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I cast about 730-740, alum or steel molds. I often heat molds & ingots on a hot plate. I return sprues to the pot about every 100, Set the mold aside off the heat. It cools a bit while the sprues...

Spoken like someone who hasnt shot many coated. The only downside to coated, PC or HT is time involved. It takes me an extra hour to coat the 1000 bullets. Sizing time is the same using a Lee APP v...

No but I like uniform bullets for loading into mixed brass. Get a thick case & fat bullet, it will be an issue.

I was slow to coated but once I got into it, I wont go back to lubed bullets. They load & shoot cleaner, just as accurate in handguns, less smoke & cost is minimal. Yes they require more time than my...

No but why bother, just toss them. I have manaeged to flux & skim enough at lower temp to remove a lot of zinc contaminates in a pot of alloy. Flux, skim, repeat.

It doesn't, they float out at 700deg

They did it n kommifornia on public lands. They claim it kills birds of prey but anyone that hunts know's that is BS.They just want us to not hunt.

I had one, seemed as accurate as my CabinTree, but not as easy to use, sold it. 99% of my casting pistol ammo. I dont worry that much about bhn.

I bought 1# of the copper. It will shake & bake but use parchment paper underthe bases or put them on their sides.it tends to stick yo bare metal ime. Mixing it with other colors from smoke helps.

I have the opp result with pistol bullets. With more bearing surface, higher pressures & higher vel. With sim bearing lengths & identical powder charges, the smooth bullets are faster.

All my coated bullets have lube grooves because that is what I had before I tarted coating. If I were buying new molds today, I Still would likely opt for grooves. No grooves makes it a unitasker, I...

H110/W296 also doesnt download well. I moved back to 2400 for my magnums. I dont miss the extra 50fps I would get with H110 & gives me more load flexability.

Plenty of time for load development. If air cooled, you might be fine. If water dropping out of the PC oven, you could go a bit softer IMO, maybe 3-1? I cast a sim bullet for my G20, it never shot...

Or too hard for the vel/pressures used.
With proper fit & alloy, a gc isnt needed for most handgun applications. Powder coat, eben less of a reason for nowdays, expensive gc.

I use these, 4 fit perfectly in my pizza oven.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81v1pyZd-qL._AC_SX679_PIbundle-4,TopRight,0,0_SH20_.jpg

I shoot coated lead, no issues over the labradar.

I think there is diminishing returns going too heavy for caliber. As noted, big bore solids penetrate a lot. A 285gr/45 @ just 1100fps will penetrate more than a 400gr soft @ 2200fps from a 404...

Nice!

I've got powder 20+, still good. I did have one can of H4831 go bad, no explanation, all stored the same. Leads me to think it was poorly stored before I bought it.

4.5BHN is about as low as it gets, so 5BHN, close enough.

This is why you dont drain it. Leave it full or near full, the walls never get crusty.

Fastest start up is a pot half 1/2-3/4 full. Then you can add warmed ingots as needed.

IMR 4831 & Hodgdon are NOT the same. H4831 is a bit slower so data is NOT interchangeable. Why I cross ref several data sources. The Hogdon/IMR website is a good source for cross ref with any manual....

Accuracy will vary with diff bbls but dead soft has never worked for me. I run range scrap equiv, 8-9bhn, PC, about 830fps. It shoots fine in various 9mm sized 0.357”. All you can do is try.
Sorry...

I never drain my bottom pour pots. It keeps crud out of the spout. If you must change alloys, leave 2# or so in the bottom. Not likely affecting your alloy in a 20# pot. 2# of lyman#2 & 18# of pure,...