How long do you let your bullets "cure" before you size them? Assuming you aren't water dropping them.

I size them right away.

If you aren't heat treating or water dropping them, it just doesn't matter. If you do heat treat them, alloys like WW won't reach full hardness for a couple weeks or so, but can still be sized right away.

A week or so.


They all cure over time, but most will be close to max hardness within that time frame.

Lino you would probably want to size as soon as they are cool enough, if you are looking at easiness and limiting stress on equipment.

Heat treated stuff gets sized after they are totally dry; a week does the trick there too.

I've cast one day and loaded and shot them the next but they usually sit at least a few days before getting sized and loaded.

Sometime after they reach room temperature. It could be the same day, it could be a week or a month later. Just depends on how much free time I have and how badly I need them

Usually, I'll give them at least 24 hours before I size them.
Instead of water dropping, I'll size them, stick them in a toaster oven at 400deg. for an hour or so, then dunk them. Then run them back through the same size die to lube them after they dry.
I'd rather size then heat treat instead of dunking them straight out of the mold, that way I don't have to size them straight away. I've also read that sizing after dunking causes the bullets to lose some hardness, but I've never attempted to prove that.

Depends entirely on how badly I need to shoot them. Sometimes hours, sometimes days, sometimes years. Also, laziness is a factor. I don't sweat the curing aspect. I don't water drop, and I don't heat treat. If I want a hard bullet (so rarely as to almost be laughable) I'll start with a hard alloy.

All my cast rifle shooting (mostly .30 and .22) is done with what many would call soft alloys- 10-13bhn. I judiciously size to as close to .0005" (half a thou) under throat diameter as I can get- to heck with whatever groove diameter is. I rarely (if ever now that I think about it) go over 2000fps- plenty fast for my deer hunting needs. As far as target shooting goes, what does speed have to do with it- accuracy is what counts. When I want to load to high velocity I figure that's why god gave us jacketed bullets.

I think a lot of guys fret over this stuff needlessly. Pay attention to bullet fit and loading techniques. If an alloy swells a tad as it cures, simply pass them through the sizer again before loading them. (But do a before and after shooting test- the results may well surprise you.)

This is how it works here, too. I usually cast a bunch when I fire up the pot. I size and lube as I need to reload.

The reason for the question was, sometimes my wheel weight pistol bullets seem a bit soft if I size right away. It doesn't matter really. I'm just using them to turn powder into noise. Lol

Of course they're softer right away; you're aware of the age hardening thing obviously. That doesn't mean they stay that soft after sizing...

A man after my own heart.