Getting ready for the new 32-20 barrel on my Stevens 44 1/2 I was thinking that in addition to the standard 32-20 molds that I have and, since the single shot doesn't limit me to and maximum length, that a slightly heavier bullet with a longer smaller meplatted nose might be a good one to try. Accurate catalogs a 31-125M (says inspired by Lyman 31356) and a 31-125MG (a gas checked version). Accurate lets you specify the alloy you will be using and the desired diameter (and whether that is a minimum or a maximum) so I told Tom that I would be using 1 to 20 and would like a .313 minimum since I would be sizing to that. I ordered a 2-cavity aluminum with one cavity plain base and one gas checked. You can have a standard length block or a longer one to give more separation between the sprue holes. For this one I ordered the standard since I knew for these small bullets that would be fine. This would be my fourth mold from Tom. The mold arrived promptly and it was a beauty. They come clean and even though it may not need it I always give new molds a quick scrub with alcohol. Mounted on RCBS handles I then gave the cavities a quick smoke with an almost strike nowhere match (whatever happened to the ones you could start by flicking with your thumbnail?) and put it on the cheapo Walmart hot plate set to medium along with an Ideal 3118 to heat while the lead melted in my 25 pound gas fired pot. When the lead had reached temp I reduced the gas to maintain the temp at 720 degrees and started casting alternating between the 2 molds. The first bullets out were good and I kept up the rhythm until my sprue box was full. I love a mold that the bullets just drop out when you open it and such was the case. I drop the bullets into a 5 gallon bucket half full of water with soft felt pads on the bottom. The new bullets weighed 122.8 grains for the plain base and 118 grains for the gas checked. The diameter was between .313 and .3145. They are good looking bullets with one more grease groove than most 32-20 bullets so should be good for the 28 inch barrel. Now, just waiting on my smith.

Agree with you on the pain.  I still have a scar on my arm from 57 years ago.  BUT if the bucket of water is on the floor and the lead pot above on the desk the risk is minimized.  Some folks like to quench the bullets, I like them softer.  To each his own.

CW I had a drop of water fall into my pot while casting. It came from an unaware of small roof leak never seen before and as luck would have it right over the pot. When the pot erupted lead sprayed a good foot up into the air and I was quite fortunate it did not get into my eyes. Just a few skin burns that hurt like the Dickens and a good safety lesson learned as well as scaring the living crap out of me when it went off.

JLouis

For quite a while I thought those who thought they were Hardening their bullets were all wet as Lead reacts like Brass. when you quench it at Temperature it is annealed and thus is softer than if it was allowed to cool naturally. BUT! I did find a definite benefit to quenching right from the Mold while at temperature. Talking to my Son who Is a Material Science Professor he informed me that Lead and Tin do not like to be mixed as in an Alloy. And in a slow cool will be trying to separate. So a quick quench may in fact be of Benefit. Your Bullet will have a more uniform Alloy mix through out. I could understand that this in turn could create more Uniformity for precise shooting. As I am not a Bench enthusiast I just let this 
Tidbit of information pass. Never thought to pass it on. So maybe some of you who are Bench enthusiasts might find this 
information worth thinking about. HTH, Regards, FITZ. OLD TUCK.

Fitz I find it extremely interesting and I cannot thank you enough you taking the time to share such knowledge. As soon as I read it, it clicked and being one who has tried just about everything there is to try to improve accuracy this one really stuck out. Finding the correct bullet hardness my rilfe likes has always been more than a real big deal to me. But until now I have never given any thought to how important it might be to have the hardness uniform through out the bullet. I have read where soaking a lead and tin bullet in the oven can be beneficial at a certain temp. and for a certain amount of time and I think it was shared to us by Charlie Dell and danged if I did not forget all about trying to do it. I know he used that approach to achieve various uniform bullet hardness with those containing antimony and very repeatable I now need to go back and research where he talked about achieving the same with lead and tin only. Hopefully maybe Chris or others will now chime in who might now recall what Charlie also shared with them on the subject.

JLouis

I know some people can do some pretty stupid things so all is well taken. Just so you know, the pot is 18 inches to my left enclosed by a collar on the burner stand below knee level and the half full bucket is on the ground 18 inches to my right. I'm sitting on a bench with the sprue box to my left and to the left of it is a metal drawer with the molds being rotated in it. The only reason for the water is to cool the bullet so that when it sinks to the pad on the bottom if it should encounter another bullet neither is marked. I have been casting for 58 years and doing it just like this for about the last 30 and it works well for me. By the way, I have to admit that the picture of the bullets is lousy. I had the camera offset to one side to not cast a shadow which led to a reflection of the right one on the left making them look unequal. The only difference between them is the seat for the gas check.

JLouis wrote on Jun 17^th, 2018 at 8:40pm:


Yup.  I understand the "tinsel fairy".   Someone posted years ago about a huge MOTH flying into his lead pot with predictable and surprising results!

It's all very interesting to me and its nice to hear all the individual approaches to end up with the same end result good quality bullets. To me there is really no right way or no wrong way to go about it. What might be easier, more comfortable and work very well for one could be uncomfortable, a struggle and not work at well for another. 

JLouis