simple Hi-Tek coating

[Ausglock]

Well.. I have been testing some new Dry-Tek coatings for HI-TEK Joe.
He now has a very nice Olive Drab green, a Nice Rose Red and hopefully tomorrow when I bake the second coat a nice shiny Deep Purple... woohoo... Smoke on the water

[Stephen Cohen]

You can scrub out zinc as a problem for adhesion, I shot some 50 zinc contaminated cast projectiles in my 458 wm 2 days ago, the coating stood up well I got no leading at all and barrel was clean, only needed one patch run through it.

[leadman]

I also ran into the boolits with a white powder on them that appeared right after casting. I then fluxed this batch of alloy with root killer (copper sulfate) and it helped but then I had to add some pewter to the alloy to get it to fill out the molds well.

I did try cleaning some boolits that had the white powder on them with acetone but found it tedious and had to use a toothbrush to get it all off.
Could this be calcium from batteries? I was using mostly isotope container alloy at the time but who knows for sure what is in these.

I still tthin beetlemagnet should check his barrels by starting a boolit in the rifling in front of the chamber to see if it is cutting the coating. One of the barrels that was found defective was a Lone Wolf.

[DrBill33]

Has anyone weighed the liquid coated to see how much weight is added?

[Ausglock]

Has anyone weighed the liquid coated to see how much weight is added?

In a .452 230gn RN Hardline bullet the weight of the coating was un-measurable to 10ths of a grain.

[DrBill33]

Thanks!!!! Lost all of my cast bullets to some person or persons unknown. Now casting again, and hope to do my first coating soon.

Aus: I have been using a self alloy of approximately Lyman #2. I range, per batch of 120 pounds, at 14.56 to 15.3. Have you found that with Hi-Tek a lower BHN will do?

[Ausglock]

G'day Doc.
10 to 12 range reclaim is what I use for 44 and 45
I use store bought 2.6.92 alloy for 38/357, 9mm, 40.
I did try some 8BHN for 45 with 2 coats and it did work ok. 10-12 is easier to come by for me. A bloke I know has the contract to clean out an indoor range about 3 hrs away.

[jgieske]

So is the Dry Tek available yet or still in the testing phase? If so, would someone be kind enough to bring me up to speed? Sorry, I'm a lurker who hasn't been lurking much lately. I'm new to casting and would like to start out with the Dry-Tek.

[Michael J. Spangler]

i think i figured out my issue.
seemed some of the 45s the coating was not adhering. i had a bunch in bins from multiple sessions of coating and casting. every 5th or 6th one didn't pass the smash test. weird but somehow i screwed up a batch along the way and mixed them all in.
agh well there goes 30 pounds of cast and coated back to the melting furnace. better luck next time. guess i'll pay more careful attention and make sure not to mix random batches together.

[Love Life]

Always test one from the new batch before dumping it into the ready to load can.

[HI-TEK]

So is the Dry Tek available yet or still in the testing phase? If so, would someone be kind enough to bring me up to speed? Sorry, I'm a lurker who hasn't been lurking much lately. I'm new to casting and would like to start out with the Dry-Tek.

The Dry-Tek is available, both in small and commercial amounts.
Where is your location?
May be you can send me a PM and I can advise you further.

[Michael J. Spangler]

I always test a bunch.
I think I had some bullets that were contaminated with bees wax or mold lube.
That would explain why it was only a few here and there mixed in. I guess I didn't catch any of them on the wipe and smash test.
I was very thorough today after that whole ordeal.
Can't wait to try the water dropped 40s to see if that stopped the leading.

[Ausglock]

What do you use for mold lube?
I only use the HI-TEK Super500+. Designed to not cause issues with the coating.

[Love Life]

I use bull plate exclusively for mould lube. I just keep it out of the cavities and have no issues...

[Michael J. Spangler]

I need to order some of the hi tek stuff.
I ran out of bull plate so tried a few things over the past couple of weeks.
Actually bees wax on the slider pins of a Cramer style mold works like a charm.
I always have bits and crumbs of the stuff all over my casting bench though. Not a good idea.

[Beetmagnet]

2. If you can please send a photo of first coat, before and after first coat bake.
Also, I am suspecting, that the first coat was not dried adequately, and you may have added too much coating with first coat, which also would prevent complete drying.
(It may "feel dry" but "feel" can also be misleading)
If this first inadequately dried coat is then baked, you may have a pass with solvent test and smash test, but no or poor adhesion to alloy.
3. What volumes of the mixture to projectile numb.

Alright... busy weekend, but I coated two more batches Friday night, let them dry for 48 hours, and baked them Sunday night. Below is pics of coating before first bake, after first bake, and after second coating before baking I'll size them Wednesday and shoot them.

Again...I appreciate the help

[Ausglock]

So.. you are mixing 20gms of powder to 100mls of acetone?
Your blotchy coating suggests that you are not mixing correctly. You need to mix and shake for a few minutes. let sit for 1/2 hour and then shake again to ensure that the powder is fully dissolved.
It also looks like you are shaking the bullets too long. 15 to 20 seconds is all the shake shake shake that is needed. any more and the coated bullets look like yours.
The red copper you are using was tested by me before it got shipped to the USA. It worked perfectly with the ratios I stated above.
Forget spoons for measuring. Get a set of digi scales ($5 off ebay) that weigh in grains and grams. Get a measureing cup graduated in mls.
For the life of me.. I cannot understand why the US has not moved to the Metric system.. it is so easy to use.

[Love Life]

The coating looks porous and bubbly. Looks like you didn't let them dry long enough before baking.

[Love Life]

That is good to hear Popper. DO you have a hardness tester? If so, have you tested a naked boolit and then a coated boolit? Did the hardness tester register the coating or punch right through and give you the alloy reading?

[Beetmagnet]

So.. you are mixing 20gms of powder to 100mls of acetone?
Your blotchy coating suggests that you are not mixing correctly. You need to mix and shake for a few minutes. let sit for 1/2 hour and then shake again to ensure that the powder is fully dissolved.
It also looks like you are shaking the bullets too long. 15 to 20 seconds is all the shake shake shake that is needed. any more and the coated bullets look like yours.
The red copper you are using was tested by me before it got shipped to the USA. It worked perfectly with the ratios I stated above.
Forget spoons for measuring. Get a set of digi scales ($5 off ebay) that weigh in grains and grams. Get a measureing cup graduated in mls.
For the life of me.. I cannot understand why the US has not moved to the Metric system.. it is so easy to use.

I have two digi scales that measure in grams, and two glass measuring jars that have ml measurement up to 200ml. The measurement was exactly 20 grams of powder to 100 ml acetone, so the mixture is not off. You're probably right about overshaking. I'll take your advice for sure. I'm hoping that Hi-Teks idea that they weren't properly dried is my problem, but I'll have to wait till Wednesday to fin d out.

Thanks for your input.