Originally Posted by
cbunt1
I don't remember what I paid for the HF Powder Coating I was playing with a while back, but I agree that the Powder Coat/Acetone technique is cheaper, and I'll certainly give it a shot in the future--just because I like options (and experimenting).
On the other hand, I'm guesstimating that coating bullets with the Hi-Tek puts my cost close enough to using Lars CR as to be insignificant -- to the tune of $.001504 per bullet for the CR lube vs. $.00176 for the Hi-Tek -- this is based on an average of 1250 bullets per stick at $1.88 per stick (accounts for shipping @ 1.65/stick and 24 sticks in a shipment). Truth is, I get many many more bullets from a stick than 1250 in some cases, and just a shade over 1000 for others (i.e. a 200 H&G 68 has a bigger lube groove than a 135 gr. 9mm RN -- and my old Kieth-style 158 gr. SWC molds have a lube groove that more resembles a trench.) Bullet sizing, surface area, lube groove differences and such make it difficult to quantify to such a fine level -- but suffice it to say that even if I coat way too thick, or waste wax lube, we're still talking about the smallest factor in production cost.
The ultimate savings (I think--time will tell) will come in the elimination of a bottleneck in sizing, since there will be no need to stop and change sticks in the Star, nor will "nose up/nose down" matter anymore for sizing--meaning I should be able to hook a Mr. Bullet Feeder directly to the Star with no tubes/flippers necessary.
Of course, Powder Coat, Hi-Tek, or any other dry film lube solves the above bottleneck, so it's a matter of availability and routine.
I'm coming to the conclusion that there are really no "wrong" answers once we arrive at a workable application process--and for indoor and action-pistol games, they're all a major advancement.