simple Hi-Tek coating

[Avenger442]

Derek
I too shoot my 38 loads out of a 357 a Ruger GP 100. But my wife has a S&W Air Light that she carries. I'm going to have to hand measure those and make sure she doesn't get them mixed up with the others. I'm not sure the S&W or my wife could handle them even though it says it is rated for +P.

The worst thing is it messed up my no leading record with the Hi Tek. I only had one time out of thousands of loads. Now I have two. The first time the pressure exceeded the BHN of the lead. It looks like it might have happened again. Both were minor but still leading.

Popper
My wheel weight alloy with tin usually runs about 11-12 BHN air cooled. And I can get it up to 17 with water drop after cast. Best I can do after coat and water drop is 14 as I remember.To do that I have to water drop at cast and water drop at each coat. All measured two weeks after. In most cases, it's just not worth the trouble.

[Ausglock]

What prevents the bullets from falling down base first?

There is a tiny ledge that the bullet base rides over. it is small enough that the nose of the bullet slides off the ledge.

[Rich22]

There is a tiny ledge that the bullet base rides over. it is small enough that the nose of the bullet slides off the ledge.

If you have close up pictures that would be great. I was going to do a flipper but if can do a nose down drop that would be much better.

[666damosydney]

Hitec Joe pm sent mate

[Gremlin460]

There is a tiny ledge that the bullet base rides over. it is small enough that the nose of the bullet slides off the ledge.

let me know how reliable it turns out to be,one of the hardest things has been to get a reliable nose down feeder that will do various profiles of casts.

[Ausglock]

Grem. I have tried it with 9mm...125Con, 135RN, 170RN, 150RNFP, 168CON FP.
40 178RNFP, 45 230RN.
All work fine. The hole had to be made bigger for the 40 and 45 pills. if the feeder plate was too fast, the bullets would jam.

Going to try a different plate this weekend. Hole located closer to the left and a sawtooth type drop off ledge to turn the bullets.

[Redwoode]

Is there any general consensus regarding the shelf life of cured Hi-Tek coating passing tests on casts in storage prior to loading? How about thoughts on best storage too?

Thanks

[Avenger442]

Is there any general consensus regarding the shelf life of cured Hi-Tek coating passing tests on casts in storage prior to loading? How about thoughts on best storage too?

Thanks

I have some 44 magnum I shot last week that were coated about two years ago and did fine. I don't see why it wouldn't last 20-25 years. Maybe Hi Tek Joe or Ausglock can chime in on this one. They have had the coating in Australia for about 20 years I understand.

Attachment 171252 Dark blue first coat not baked. Looks thin enough to me. Stirred and shook up the powder just in case it had settled. Added 200 ml acetone this time. 2ml of coating on 2 pounds of bullets. I used the same bucket to tumble in as the last batch and I think they picked up some of the blue left in the bucket. Just a thin coat of it along the walls. This was an open tumble not my usual closed tumble.

Also mixed up some of the liquid Gold 1035 with some of the powder Dark Blue. Interesting color in the bottle. Have not tried to coat with it but it doesn't look like it's going to be blue.

[HI-TEK]

[QUOTE=Avenger442;3694479]I have some 44 magnum I shot last week that were coated about two years ago and did fine. I don't see why it wouldn't last 20-25 years. Maybe Hi Tek Joe or Ausglock can chime in on this one. They have had the coating in Australia for about 20 years I understand.

Avenger,
When these coatings are baked, to meet end use requirements, it becomes a very inert highly cross linked system.
As witnessed, before heat cure, it is freely soluble in solvents. After bake, it resists most all materials and does not seem to be affected even with re-baking.
We are aware, that longer baking darkens coating, and, the heat setting/crosslinking, is pushed much more to completion.
With this high density cross-linking with baking, the material becomes very stable and appears non-fusible.
This can be seen with baked coated alloy being placed onto molten alloy. The coating seems to hold its shape after the alloy had melted from the coating encapsulation and does not appear to melt as with other coatings. It is also demonstrated with video as produced by Gateway, where coated alloy and non coated alloy is heated with a gas burner torch. (attached is link to several videos..
https://youtu.be/9ru_NYp7Y6c ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svu6oHcd7d0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svu6oHcd7d0&authuser=0 )
I have no records to provide storage stability of coated cured coatings, as most ammo is used well inside time you indicated.

