oldandslow
New member
Greetings,
With the great component deficiency of a few years ago I started lead casting to feed my guns. I did about ten thousand boolits for both rifles and pistols. Now that decently priced bullets are in abundance I no longer cast.
I'm presently doing load development in my Howa 30-06 with 150 grain bullets from Speer, Sierra, Nosler, and Berger. The goal is 1moa accuracy and I have had some success.
My question comes in lead pot annealing which is an economical (I have all the equipment) method to get repeatable temps around the whole neck and shoulders. My pot runs at 800 deg. F (thermometer measured) and I hold each fired case (with fired primer in place) for 8 seconds with a welding glove and then drop it in water to limit the heat going down the case body. I am getting no leading inside the case neck and a bit on the outside neck which comes off easily with a paper towel or wire brush. Dipping in motor mica made no difference.
I am having trouble finding a definitive answer on how long to immerse the case. The Giraud website says 6.5-8 seconds for their gas torch annealing machine at 750 degrees. Most of the websites say it takes "a few seconds" at 750-800 degrees. Most of these same sites say it's too dangerous for the same reasons that are given for routine lead boolit casting ("deadly fumes, a drop of sweat in the pot will cause an explosion," etc).
Any suggestions on hard data that gives me an idea of the time needed to hold a case in the lead bath for proper annealing?
thanks- oldandslow
With the great component deficiency of a few years ago I started lead casting to feed my guns. I did about ten thousand boolits for both rifles and pistols. Now that decently priced bullets are in abundance I no longer cast.
I'm presently doing load development in my Howa 30-06 with 150 grain bullets from Speer, Sierra, Nosler, and Berger. The goal is 1moa accuracy and I have had some success.
My question comes in lead pot annealing which is an economical (I have all the equipment) method to get repeatable temps around the whole neck and shoulders. My pot runs at 800 deg. F (thermometer measured) and I hold each fired case (with fired primer in place) for 8 seconds with a welding glove and then drop it in water to limit the heat going down the case body. I am getting no leading inside the case neck and a bit on the outside neck which comes off easily with a paper towel or wire brush. Dipping in motor mica made no difference.
I am having trouble finding a definitive answer on how long to immerse the case. The Giraud website says 6.5-8 seconds for their gas torch annealing machine at 750 degrees. Most of the websites say it takes "a few seconds" at 750-800 degrees. Most of these same sites say it's too dangerous for the same reasons that are given for routine lead boolit casting ("deadly fumes, a drop of sweat in the pot will cause an explosion," etc).
Any suggestions on hard data that gives me an idea of the time needed to hold a case in the lead bath for proper annealing?
thanks- oldandslow