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Ross Smith posted this 4 weeks ago

If you were to make up a large batch of bullets for future use, is it better to leave them as cast or size and lube them? T he question is really about the lube.

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Glenn R. Latham posted this 4 weeks ago

Ross,

I prefer to leave them naked, however I've got baggies (firm lube) and plastic boxes (soft lube) of bullets that are already lubed. Most of these are very small amounts, not enough to do much with but make plinking ammo, and I don't plink much with rifles. Leaving them unlubed opens up more possibilities for later use. But them I'm an inveterate experimenter...

Glenn

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MarkinEllensburg posted this 4 weeks ago

I am mostly the opposite of Glenn. I use only one lube, well different manufacturers of NRA formula 50/50 alox. There are far more knowledgeable folks than I when it comes to the metallurgical aspects of cast bullets. Is age hardening interrupted by late sizing? I seem to recall that bullets age harden to a peak and then fade over time. Good question Ross.

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Wilderness posted this 4 weeks ago

I tend to wander about in my lube preferences depending on recent experiences. I'm currently using 2500+ for my lighter rifle loads and a harder mix of leftovers for the serious hunting loads. I've also used Lyman Orange Magic and Super Moly (both good), LBT Blue Soft, 50:50, BAC, beeswax & Castrol LMM, beeswax and synthetic two-stroke and probably some others I've forgotten.

At almost any time in the last 20 years I've found myself "using up" bullets lubed with something I no longer use or no longer want to use.

Now I try not to get too far ahead of myself. That leaves me free to experiment without being tied to an obsolete inventory.

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pat i. posted this 4 weeks ago

I seem to recall that bullets age harden to a peak and then fade over time.

I think that would only pertain to heat treated bullets.

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Shopdog posted this 4 weeks ago

Stored as cast. One reason is having several rigs utilizing the same mould. It's just easier to process towards a very specific goal. For instance,one rig may require nose sizing... another rifle can use noses as cast. Some noses get tapered,some aren't.

Same with milled bases... at velocities under 2k it's usually not going to show on target,well if the as cast bases are of "better" quality. Start jacking up the pressure hitting JB velocity and the extra work on bases becomes really important.

Also,I don't cast in huge lots... the same reasons as above. Yes,this will catch me out once in awhile,running low inventory. However there's even reasons I choose this,and don't see it changing.

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OU812 posted this 4 weeks ago

Others and i have witnessed some alloys hardening with age, especially when I tried to duplicate lyman#2. No heat treating was involved. I do not know the exact alloy composition (arsenic maybe) or why this happens but some alloys will get harder overtime.

My chilled birdshot (10bhn) and 20/1 lead tin seem stable over time.

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pat i. posted this 4 weeks ago

I imagine most alloys will harden from the time it drops from the mold until it reaches its normalized state but without heat treating I can't imagine it surpassing that state or losing any hardness over time. Heat treating or mold quenching will lose hardness over time but how long it takes I have no idea since I don't have bullets sitting around that long. If you have oven treated bullets sitting around long enough to lose all their hardness pop em back in the oven and you'll be back where you started. As far as lubing for storage, depending how long you plan on storing them I'd leave them dry and lube when you're gonna shoot em.

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Bud Hyett posted this 4 weeks ago

Like everyone here, I've got a pile of bullets in odd numbers in all kind of containers. Years of testing after buying molds has the shelves bowing. I plan on shooting every gas-check bullet and remelting any others. I need the practice.

Fortunately, I have a friend wanting to start cast bullet shooting. But he is the hard-luck prototype. He bought a good-looking sporterized Remington O3A3 with scope from one of the websites. This would nicely fit in the Modified Scope class.

When he brought it out to clean and size the bore, the.30 caliber rod would not fit, but the .25 caliber rod went in just great. He had bought a rebarreled .25-'06 that shoots well. The barrel is the O3A3 profile at first look.

My plan to have him shoot up the extras for practice is gone.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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