simple Hi-Tek coating

[ioon44]

Ausglock great post, but brings up more questions as I am still having problems with the smash test.

I have been doing 25ml and 30ml to 5 grams with the Red Copper powder and let set for 1 hour or more, coating 2kg of boolits and baking 12 min at 400deg in a convection oven. Can you help me to under stand how 100ml to 20grams is better than 25ml to 5 grams? How long would the shelf life be on the 100ml to 20 grams mix be?

In the cold weather here would the 120ml to 20 grams be better and what about 150ml to 20 grams?

I have also been using the liquid Black at 5-1-8, does it matter if this is mixed in small amounts?

One more question I have been using 3 cheap oven thermometers and they all read the same, but I bought a professional grade restaurant thermometer and it reads 430 deg in the same tray as the cheap ones reading 400 deg, if I have been baking at 430 deg will this cause the boolits to fail the smash test?
The color of the boolits seem fine with the Black and Red Copper.

[Leatherhead Bullets]

We have ran the liquid in black, red copper, and brick red. Recently started using the powder version of the brick red. There is definitely a slight difference in application between the two. We found thinning with a little more acetone, just like with the liquid, helps with thinner coats. Too much and too thick of mix can cause failure in the smash test. Also, using the powder, the bullets need to be tumbled for a much shorter time. Try leaving the lid on the tub for a few seconds to keep the acetone from flashing too fast. They can get sticky quick. We use just shy of 1ml per pound of bullets across the board. Weight is more consistent than count in both coverage and cooking time.

[Moonman]

ioon44 and others with failures of dry powder,

Ausglock states in post #4749 that mixing DRY POWDER as follows,
20 GRAMS POWDER 100 ml ACETONE.
The dry powder mix has color and catalyst mixed together.
Ausglock found out during testing that trying to mix a batch up with
less than that amount of powder and acetone LED TO FAILURE.

Possibility exists that lesser amount of mix DOES NOT have sufficient
ratio of ingredients to properly GO OFF.

Personally I use 20 grams powder and 100 ml Acetone.
I try to follow Ausglock's guide as he has mucho experience here.

TOO MANY PEOPLE TRY TO WRITE THEIR OWN DIRECTIONS AND RULES.

For once in your life TRY TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, or buy some commercially
coated projectiles as you're destined to fail on your own.

RANT OFF!

[Avenger442]

I'm still using the 1035 Gold liquid and have not found time to try the powder. I do have some 1035 Black in the powder. It seems logical to me that if you can mix 20 grams with 100 ml you should be able to half that to 10 grams and 50 ml. But after all folks aren't we talking tablespoons of liquid here? Why not mix 20:100? So you might lose a tablespoon of liquid?? I know; one of the reasons we started loading and then casting was economy. I even save the clips off of my wheel weights and the jackets when I melt range scrap. But I have to draw the line somewhere. So my first mix will be 20:100 and if I have a failure I'll access why and melt them down. The learning curve is fairly simple with the liquids and have had just one coating failure. Mostly due to following this page. I've had more trouble finding loads my guns like. It is worth fooling with till you get it right. Look at the options to doing this.

Have seen where some said that they prefer using the powder because of the mixing of just acetone to the powder vs. having to mix catalysis, color and acetone with the liquids. More convenient and less chance for a mistake. I have found with the liquid mixes, like many have said, that the ratio of acetone in the mix can be varied. There must be enough, and can have too much too I guess. But I have found it to be somewhat flexible as far as the amount of acetone. It seems logical that adding a bit of acetone after the 100 ml in the powder would not be critical in the 20:100 mix.

I have used the liquid Hi-Tek mix two weeks after I mixed it with no problem. Ausglock has used mix after longer periods. But I tend toward mixing what I will use in one session. If I had a tablespoon or two of mix left I would probably just leave it in the bottle and maybe add a little more acetone when I got ready to use it like I have done with the liquid mix.

Well I've rambled on long enough.

[Ausglock]

I have here, Mixed coating that was mixed back in September 2014!
It has been sitting on my bench all through summer here. Shed temps have been up to 45Deg C!
That is about 115 Deg F.
I used it to coat last night just to verify that it is OK.
Yes. It coated, wiped and smash tested fine.
So it has been mixed for almost 5 months and still works.

So mix the 20gms:100mls for the DRYTEK powder.
don't be scared to mix this amount. it will work for ages.

