simple Hi-Tek coating

[slide]

Thanks Joe!

[HI-TEK]

Thanks Joe!

Slide,
did some work on your question.
It is a difficult area to measure.
With the range of tests, the BHN hardness of Hi-Tek coatings seems to indicate to be around 35 to 40.

[slide]

Interesting! Surely it adds some hardness to the bullet especially if you do three to four coats. I have a hardness tester. I am going to play around with it. I don't know if it is precision enough to do anything with. It is one of the cabine tree tester's.

[HI-TEK]

Interesting! Surely it adds some hardness to the bullet especially if you do three to four coats. I have a hardness tester. I am going to play around with it. I don't know if it is precision enough to do anything with. It is one of the cabine tree tester's.

Slide,
the coating may be adequately hard to work, but it is a surface phenomena, but I don't know if it adds hardness to an alloy.

[slide]

It is fun to try!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HI-TEK]

It is fun to try!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slide,
I look forward to your experiments and results.
My guess is, that a thin film, one, two or three coats, may affect the hardness test. I am thinking, if you coat a projectile, do hardness after bake, then scrape off some coating, and do hardness on the metal. If you are lucky, there may be a measurable difference.

[slide]

Thanks Joe. I will give it a try!

[HI-TEK]

Slide
PM sent...

[Stephen Cohen]

I cast 500 gr .460 for my 458wm and little gran daughter loved to stack them up like blocks, I kept a box of well coated ones for her visits and at almost 2yrs she could stack 5 high which I found difficult to do. I know there will be those who think this is a bad idea but the child would wash he hands well after playing with them. That very box of her bullets sits on my desk now as she is much older now and would rather play with guns. The picture of the coloured bullets above posted by Petander reminds me of those days. Regards Stephen

[Tazza]

I cast 500 gr .460 for my 458wm and little gran daughter loved to stack them up like blocks, I kept a box of well coated ones for her visits and at almost 2yrs she could stack 5 high which I found difficult to do. I know there will be those who think this is a bad idea but the child would wash he hands well after playing with them. That very box of her bullets sits on my desk now as she is much older now and would rather play with guns. The picture of the coloured bullets above posted by Petander reminds me of those days. Regards Stephen

I think that's a great story, they are coated, so no lead contact, it also made her not be scared of guns, good to see grand dad did his part in that

[Jhopson]

I cast 500 gr .460 for my 458wm and little gran daughter loved to stack them up like blocks, I kept a box of well coated ones for her visits and at almost 2yrs she could stack 5 high which I found difficult to do. I know there will be those who think this is a bad idea but the child would wash he hands well after playing with them. That very box of her bullets sits on my desk now as she is much older now and would rather play with guns. The picture of the coloured bullets above posted by Petander reminds me of those days. Regards Stephen

Thanks for telling this story. My grandkids are fascinated with my bullet casting process, and I try to keep a bucket of “mixed” coated bullets for them to sort and “help” papaw with.


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[Burnt Fingers]

I’m going to jump in with a totally tangential question. Has anyone used Hi-Tek as a coating for lead fishing weight or lures? I normally paint my home cast lures with nail polish or enamel paint, but the idea of coating them in bulk is appealing. I assume the coating holds up to water when cured, given that it can survive the trip down a gun barrel.

I've made a LOT of lead slabs for fishing and other lures too.

A homemade fluid bed and powder paint has been and will be how I paint my fishing stuff. Better color selection and better coverage.

[Burnt Fingers]

I'm waiting for the blue to show up here in the US. I need to place an order but I'm really waiting for the blue to be available.

[Petander]

Modified TMG Gold.

This seems to have the same elastic toughness as the original TMG. Me likes. A bit too much green in the pic from a LED lamp.

Thank you Joe.

