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Jack,
The best way to heat treat your castings is to simply drop them from a hot block into cold water. Also, there is no need to size the bullets first, as the bearing surface just does not suffer from being sized after the hardening process. If they did suffer from being sized after hardening, one would find that barrel leading would become a problem. And in our very considerable experience, our bullets produce only trace leading in the barrel, which does not effect accuracy even over a long shooting session, and is easily removed by simply dry brushing the barrel (this is due to the hardness of the alloy, as softer alloys tend to smear when brushed and therefore are much harder to remove.) Indeed, in my personal 44 Magnums (14) I only shoot hard-cast bullets produced as described above, and I NEVER require more than an occasional dry brushing to clean the barrel. Assuming one is a consistent caster and does his casting in a rhythmic manner and does not vary the time of sprue cutting significantly, one will find that his bullets are hitting the water at a very consistent temperature. If the alloy in question is arsenic enriched and low in antimony, one will achieve about 25-Brinnell hardness without the brittleness so common to high antimony alloys. The method described above has proven to be the most consistent method, and it has the added advantage of making life easier. If more complicated measures yielded better bullets, believe me we would have adopted them years ago. As far a gas-checks go, if you like them go ahead and use them. However, I don't they offer any particular advantage in handgun loads that do not exceed about 1450-fps. for rifles, however, they are a must if one is to get really good accuracy. This question of bullet hardening is a classic example of simplicity being the art of sophistication.
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