[Moonman]

Avenger442,

You'll like the Black 1035 when you get around to giving it a try.
You cast up a few hundred or a thousand and the 20G/100ml gets used up w/2 coats.
Originally kryogen was trying to test coat 20 pills ONLY and a NEWBIE at the deal to boot.

[kryogen]

Avenger442,
Originally kryogen was trying to test coat 20 pills ONLY and a NEWBIE at the deal to boot.

No, actually, I did 250, but that doesn't really matter.

What do you store the mixed hi-tex in? That doesnt melt with acetone?

[Gremlin460]

I have here, Mixed coating that was mixed back in September 2014!
It has been sitting on my bench all through summer here. Shed temps have been up to 45Deg C!
That is about 115 Deg F.
I used it to coat last night just to verify that it is OK.
Yes. It coated, wiped and smash tested fine.
So it has been mixed for almost 5 months and still works.

So mix the 20gms:100mls for the DRYTEK powder.
don't be scared to mix this amount. it will work for ages.

I second this, my mix has stood for months aswell. The only thing I have noticed (I used the wet mix still) is that the mix will darken in the bottle, but this does NOT affect coating what so ever.

[Moonman]

I use SMALL Coke-Cola bottles 8 or 10 oz size to mix/store, the Acetone doesn't
eat it, but I place them into larger sized Yogurt/cottage cheese type plastic containers also.

[Ausglock]

I use PET plastic poptop juice bottles. They are the same PET as the Coke bottles.
Look at the bottom of the bottle for the PET logo and number.

Coating used is 5 to 6mls per 2kg of bullet alloy.

[Beagle333]

I keep mine in a plastic dishwashing liquid bottle. The spout on top is handy. It hasn't seemed to bother that plastic any, and this one has been in use (always at least partially filled) for about 5-6 months.

[Avenger442]

I use a couple of clear plastic ketchup bottles like you see in restaurants with the snap on cap. Got at Wal Mart 50 cents each I think. I like that dishwash liquid bottle idea. Ours is about empty.

[Rodvan]

I know this is supposed to be piss easy, but I can' get the coating to stick!
I'm using the red copper powder mixing and shaking per instructions...
Cook the bullets for 12 minutes @ 400° and they all pass the wipe and smash test. I still get a bit of leading at the last inch or so of the barrel in a S&W M&P 40 compact. So, I mixed up a new batch of juice, shook the **** out of it and let it set for a day. I dumped 3.5 pounds of bullets in a bucket, shook the **** out of liquid before I gave the bullets a squirt of juice, shook for 20 seconds and dumped on a tray to dry. It's pretty cold in the garage, so after the coat set for a couple of minutes I put the bullets in the basement to dry overnight. I cooked this batch for 15 minutes instead of 12 and they pass all tests, but I can still scrape the coating off with my thumbnail! No I don't have hard nails...This happens with two different batches of lead, 15 & 18 bnh. Is my lead too soft? 'Caus I'm running out of ideas.

[kryogen]

is it because I have TL boolits? does it matter?

[popper]

I use the green for 9 & 40, I can scrape it off with a knife edge but lead is attached. I get leading when using WST in both, powder is too fast? I think it is sizing & gun problem. You do use 3 coats and HT the alloy?

[Ausglock]

Tell me you are NOT using a Lee Factory crimp die on the 40 rounds.
I have never, ever been able to scrape coating off with a fingernail.

[kryogen]

is it worth it heat treating the alloy?
My boolits are almost all wheel weights.

[ioon44]

I have here, Mixed coating that was mixed back in September 2014!
It has been sitting on my bench all through summer here. Shed temps have been up to 45Deg C!
That is about 115 Deg F.
I used it to coat last night just to verify that it is OK.
Yes. It coated, wiped and smash tested fine.
So it has been mixed for almost 5 months and still works.

So mix the 20gms:100mls for the DRYTEK powder.
don't be scared to mix this amount. it will work for ages.

Ausglock thank you for this post, it is always good to read your post.

[ioon44]

I use the green for 9 & 40, I can scrape it off with a knife edge but lead is attached. I get leading when using WST in both, powder is too fast? I think it is sizing & gun problem. You do use 3 coats and HT the alloy?

MY last test with the Red Copper powder with 3 thin coats out of a .40 cal Glock and WST powder was really good, two different barrels showed no leading or leaching looked like J word bullets had been shot. This was with 140gr and 170gr boolits at .402" da running in the 900fps range.

[Avenger442]

is it because I have TL boolits? does it matter?

I have coated and shot Lee TL bullets with no problems. Most experienced at Hi-Tek will tell you TL doesn't matter.