[Stephen Cohen]

I can understand Petander and his love for the Gold, while I am pretty sure that it was just coincidence but the best sub MOA groups I have fired from my 458 375 and 357Max have all been with the Gold, maybe this is because they looked so good I was in a better frame of mind. It was the accuracy I get that convinced an old mate that snail snot and 1000fps cast was not where his 30/06 should be. I can understand the reluctance people had and some still have about Hi-Tek, not because of Hi-Tek itself, but the coatings that come on some early commercially cast bullets. There are still some companies using what ever coating and it can be picked off with a finger nail, and human nature being what it is all coatings were put in the same bucket. I have to admit that I was guilty of also branding all coatings under the same banner until I tried it for myself. I am happy to say that naked cast are a rare thing to see in my club now. Regards Stephen

[HI-TEK]

I can understand the reluctance people had and some still have about Hi-Tek, not because of Hi-Tek itself, but the coatings that come on some early commercially cast bullets. There are still some companies using what ever coating and it can be picked off with a finger nail, and human nature being what it is all coatings were put in the same bucket. I have to admit that I was guilty of also branding all coatings under the same banner until I tried it for myself. I am happy to say that naked cast are a rare thing to see in my club now. Regards Stephen

Hi Stephen,
I completely agree with your observations.
Some time ago, I was made aware of commercial casters products being not so good.
In several follow ups, it was discovered, that to push out production volumes, not adequate quality controls were in place.
There was a tendency to use far too much coating, and they were not dried adequately before baking.
There was some adhesion but inadequate, resulting in what you described.
The other problem was found, that some had used or had been supplied questionable quality alloy, and scrap was also used that may have been contaminated and inadequately furnaced.
Even with proper initial bonding, passing all tests, the long term storage stability of coated projectiles containing contaminated alloy was not that great.
What seemed to happen is that the alloy contaminations formed powdery film on alloy surface, that began spalling between coating and alloy, thereby lifting off the coating. These type of reactions were more noticeable and faster in very humid areas.
I think many had learnt from these experiences.
I would not be surprised if some of these partially spalling casts are in possession of customers who use few casts annually, as they buy in bulk to save on costs, then store products for years afterwards.
Those who use larger amounts would consistently have fresh stocks and the spalling would not be a problem.

[Stephen Cohen]

Hi Joe, I am sure what you stated above is correct. I still have some of my original cast and coated from years back when you first become a member here, much of that alloy was range and wheel weights and they are as perfect today as they were back then, I also have some very questionable alloy that I know contained Zinc and God knows what else which I used to cast some very hard 500gr Buffalo stompers, these were cast at least 5yrs ago and have shown no problems as yet however some of the rejected ones I did actually put them out in the weather and they did form a white crusty powder as you pointed out. I recently moved my entire coated cast store and I can say with all honesty I will not live long enough to use all I have so I do tend to spread them around and as yet have had no complaints about their quality. If I must use Zinc contaminated lead I used sulphur to remove it from the melt. I don't claim to be an expert at this coating game but I do owe Ausglock for much of what I have learned. I think Hi-Tek is more forgiving than some may think, yes it is easy to fail if one does not follow the instructions in the beginning, but as Petander has found, even contaminated alloy makes good bullets once you gave him the secret of acid washing. I must say I still find it hard to forgive those commercial suppliers who had me removing lead from many Rifles Revolvers and Auto pistols. Regards Stephen

[Petander]

Ta-dam! Fanfares?

These are my first Bismuth bullets. TMG Gold bonds just fine, I sized these with no extra lube. Bismuth alloy seems to cast larger than lead alloys,also pretty hard. And brittle.

I added 10% tin to old bismuth shot,this melts below 190°C so I've been really watching coating temps...

[Ausglock]

I have a few 1000 180gn FP 40 cal topscore bullets here from 2000. Have been moving them from the gunroom to the shed. smashed one yesterday... perfect. Not bad for a 20 year old coated lead bullet. Going to melt them down and re-cast for 9mm. Don't need 40 cal pills anymore..

[slide]

It seems the thermocouple in the bullet is catching on with the powder coating crowd. The only problem is there have been a couple of guys who have acutally tried to claim credit for the idea. I have had a running battle with one of them.Wonder I don't get banned. Anyway, if it is ok I would like to dub it the a.t.m. Ausglocks' thermocouple method. What do you think?