simple Hi-Tek coating

[Ausglock]

The problem is that I have been coating for so long, I assume a lot of things. Little things like putting a "rattler bullet" in with the mixed coating. I would probably not mention it in a vid as it is common practice to me. Then you get some butt hurt Dumbarse having a go at you.

Joe asked me to do a test using a 50/50 mix of Acetone and Metho, as well as 100% Metho to mix with.

The 50/50 worked, but looked very blotchy. the 100% Metho failed badly. Both took over 10 minutes to dry, and that was in 29deg C day temps in my shed... very slow.....and horrible looking coated bullets..

The Summer mix of 80% Acetone to 20% Metho is still a good combo when mixing.

[slide]

I didn't think about it that way. Wishful thinking on my part. I get so sick of people trying hi-tek going by what they see on youtube,failing and then blaming the coating. The first few times I tried it it was a total disaster. I would go back and read the instuctions,ask you,ask Joe,or call Donnie. Plenty of help is available. I guess people are going to do what they are going to do!

[Tazza]

Happy Birthday Tazza.

Thanks buddy

Joe - If only i was 21 again..... My wife makes fun of me being OLD

[HI-TEK]

Ausglock, you have coated more bullets than anybody on the planet.Why not do a video. What you think Joe?

He has been promising a video, "how to use" Hi-Tek for as far as I can remember.
I have seen his coating set up video using wastepaper basket tumbler system, home made. I have seen his sizing machine, again home made.
He has also published his "fancy" oven system, home modified. He is churning out coated cast, and, aside from testing these coatings in a range, I don't know how he finds time to do any thing. I have to chase him continuously and try to pin him down. Sometime it works, other times not.

[Stephen Cohen]

Thanks buddy

Joe - If only i was 21 again..... My wife makes fun of me being OLD

Threaten to buy her a bigger mirror for all 4 walls of the bathroom, that's if your hospital cover is paid up. Regards Stephen

[Petander]

Contaminated lead isn't easy for the avereage Joe (pun) to find out about.

Only XRF gave me peace of mind, I knew that Hi Tek is good but I couldn't make it work at first. XRF verified my contaminant,Nb.

Look at the pic,the six reject shiny boolitsto the right are as cast. How could one suspect something being wrong with those pretty boolits? My good,old alloy that stays shiny forever! But they don't coat properly at all. The rest on the mesh were HCL soaked overnight and coat perfectly.



At least in my case,no amount of pics,instructions or videos were as helpful as handling actual,properly coated Hi Tek boolits.

[Avenger442]

Joe asked me to do a test using a 50/50 mix of Acetone and Metho, as well as 100% Metho to mix with.

The 50/50 worked, but looked very blotchy. the 100% Metho failed badly. Both took over 10 minutes to dry, and that was in 29deg C day temps in my shed... very slow.....and horrible looking coated bullets..

The Summer mix of 80% Acetone to 20% Metho is still a good combo when mixing.

Sorry about previous comment concerning denature alcohol. It appears it was incorrect and it was methanol but can't use 100%. I see where MEK is still good.

As I said before I've never used anything but acetone. Does the 80/20 mix dry quicker or slower?

[Tazza]

I like acetone, it dries fast, but not too fast for me. If i need to slow it down, i can use MEK, yet it does smell really bad.

Good to know that AusGlock has tried different solvents so we don't need to try them and be disappointed

[HI-TEK]

Sorry about previous comment concerning denature alcohol. It appears it was incorrect and it was methanol but can't use 100%. I see where MEK is still good.

As I said before I've never used anything but acetone. Does the 80/20 mix dry quicker or slower?

80% Acetone with max 20% Denatured Alcohol works OK, and solvent
coating & drying does slow down.
Ausglock tested mixtures and pure Denatured Alcohol, but using Alcohol over 20% gave results that were not so good.

[Ausglock]

I keep forgetting that you Northern Hemishere types don't know what Metho is.
Metho is De-neutered Alcohol. Not Methanol.

I use Acetone and MEK. Honestly, The smell doesn't bother me. I have a small desk fan behind me that blows any fumes away from me. Even when hand swirling there is no smell. The rotary coater is far enough away that no fan is needed.
The only Smells I get are the baking fumes coming from the oven at the 1/2 time mark when shaking and turning the tray or if I drop me guts.

[Tazza]

I keep forgetting that you Northern Hemishere types don't know what Metho is.
Metho is De-neutered Alcohol. Not Methanol.

I use Acetone and MEK. Honestly, The smell doesn't bother me. I have a small desk fan behind me that blows any fumes away from me. Even when hand swirling there is no smell. The rotary coater is far enough away that no fan is needed.
The only Smells I get are the baking fumes coming from the oven at the 1/2 time mark when shaking and turning the tray or if I drop me guts.

hahaha i liked the addition of you dropping your guts

My dad always complained when he was near by when i used MEK "i don't know how you can stand that stuff" it doesn't bother me that much, but i do avoid it when i can, as it does make me feel sick if i get too many whiffs of it. The wife's nail polish remover angers my nose more than MEK does.