[Ausglock]

I have some coated bullets here that were produced by a commercial maker about 1998 40cal 180gn FP.
loaded and fired them 2 weeks ago. Perfect in Glock35.

[Warhead]

I have some 44 magnum I shot last week that were coated about two years ago and did fine. I don't see why it wouldn't last 20-25 years. Maybe Hi Tek Joe or Ausglock can chime in on this one. They have had the coating in Australia for about 20 years I understand.

Attachment 171252 Dark blue first coat not baked. Looks thin enough to me. Stirred and shook up the powder just in case it had settled. Added 200 ml acetone this time. 2ml of coating on 2 pounds of bullets. I used the same bucket to tumble in as the last batch and I think they picked up some of the blue left in the bucket. Just a thin coat of it along the walls. This was an open tumble not my usual closed tumble.

Also mixed up some of the liquid Gold 1035 with some of the powder Dark Blue. Interesting color in the bottle. Have not tried to coat with it but it doesn't look like it's going to be blue.

I have had good luck here with it at that ratio, but still coming out more a dark blackish/green then blue.

[andre3k]

Any suggestions on converting a small cement mixer to coat bullets? I have 9k 158gr SWC's and the plastic buckets I'm using now will seem to take forever.

[Ausglock]

you see the vid of the one I built??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pivGTOPi_CU

[andre3k]

That's pretty much what I was looking for. I'm not much of a fabricator so a concrete mixer of some sort is my only option. It gives me some ideas though.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[Avenger442]

That's pretty much what I was looking for. I'm not much of a fabricator so a concrete mixer of some sort is my only option. It gives me some ideas though.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Understand that some of the commercial coaters use a cement mixer with a five gallon bucket stuck in it. Seems like I remember a post some time ago about someone buying one at Harbor Freight.

[Ausglock]

More mods to the Bullet feeder. Now in the Special Projects section.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-Bullet-feeder

[Avenger442]

I was finally able to do some more on the Dark Blue coating.

This is a measured amount of powder with 200 ml instead of 100 ml of acetone baked at 200 C +/- 2 C for 10 minutes. Measured precisely 1 ml of coating per pound of bullets. Open tumbled not my usual closed lid tumble.

First coat After first bake Second coat Second bake


Third coat Third bake Fourth coat Fourth bake

Last color is still a blue green on the bullets but more blue than green.

I had small amount of coating come off on 30 second wipe test. As you can see the color on the cloth is blue but looks blue green on bullet.

Wanted a color closer to the color they are when first coated. This is a comparison of second bake and color left in the bowl used to tumble.

[Avenger442]

These are bullets baked my normal way in the Dark Blue with measured powder and 100 ml. acetone three coats. Just squirt a little in the bowl close the lid and tumble for about 30 seconds then dump to dry. Baked at 200 C +/- for 12 minutes. Some are loaded and ready to shoot. Will get back with results.



As you can see coating is thicker a little textured on some and looks a little more blue than green to me.

I think I'll add a fifth and sixth coat to the bullets being coated with the 200 ml mix to see if I can get more blue. I don't understand why it rubs off blue and looks blue green on bullets.

All photos were taken under a LED shop light.

[Avenger442]

OK Shot some of the Dark Blue bullets from my last post in 357 magnum full house loads today. As I suspected, they performed great. No leading and accuracy as good as I can shoot. Shot 100 rounds in these and about 75 in 44 magnum. Had to stop the 44 magnums half way through the last 50. They were different loads than the first fifty and it looks like I might have put a little too much in them and split a case and flattened some primers. But by my measure I was .5 grains under max. My hand was getting numb I guess and I didn't feel the unusual hard kick. I'm going to have to back it down a full grain or more. The 44s were coated with Black 1035 powder. Still no leading in the barrel.

[DerekP Houston]

to whomever mentioned the tip about the beauty salon squirt bottles, THANK YOU! Still adjusting my powder mix (I spilled some pouring it in) but it was much easier to apply and less messy. I did send my wife to go buy them though..... :guilty: