hey! I have coffee cans full of bullets cast about 20 years ago, too! I need to get a gun to use up the cans of bullets sized and lubed at .310" (RCBS 30-180 SP and 314299's), I guess. Also have a few cans of 358477's and Lyman Makarov bullets that I've been just picking at. I'm sure glad I marked them well with the date, composition, size and bullet mold!
williamwaco
Active Member
BRAD.
I cast any alloy I can get. Overwhelmingly COWW . For "hard" I adjust to BNH 12 to 15 by adding pure or lino as needed.
For soft I adjust to 8 to 10 BNH.
Hard for .30-30. Soft for revolvers and pistols.
I cast any alloy I can get. Overwhelmingly COWW . For "hard" I adjust to BNH 12 to 15 by adding pure or lino as needed.
For soft I adjust to 8 to 10 BNH.
Hard for .30-30. Soft for revolvers and pistols.
L
Lost Dog
Guest
I know I'm reviving an old thread, but I'm sorta dense at some things. For instance this bullet metal aging process. I'd been melting and pouring lead for 55 years before I ever heard of it. I was blissfully casting away for decades without a clue. And yes, I don't get out much! Ha!
But much like WilliamWaco, I'd cast, size, lube, and load in the same day at times or let 'em sit a spell and never noticed a thing. Then again, I wasn't looking for anything either. But I've had bullets go from the mould into a cartridge in a few hours and then to the range and was happy as a lark just to be shooting.
Now I had mentioned this aging/curing process to my loading amigo across the road. He's new at it since I'd only taught him how to load a year ago, but he's quite analytical. He said the same time occurs in moldings plastic. There's a cure time. Though much shorter. Now he put forth the question if curing time is a week or longer from the casting date, what happens if the freshly made bullet is processed and loaded? Doesn't it still continue curing while sitting in the cartridge case undisturbed? I said it sounded logical to me, but then again I only found out about this curing process last year. How do I know?
So what do you guys think? Reasonable? Ridiculous? Possible? You tell me. Remember, I'm a guy that casts and shoots in the same day and thinks Nothing of it.
But much like WilliamWaco, I'd cast, size, lube, and load in the same day at times or let 'em sit a spell and never noticed a thing. Then again, I wasn't looking for anything either. But I've had bullets go from the mould into a cartridge in a few hours and then to the range and was happy as a lark just to be shooting.
Now I had mentioned this aging/curing process to my loading amigo across the road. He's new at it since I'd only taught him how to load a year ago, but he's quite analytical. He said the same time occurs in moldings plastic. There's a cure time. Though much shorter. Now he put forth the question if curing time is a week or longer from the casting date, what happens if the freshly made bullet is processed and loaded? Doesn't it still continue curing while sitting in the cartridge case undisturbed? I said it sounded logical to me, but then again I only found out about this curing process last year. How do I know?
So what do you guys think? Reasonable? Ridiculous? Possible? You tell me. Remember, I'm a guy that casts and shoots in the same day and thinks Nothing of it.
Sizing and loading doesn't alter the aging process in my experience.
I have cast bullet, sized and loaded them. A day or two after casting they don't shoot near as well as when I let the ammo sit for a few weeks or more.
So much depends on the exact alloy and pressure rise.
I have cast bullet, sized and loaded them. A day or two after casting they don't shoot near as well as when I let the ammo sit for a few weeks or more.
So much depends on the exact alloy and pressure rise.
KHornet
Well-Known Member
This is one of those, who knows and in all probability who really cares. I tend to shoot cast that has been sitting around for a couple of weeks or more. However, have bullets a number of years old. I don't ever recall casting, sizing, lubing, loading and shooting on the same day, probably never the next week as well. More than likely, most of my bullets that are loaded have set for at least 3 weeks.
Dog, the metallurgy of a Pb/Sb alloy is that the higher the Sb percentage the shorter the age/time curve. An alloy of at least 2-3% Sb will be near final strength (hardness) with a few days and continue very slowly to harden a little for some time after that, lower percentages can be much longer up to a couple of weeks. Doesn't hurt a thing to load them the day they are cast, they will still age.
The real bottom line is what you are shooting and your goals. Plinking ammo, competition ammo, high velocity/pressure and what your alloy is will determine if any of that matters a lick. It's kinda picking the fly poop out of the pepper barrel but it is a real thing that Pb/Sb alloy's age harden.
They will also age soften. If heat treated by either the oven or quenching from the mold once they reach final BHN they will begin very slowly to age soften. I tested oven heat treated bullets at 30 BHN, in 10 years they were 26 BHN. Very slow.
The real bottom line is what you are shooting and your goals. Plinking ammo, competition ammo, high velocity/pressure and what your alloy is will determine if any of that matters a lick. It's kinda picking the fly poop out of the pepper barrel but it is a real thing that Pb/Sb alloy's age harden.
They will also age soften.
If heat treated by either the oven or quenching from the mold once they reach final BHN they will begin very slowly to age soften. I tested oven heat treated bullets at 30 BHN, in 10 years they were 26 BHN. Very slow.
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