[HI-TEK]

hahaha i liked the addition of you dropping your guts

My dad always complained when he was near by when i used MEK "i don't know how you can stand that stuff" it doesn't bother me that much, but i do avoid it when i can, as it does make me feel sick if i get too many whiffs of it. The wife's nail polish remover angers my nose more than MEK does.

Some Nail polishes used to contain Toluol, Acetone and or Ethyl Acetate, or blends of these.
If it may be a Cheapie, who knows what is in it. Most don't declare composition.
Solvent mixes sometimes irritate the nose more.

[Tazza]

Some Nail polishes used to contain Toluol, Acetone and or Ethyl Acetate, or blends of these.
If it may be a Cheapie, who knows what is in it. Most don't declare composition.
Solvent mixes sometimes irritate the nose more.

It's supposed to have acetone in it, but i think it also contains essence of skunk.....

[HI-TEK]

It's supposed to have acetone in it, but i think it also contains essence of skunk.....

Years ago, when I was a young whipper snipper, nail polishes contained Nitro Cellulose, Toluene Sulphonamide Formaldehyde resins so they stick to nails.
Later on due to Formaldehyde concerns, they changed additives to modified Epoxy type resins, but then, concerns came about epoxy resin raw material component residues remaining in the epoxy and things changed again. I have had very little contact with this stuff for many years since. I have no idea what is in current recipes.
I don't know if these are a regulated material. I cant recall any Flammable warning on any bottle/container.
Come to think of it, none of the Bourbon or Scotch bottles have a Dangerous category (flash point below 40C)

[Petander]

80% Acetone with max 20% Denatured Alcohol works OK, and solvent
coating & drying does slow down.
Ausglock tested mixtures and pure Denatured Alcohol, but using Alcohol over 20% gave results that were not so good.

I have been adding metho in a slightly different way for a while now:



I put six pounds of bullets in the bowl. Add four ml of Metho (denatured alcohol) , swirl until bullets look wet, approx ten seconds. Add six ml of full strength Hi Tek solution,swirl again maybe up to 30 sec.

I used to make 100+20 acetone/metho mixes in bottles but I ended up with so many bottles,some full strength,some diluted... it became a confusion ... so I tried it this way. Now I only have full strength bottles.

At least with TMG Gold and Candy Apple this works great, I shoot eg. full power 45-70 and 500 S&W 1600-1900 fps using plain base boolits. NLG molds coming in one by one.

Pictured here are some 357 Lee boolits that I coated yesterday. Three six pound trays.

[Gremlin460]

Happy b/day Tazz. Hi Trev and Jim.

Just thought I drop by to see whats happenin..

[Tazza]

Happy b/day Tazz. Hi Trev and Jim.

Just thought I drop by to see whats happenin..

Thanks buddy

Same 'ol for me, casting, trying to sell a house, getting in trouble with the wife, so nothing new

[slide]

I was gifted some bullets by a club member. He wasn't sure what the alloy was. I decided to use Petander's cleaning process with HCL. What I used was 20%. There was around two pounds of bullets. I put them in a plastic container and poured the HCL over them. The HCL started bubbling and I let the bullets set overnight in the solution. Next day I poured off the HCL and rinsed the bullets well. They were black and grey and after drying they had a very fine dust on them that was blackish colored. Did I mess up by using the HCL straight from the bottle? Maybe I should have diluted it. I sent a pm to Petander but forgot to ask this question. Anybody got any ideas? A word of caution,the fumes off of this stuff are terrible and it will burn the crap out of you. I used chemical proof gloves,splash goggles ,face shield,and a respirator. If you try this BE CAREFUL!

[Tazza]

High concentration HCL sure is nasty, you can see the fumes when you open the bottle.

That result sounds about right from what Petander has mentioned for his process.

Glad you were protected, i wear rubber gloves when messing with acid, if it gets on your skin, wash it off quickly, HCL isn't something that will instantly burn you, but get it off as fast as possible.

[kevin c]

Petander, that sounds like a better approach than what I've been doing.

I currently am coating a lube grooved 9mm by MP, and, while I know it makes no difference to the shooting or the bore, I kinda like an even coat in the groove. A bit of fiddling got me to two coats: 7 ml of a 20 to 200 mix, followed by 5 ml of a 20 to 100 mix (acetone as the solvent in both). It does a pretty good job with a bit less of the powder, but I still get the occasional under coated spot in the groove.

Your way sounds better: a standard amount of powder applied per coat with complete coverage as facilitated by even more volume than I was using, and by "pre wetting". Bravo!

Definitely going to give this a go next time (though I may have to fiddle some with the faster evaporating acetone, or consider a switch or mix of the two-does anyone know how MEK/denatured alcohol and acetone mix? ETA: oops, didn't read Ausglock's post above-I'll stick to acetone or denatured unmixed). Two different strength bottles wasn't too bad with just one color, but now I've got two, with another one or two under consideration. Four bottles are definitely easier to keep track of than eight.