simple Hi-Tek coating

[Tazza]

I may have the tools, but not the best with precision like this, but we shall see. Nothing to loose, it will be an adventure

[Gremlin460]

Mold during test run before polishing.

38spl and 357Mag tested today.

38spl had average of 650-660 FPS over 40 rounds.
357Mag did slightly better @ 680-700 over 40 rounds.

Both only running 3.5gn AP70 as a start load, OAL I think is good. Going to try and get them both up into 800fps range.
These had very gentle recoil, groups were tighter on the 38's 357mag groups were 1" or so larger.

Overall happy with first run. sized to 358 and 2 coats off Copper/red , no leading, clean shiney bore.

PS .
mold started life as 125gn conical @ 356 diameter for 9mm.
I put one of my sprue plates on, its thicker than factory and much more stable.

PPS. All rounds made perfect, really perfect round printing. Not one showed signs of tumble or an oval hole.

[Stephen Cohen]

Nice looking button nose wadcutter you created there. Regards Stephen

[Jatz357]

Bit of fiddling around Gremlin, but great result.

[Petander]

What is this?

[Gremlin460]

Bit of fiddling around Gremlin, but great result.

Well it has changed my point of view on old "dead" molds. No longer do I view them as scrap, now they represent a "development" mold.
To be quite honest , I was very apprehensive in doing this project. Molds have a "Aura" about them that provokes mental pictures of gazzilion dollar CNC machinery or Nasa level bi-closing vice holders and a bank of cherries worth you yearly income.

Now i dont think that way so much. Apart from the cost of a new drill bit and ball end mill, I had nothing to loose.
Everyone has a drill press, or access to one. The only thing I used you may not have is a lathe to flycut the top square and parallel.

If anyone has a old Lee Aluminum mold they tossed in the junk draw they dont want, Id be happy to supply my po box address.

Mike.

[Stephen Cohen]

What is this?

Saw them advertised here in Australia, after seeing the blue colour I didn't think they were HI-Tek coated and worth the extra $. Regards Stephen

[Tazza]

Saw them advertised here in Australia, after seeing the blue colour I didn't think they were HI-Tek coated and worth the extra $. Regards Stephen

I saw then advertised in cleavers too, i'm not up for the price on them though.... CCI standard are expensive enough, not looking forward to my next case of 5,000 to feed my buckmark

[Gatch]

Interesting that with home cast, reloading for the 9mm is cheaper than even CHEAP 22 ammo. Let alone this fancy schmancy coloured polymer stuff.

[dansedgli]

True that.

Ran my master caster for 5 or 6 hours yesterday while working.

Got a big pile of free bullets to coat.

[Tazza]

True that.

Ran my master caster for 5 or 6 hours yesterday while working.

Got a big pile of free bullets to coat.

Awesome job, i assume it performed well for you? Mine keeps getting lead build up between the mould and the sprue, i have to scrape lead off every 100 or so cycles and give it a drop of oil to keep it at bay. I don't know what the difference is with the commercial machines and how i'm running my MC. The commercial ones would allow the mould to cool off more than what i'm doing, so that may be it? If i let it get too cool, i get a bump as it cuts the sprue, so issues either way.

I'm part way through coating about 13k rounds, then the fun of sizing begins!

[dansedgli]

It has a few hiccups but nothing major.

The sprue plate sometimes opens too far so that needs adjustment to stop it jamming up. Also my pour spout must have been jammed up a bit because it starting throwing not enough lead halfway through the day.

I setup google home at my house so I turned on my pot 30 minutes before I got home for lunch today so I could run the machine for an hour. The bolt holding the main cylinder bracket unscrewed in a few minutes so that must have unwound yesterday and I didn't realise. I'll need to keep an eye on that.

My bullets and sprues mix together when they come out which is annoying.

Apart from that it's great not having to sit there and crank the handle.

My sizer is still manual so that can wait until I run out of loaded rounds.

[Tazza]

It's a fine start though, you'll fix the little issues. Ill need to start doing the warm up before i get home too, good idea

Yeah, sizing is not fun by hand, lovr my auto one. I spent years doing it by hand

[Ausglock]

Get some of Joe's Mold release.. it stops the led buildup on the bottom of the sprue plate.
Also...I use white lithium spray grease on the edge of the sprueplate that contacts the open and close pins. really smooths out the operation.

[HI-TEK]

Mine keeps getting lead build up between the mould and the sprue, i have to scrape lead off every 100 or so cycles and give it a drop of oil to keep it at bay.
I'm part way through coating about 13k rounds, then the fun of sizing begins!

I am greatly concerned about oil being located in an area where it can drip/weep/creep into surfaces inside the Mould. This will really muck things up when trying to coat the casts.

Two things that will help greatly,
1.
Hi-Tek 500Plus for Sprew plate lubrication and molten spatter release, (dry lube non contaminating) and...
2.
Diluted Aqualube applied onto casts prior to being sized. (dry lube) This significantly reduces loads on machinery and arms.

[Tazza]

I am greatly concerned about oil being located in an area where it can drip/weep/creep into surfaces inside the Mould. This will really muck things up when trying to coat the casts.

Two things that will help greatly,
1.
Hi-Tek 500Plus for Sprew plate lubrication and molten spatter release, (dry lube non contaminating) and...
2.
Diluted Aqualube applied onto casts prior to being sized. (dry lube) This significantly reduces loads on machinery and arms.

Thankfully i have no issues sizing, all the ones i cast, get squeezed through without any issues (i only make 9mm/.38, not interested in bigger ones that i potentially won't use), but i may take you up on the spew plate lube, see if it helps with lead build up.

I have actually had no issues with adhesion, i'm careful to not put much on to get into the mould cavities, so far so good, but only getting about 100 drops before it starts to build up really isn't acceptable when i know it shouldn't happen in the first place.

AusGlock - I put a drop of oil on these pins too, it sure makes a difference, i may need to try white grease as it may last longer than oil does.

[Stephen Cohen]

I have used a soft HB lead pencil to coat top of mould and bottom of sprue plate and it seems to work ok. I thought Joe stopped making the Hi-Tek 500Plus, will have to order some of that as I have a couple of cast that are hard to size when putting checks on at same time. Regards Stephen

[Ausglock]

Aqualube is the sizing lube.
500 plus is the mold release.
The old fart needs to give them better names so people don't get them confused.

[Tazza]

Aqualube is the sizing lube.
500 plus is the mold release.
The old fart needs to give them better names so people don't get them confused.

I wouldn't dare call him an old fart, he may cut me off from his supplies of hi-tek. He is hooking me up with some 500+ and 2kg of powder.

I hope the 500+ solves my sprue issues, I try and cast with the lead as cool as possible to fill out the mould correctly, i don't believe it's over heated.

[Ausglock]

We run our casters at 700 to 730 deg F. Zero leading on the molds or Sprue plates.