Is hardening necessary?

[dubber123]

  For hunting purposes with a WFN style bullet at under 1000 fps., is water dropping necessary to avoid bullet deformation when used on hogs/whitetail?  It's just more convenient to skip this step, but I will go through the trouble if you feel air-cooled wheelweights are too soft even at this reduced speed.  Thanks.

[Veral]

Air cooled WW alloy bullets will reach about 12 bhn in 2 weeks, if they are spread out on the pad while cooling, and temperatures are not above 80 F or so.  12 bhn bullets will not deform noticibly on game at impact speeds up to about 1300 fps if no large bones are hit.  At 1000 fps start speed, (impact speed will be considerable lower) even large bones won't damage the bullet enough to hurt performance.

[STJ]

I had a similar question about using Lyman #2 (15 bhn if memory serves correct) air cooled at speeds between 1000-1200fps for deer.  That pretty much answered it.

[Veral]

  My info is valid for any alloy with hardness over 12 bhn, but keep in mind that what is called Lyman #2 varies a lot in composition.  If  the formula being used contains considerable antimony, the bullets will break up a bit rather than deform or expand on impact with heavy bone.  Or if driven at higher speeds, say 1500 fps where deformation is certain, bullet weight loss can be excessive,