I had my first go at PC bullets this week-end with great success using Powder by the Pound.
During resizing, I simply used my home made case lube (No Alox!)
My journey in a slide show I made for my BIL who wants to try it. 40 seconds long.
I had my first go at PC bullets this week-end with great success using Powder by the Pound.
During resizing, I simply used my home made case lube (No Alox!)
My journey in a slide show I made for my BIL who wants to try it. 40 seconds long.
For the record, I tried the bullet pre-heat method (150 deg F) combined with Harbor Freight Red and had zero success getting it to stick.
Anyone else have a trick or tip to get harbor freight red to stick to #2 Lyman cast bullets?
Last edited by Big Mak; 02-13-2017 at 11:55 AM.
HF (or caswell) ESPC gun. Always works.
Whatever!
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
i'm just starting PC really ..... love eastwood ford light blue.... tried EW lime green today and didn't have the best luck.... tried cold and also preheated... but hear is my thought..... the bullets i did were cast today and yesterday.... powder coating using shack and bake method in coolwhip container ..........could the fact that they had not oxidized at all be the reason the powder didn't stick well..... in my mind if the bullets were a little older and had a chance to oxidize a bit maybe the powder would have stuck better before cooking just a thought and maybe somewhere this has been said before so sorry if i am repeating
i am reading all the posts... just have not finished yet
Last edited by luv44mag; 03-01-2017 at 02:12 AM.
Take a look at this poll and see what all the other members are doing. . . (2)...The Devil's in the Details>>>>>PC Coatings<<<<<
a m e r i c a n p r a v d a
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Lead bullets Matter
There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves. - Will Rodgers
thanks that poll is great!
First coating I did was 38's with lyman #2 with a Lee pot . Smoke's JD green stuck like chuck ( no offense to members named chuck ) .
There's a lot of good DT powder out there. Most of the high gloss polyesters should work. If you buy from a VS you are guaranteed good ASBBDT powder.
I tried the H.F. coatings for pistol caliber bullets (shake & bake method) and placed them on a tray covered with parchment paper. Then after a few minutes of baking ( 5-7 minutes I guess) then I shake the tray back & forth with gloves while just barely opening the oven, then let the cycle finish.
For longer rifle bullets I use Eastwood's basic system and need to ground the bullets. So I found that by making inverted trays from 1/4 inch hardware cloth and mounting the bullets tip down
( the mesh may need tweeking for a good fit) and attaching the ground clip to the tray, it works great, there is a small area where the wire mesh contacts the bullet. I do not worry about covering the whole bullet, just the base and let the tip have exposed alloy. For large diameter bullets try the 1/2 inch hardware cloth and pinch it inwards(needle nose pliers) to hold the bullet.
I hope this is not redundant to any earlier posts.
This whole thread is very informative although it would take so long to read all of it
Used Smoke's red powder yesterday, R.H. was 13 so black BBs, large tupperware snap-on lid #5. First 2 batches came out great - nice consistent coating, smoothed out after cooking. Third was more trouble. Lumpy after shake, poorer covering but came out lumpy with good coverage after cooking. Noticed the BBs wouldn't coat very good and neither did boolits. I did NOT preheat the boolits - to remove any moisture as they were in a container for a week or so. Still dry but warmer today so I'm leaving the tub uncovered outside to see if the powder/BBs dry any.
Whatever!
Relative humidity. Added some of Smoke's black powder to the red - it had been opened before- results were damp black didn't mix well with the dry red. Coating came out OK, just not well mixed. I'm leaving the bowl outside to dry the powder more. This is an attempt to dehydrate the powder for better results. Dry heat inside would probably do as well. Be sure to cover bowl with light porous cloth to keep 'stuff' out of the powder and powder in the bowl. Shake or swirl often to expose more powder to the air. Conclusion for those with DT - keep boolits and powder dry.
This make better sense?
edit: primer for R.H. Air has a saturation (all the moisture it can hold) from 10 to 15 (don't care about the units) lower for 30-40F, higher for 70-90F. R.H. is ratio of actual moisture content vs saturation value. 13% RH is 13% of saturation - very dry. Any powder, bowl, BBs, boolit moisture kills static. I've only been swirling and get good coverage with DRY powder. After about 2 batches in the summer and it stops working.
Last edited by popper; 12-14-2017 at 02:03 PM.
Whatever!
Paul
Powder was dehydrated a bit by yesterday eve ( RH was back up to 40%), did some and coating is much darker with just a few streaks of black. 30 sec max swirl only. Brought the bowl inside to let the furnace dry heat dehydrate some more. IMHO the up/down shaking is to bring the dryer/lighter powder to the top where it coats better.
In the house under furnace warm air did the trick. No black gobs in the tub. Have to cut a hole in one of the tops and glue a permeable membrane on it so I don't have to open it while inside. I have some porous plastic sheets but a cloth should work also. Opening is not a problem but closing is if not done very slowly. Also prevents accidental spill if the wife is not careful. Wahoo, dry pwder now.
Last edited by popper; 12-15-2017 at 07:21 PM.
Whatever!
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |