Gatch. make your own. TGR SRK are way overpriced.
If I had to pay for my bullets, I could not afford to buy TGR SRK.
So many Open gun shooters have tried them, but are now coming back to coated lead.
Custom Gunsmiths in Brisbane are recommending coated lead bullets to their customers.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Australia
If I had some molds...Originally Posted by Ausglock
Hi Gatch
Buying mould and doing your own becomes far more economical despite initial set up costs.
As Ausglock said make your own. Much better. If you are a keen shooter and use a lot, home cast is not so good unless you have plenty of spare time to make your own.
Queensland has its own manufacturers, and it is difficult to understand why imported stuff is used over local supply.
When you are considering to save on costs, I am sure that local supply would work out cheaper than imported stuff.
Other manufacturers and suppliers from other states find freight costs as being a strong deterrent for small orders.
May be your club group should talk to various manufacturers to quote for supply of a combined bulk order for members.
You never know how you will go until they go through the exercise.
Last edited by HI-TEK; 03-11-2019 at 04:39 AM.
AusGlocks offered a couple molds and I've been busy preparing ingots and getting the other stuff ready. So I'm super keen to make my own. I'm lucky to have plenty of time and am a fitter/turner by trade so this is all fairly straight forward stuff. I had been keen on powdercoating but after reading all on these forums I think I'll go with the hitek. If I can get my own slugs to go as good, or better than my current loads for less than half the cost, I'll be stoked !
Gatch,
Great News, Ausglock probably has a few spares up his sleeve.
There is no reason why you can get good results. Ausglock mastered the coatings and is an expert.
Costs are a bit tricky to calculate as basically no one includes their work input as contributing to costs.
There are plenty of great guys on this blog that will provide assistance.
If it is a hobby business, owners seldom seem to include their labour and time towards product costs, and when you are pumping out hundreds of thousands, then such costs can become important as part of buying gear/equipment, alloy, power and labour, rent etc etc.
Last time I checked (I admit it's been years), here in the US, jacketed cost about 30% more than plated, which cost 30% more than commercial coated, which cost 400 to 500% more than the raw material cost of home cast/home HiTek coated, and the last, with the boolit design and sized diameter matched to my pistols, are softer shooting and as, if not more, accurate than what I used to buy.
ETA: and the time and money spent and being spent on learning the art, acquiring skills and improving my equipment, developing sources for raw materials, selecting molds and then getting to admire, load and then use the end product, a boolit that I myself made for my guns, has been a lot of fun and more than satisfying.
Last edited by kevin c; 03-11-2019 at 05:16 AM.
After some rough calculations, if I factor in only the scrap lead, and even some additional tin, then finished projectiles will be about 20-25% the cost of buying plated lead. Even factoring in what I intend to spend on equipment, I'll be shooting cheap rounds after 6-7months. And if my lady has any say I won't be spending any more than what I've budgeted haaa. But really I can't see a downside to making my own. I'm not reinventing the wheel. You lot have down the hard work figuring it all out. I just have to cobble it all together here and practice practice practice.
Gatch
I got to warn you, making/casting and coating with Hi-Tek for yourself is very addictive.
You will find yourself casting so you can catch up and coat some more. Then you will have a few mates that want some, and on it goes. Next thing is, you will then have to employ the missus to help with production.
You guys also have a great benefit in QLD, as there is an excellent local alloy supplier (Northern Smelters) there that knows exactly what you require. They have/supply small bullions with concentrated alloy mixes with various metals, that hobbyists can add to their alloy to improve properties.
Last edited by HI-TEK; 03-11-2019 at 05:33 AM.
Funnily enough I've already had a few emails to and from them regarding prices of their various alloys and pure tin. On my way to work I even drive past a scrap dealer who has several ton of wheel weights and other lead. It's all looking rosy at this point.
You could also "mine" the stop butts at COB for bullet metal. Be aware that the lead in plated bullets is very soft and is not good to mix in with cast bullets.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Australia
The trick is not to make them for anyone else. :P
I make them when my wife and child visits her family in Tasmania. Crank them out as much as possible after work every day, accumulate a batch then coat and cook on lunch breaks and any spare other spare hour I can find.
I traded some magazines for some bullets last April but probably haven't paid for bullets in 2 years now. Maybe 30,000 rounds.
I haven't coated for a few months and will probably get another 3 or 4 months out of what I've got left to shoot.
Grab a ton or two while you still can.Lead WW is becoming rare,globally.
Casting bullets can be a very relaxing hobby in itself. I forget everything else while casting, my wife says I'm better company when I cast a few times a week.
Here is the result of three coats of 20 g black cherry in 200 ml acetone, roughly 5 ml per 2.5 kg. Left to right in back is uncoated, then first coat pre/post bake, second coat pre/post, and then third coat pre/post. In front are hollow base wad cutters with multiple lube grooves, both three coats.
Coverage for the regular lube groove was good with two or three coats, but a bit better with the third. It's a bit hard to see, but the hollow base got covered, only some casts didn't get multiple coats inside, about 20%.
I think that, in general, one coat of 20/200 followed by one coat 20/120 works well enough for me, three thin coats of 20/200 if I want them to look pretty, and two or three coats of 20/200 with larger volumes (maybe more diluted aka Petander) to insure complete coverage of hollow points/bases, though the standard lube and small grooves seem well covered with the first two variations.
Last edited by kevin c; 03-13-2019 at 03:58 AM.
They look good to me.
I'm waiting on some to dry so I can bake them. They are .308s with a hollow point coated in some old, been mixed for about four months, 1035 Gold. That mixture has added acetone to make sure that it is not too thick. I didn't measure just poured some in. So it is probably about what you and Petander are using as a thin coat. Will do three coats.
Still haven't got back to being able to post photos. When I do I'll put some up. I've done everything I can do to reduce the number of photos I have posted except delete them all. I think the problem is that I'm posting from my storage to the site. I found out years ago from computer geeks at work that it is unwise to store photos of any kind in a photo storage site or cloud. So I don't use them. All my storage is onsite.
Last edited by Avenger442; 03-15-2019 at 11:49 AM.
While I work at it, it is by God's grace that it happens. So it is best I ask him what, how and when before I start..
Aqua-Lube is an excellent antiseize/lube for shotgun chokes.
I got a rifled choke for a 20 gauge 870 a couple of days ago and it was tightening up during shooting ,just like rifled chokes do. I loosened it up every 10-15 slugs or so,always too tight. Can't do that in a competition.
Then I remembered Aqua-Lube and applied it to the threads. Now after two more days slug testing, I can say the choke does not tighten up at all when Aqua-lubed. I fired 100+ slugs. Feels like I just tightened it up.
No more grease,this is good. I'll Aqua-lube all my other chokes,too. Nice and clean.
Hi-Tek is a great product and very easy to use. I've never had a problem using Hi-Tek and the key to success is follow instructions and heed advice from people who have been using this product for many years, especially the manufacture.
Been following this thread for a long time now and thought it’s about time I contributed.
I know a lot of this has been repeated over and over but here is my spin.
Simple starting points:
# Use clean uncontaminated lead before & after casting
# Coating, a little goes a long way. I use approx. 5ml to 2kg of projectiles
# Make sure you are using Acetone UN1090 (don't use gun wash or low grade). Hot weather you can use 20% denatured alcohol to slow flash off to increase tumble time.
# Mix 20 grams Hi-Tek powder to 100 – 120 mls Acetone, try different ratios to find what best suits you and the colour you are using.
# Don’t tumble too long, if projectiles start to get sticky before you tip them onto a drying tray you’ve tumbled too long
# Don’t disturb / move projectiles until they have dried, it’s ok for them to be piled on top of each other while they dry.
# Make sure coating is dry, may appear dry but if weather is cool it will take a lot longer to dry. If I’m in a hurry I use a hair dryer to bring projectiles up to about 50 degrees C to accelerate the process.
# Preheat projectile before putting them into the oven, especially if ambient temperature is cool. Projectiles will be a lot colder than the ambient temperature and if not pre-warmed, any trapped moisture will cause bonding of the coating to fail.
# Know your oven, Do you really know what temperature is inside the oven when it’s set at 200 C ? I started off with a cheap toaster oven with elements top and bottom and found I could easily put two racks of projectiles in at the same time, 3 to 4 kg each. I found over time the bake times would vary, needed longer times to bake the more batches I did in a single stint. I found as the oven heated up the thermostat would turn off way before the oven reached 200 C when set at 200. I eventually added a PID controller to measure and regulate the temperature and found when the oven was first turned on the onboard thermostat was accurate to within 10 degrees C but as time went on the thermostat would turn the elements of at 170 C and then fluctuate. Easy way to add a PID controller is make up you own stand alone unit, fit the thermocouple to the oven and plug you PID controller between the power point and the oven and turn the oven thermostat up to max temp, PID will then do the job.
# Bake times will vary depending on your oven and the amount of projectiles you put in at any one time. 10 minutes is a good place to start. If you over bake, the colour will just go darker, reduce bake time. If you have under baked, you can simply just put back in the over and bake again. That may darken the colour but will not cause any other coating problems. Adjust bake times depending on your findings.
# Before 2nd coat: Check whether coating has cured completely, use the Acetone test. Soak a cloth with Acetone and rub a projectile on it, if coating comes off its way under baked, if a little colour comes off then they are still under baked. If not baked correctly the 2nd coat will strip off part or all of the first coat so the 2nd coat will still look light and patchy after the 2nd bake.
# Do the smash test, squash a projectile with a hammer, if the coating flakes off this means the bonding has failed. Main cause is coating not being thoroughly dried or moisture because projectiles were not pre-warmed and less common cause is contaminated lead. If bonding fails, only fix is remelt. Adding more coasts will not fix the problem.
# If tests pass then proceed with 2nd coat If you want the projectiles to look extra pretty.
# Size, load & enjoy.
Some of the last batch of 115 grain SWC coated with Candy Apple & a touch of Black Cherry.
Last edited by Jatz357; 03-17-2019 at 06:31 AM.
Now that's really nice and bright looking Candy Apple Red.
Awesome looking colour indeed.
Tazza, need to talk, sent you a PM
Message sent.
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