simple Hi-Tek coating

[popper]

Lead is stable always, hot or solid. Impurities in the lead mix are not - we know that Sn,Sb, other stuff are way higher up on the electro tables.

[Petander]

My contaminant (Niobium) comes from wheelweights. I also have copper.

Coating my alloy without HCL soak is like trying to paint glass,there is no real bonding at all. A beginner may not see the problem,I didn't.


Concrete wash costs close to nothing and can be used three times. A big HCL can would be even cheaper. I have some bullets soaking pretty much all the time. It happens by itself,when they get dark it's time to rinse.

Contaminants do strange unpredictable things.

[Avenger442]

I occasionally load a couple of boxes and leave them sitting around in case I need them. My Granddaughter shoots .308 in her rifle. She along with my Daughter and another Granddaughter wanted to go to the shooting range about a month ago for some practice. I was positive I had coated ammo for the .45 and .38 that the others shoot but thought I didn't have any .308. Was going to have to do a quick loading session. Then while looking for some coated bullets I found two boxes of loaded .308 that were cast and coated three years ago and loaded about two years ago. (note to self: got to cleanup the loading area and storage cabinet We shot probably 400 rounds of the .38, 300 of the .45 and the 100 .308s. The question never came into my mind about using the three year old Hi Tek. And of course they shot accurately and there was no lead fowling in any of the guns. Now I've only got some 44 magnum loaded and will have to reload all of those cases.

I don't know how long you can count on the Hi Tek to last after coating. But it seems like a long time. I have some unloaded bullets cast and coated about four years ago. Maybe I'll just set them back and load them at 10 years for a test. And I'm still using the original 1035 Gold liquid Hi Tek that I bought four years ago and powders I got about two years ago both work just as well as when I bought them.

[dansedgli]

I found some boxes of bullets i coated last year and hadn't sized yet. The coating was not done right, it was a bit rough and bubbly. These often get stuck in my sizing die (which I normally remove by moving the lee sizing setup into my Lee classic cast press) but I figured I'd throw them through the star and see if I can shoot them anyway.

1st one got stuck. Had to fire up the melting pot and melt the bullet out, hopefully I haven't done any damage to the die.

Properly coated bullets go through smoothly, I sized close to 8000 last week without any getting stuck.

Looks like I'll get to remake these ones.

Has anyone thought about making their own oven? I bought some equipment to do cerakoting at home and used my bullet oven to bake the coating but something bigger I can use for both might be nice. If I can put 3 or 4 trays of bullets into a tall upright oven it might be worth the effort. Then I'd be able to cerakote rifles as well.

Here is that cheap Edge I bought with a DIY make over.

[Tazza]

I wonder why your projectile got stuck, even with poor coating, the press should have had enough power to push it free, hopefully the lead melting point wasn't enough to anneal the die.

Nice job on the ceracote, i'd like to give that a go on a few items, i may have to look into it a bit more....

No reason why you can't make your own oven, or even use an existing one and make a custom one with the parts, fan and element etc. The only possible issue i see is a consistent heat throughout the oven for rifles. Dual elements and fans maybe?

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with though. A nice tall oven for baking Hi-Tek would be nice, then you can stand rifles up in it too.

[Avenger442]

For those of you looking for an oven, we have a store here in the US called Ollie's. They sell discounted merchandise. I was in one last weekend and they had a $135 dollar large Oyster convection oven for $49.

[popper]

Just look for used kitchen convection oven. Control board is usually what fails and no replacement parts. Ovens are fine otherwise.

[Stephen Cohen]

Grmps

I have to say, that from some indications, the coatings may be permeable to an extent.
We are talking coated products peeling that are a few years old.
The Plain coatings, non metallic, may have possibility of having less open spaces.
We are also dealing with about 1.5 to 2.5 thou of film.
I suspect, that initial coating has reacted with contaminants, but held adequately for normal use.
With aging, the spalling may cause fault in integrity of film, opening more areas for moisture to get under film.

With alloys, most likely ones that may cause problems are the ones containing Zinc, Magnesium, Aluminium, Cadmium.
There may be others that also may contribute.

I certainly have no issues with flaking and some of my cast would be close to 5 years old, I wonder if moisture is getting under coating from blow holes after baking even those invisible to naked eye would cause problems. It is all academic as I have no problems with flaking. Regards Stephen

[Ausglock]

I scored a large wall oven the other week. It is 900mm wide inside and 450mm deep.
Fan with heating. top and bottom heating and top grill elements.

I can bake 4 trays at once in 10.3 minutes.
1000 bullets at once.

Nice job on the Edge, Dan.

[Grmps]

900mm = 35.43
450mm = 17.72

[Petander]

I scored a large wall oven the other week. It is 900mm wide inside and 450mm deep.
Fan with heating. top and bottom heating and top grill elements.

I can bake 4 trays at once in 10.3 minutes.
1000 bullets at once.

Nice job on the Edge, Dan.

You're not using the grill,are you?

Mine is a wall oven and has a grill,too.

[Ausglock]

no. Just the element around the fan and the bottom element.

[Petander]

Funny that our kitchen oven has no fan or grill.

It turned out that I got a very good,powerful oven S/H for 45€. There are lots of quality ovens for sale, ovens that cost 500-800 when new can be found for 50.

[Petander]

TMG Gold slugs.

[HI-TEK]

TMG Gold slugs.

They look simply magnificent. What are these shot with ?

[Tazza]

They really do look great.

I was thinking about giving it a go with some .22 slugs but thought i'd end up getting coating pooled in the hole in the base, so it would be inconsistent.

[Avenger442]

Based on coating hollow point bullets I would think the opposite would be the case. I have to coat three times just to get most of the holes in the tip 90% coated. The hole is kind of like the lube groove. The coating does not want to cover in one or two coats.

Tried to shoot 50 rounds of .380 coated with orange Hi Tek last week. First time I've tried to load .380. Gun didn't function well. I think I'm going to a different powder, used Hodgdon Tight Group, and I will be adding more crimp. I was just wondering if anybody has experience with loading .380. Anybody got a suggestion on powder? Will use a loading manual for loads. Shooting it out of a semi auto with a 2.75 inch barrel.

[Ausglock]

I did air rifle pellets (.177) with the Krytponite green a few years ago. Shot great.
The flying rat (pigeon) population at work drastically reduced.

[Tazza]

I'll have to coat some of mine, i have flying rats that drive me crazy at home, would be handy if it made them hit the target better

[Petander]

They look simply magnificent. What are these shot with ?

These are 12 gauge shotgun 500 grain Lyman slugs. Airgun - style.