Sizing Powder Coats

[sixshot]

When sizing my powder coated bullets I've found that some of them with a long bearing surface can be tough to run through my star sizer. What I do is stand them on a sheet of paper & spray them with Hornady One Shot Case Lube, this is the stuff in the red can thats used for lubing brass cases. It won't harm powder or primers & makes it a breeze to size those subborn 475's. I off set each row, then spray, rotate them & spray the other side, takes about 10 seconds.

Dick

[Walter Laich]

good to know
I'll put that in my files

[sasquatch76]

One Shot is what I've been using when sizing my PC bullets also, works great.

[CGT80]

I will have to try that. I did my first PC yesterday and got my lee sizers today. 45 acp 230 rn are easy to size. 45 270 saa have more bearing surface and are harder. My 30 cal Saeco 315 pb came out faaattt with two coats of PC, at .320". The lee die even had some trouble sizing my raw boolits at .312". I ended up using my rcbs lam I to size the as cast boolits then I sized between coats of powder and was able to use the lee die. I have a dirt cheap lee single stage press screwed to my bench top, but it moves too much. I hardly use it. I put the lee sizing die in my Hollywood 12 station turret press, and then it was no problem. I might just keep using Cred on my 30 cal boolits as the rifles don't seem to get nearly as dirty as my pistols.

[bangerjim]

As we have discussed many times in the past.....we do NOT know the long term effect of lubes on the PC when inside the brass. I do not lube ANY PC'd boolits, even when they go thru hard. The coating never comes off. If it does, you have something wrong with your coating process.

If you think you MUST use a lube, please wipe it off completely B4 loading. It has nothing to do with contamination of the propellant or primer, it is the possible degradation of the PC over time. And that will lead to possible leading.

Since this is a new process, we have no long-term data to refer to.

bangerjim

[crashguy]

We may not be completely without long term information. Although the application of PC on boolits is relatively new, powder coat is not. I can only imagine in the engine and machine world PC has been used on items that are either in or in close proximity to solvents, oils , grease or heat for long periods of time. We may be able to borrow some of that data so we could make a semi SWAG of the long term effects for our application.

Ed

[Oreo]

Those are both good points Bangerjim & crashguy.

One thing we need to be careful for is that boolit lubes can contain all sorts of things. Oils are usually ok on paints and powder coats as far as I know but brake fluid is known to strip paint from cars.

Considering the number of different powder coat and lube variants out there this might be something we each need to test for ourselves. Testing should be easy enough. Make up some dummy rounds and pull one every few months for a year or so to test PC integrity.

[bangerjim]

Or better yet......why bother? There are probably thousands on here PC'ing without any lube now.

If someone wants to dedicate a year of their life to testing, be my guest. It does need to be done.

Until then, I will avoid any kinds of grease and lubes on my PC'd boolits.......they do not need it. I have NEVER caused any of the PC to come off in a sizing die. If it does, you are probably trying to take off waaaaaay to much size Size that large amount down B4 coating. That way they will slide thru nicely.

bangerjim

[philzilla]

one shot is safe to lube pc bullets

[NavyVet1959]

I just use a dab of cable pull lube and tumble them in that. I have probably a gallon of it and it is the only thing I need it for these days, so it'll probably last me *forever*.

[takasaki]

I just started pc bullets this year, prob done about 3500 in the last month alone and havent lubed up a boolit yet to size. Just run them through your sizing die after pc and be done with it.

[Hickok]

I test a couple PCed boolits to see how they size down. Learned this the hard way! If they are hard to size, I will size the bare boolits first, then PC and size again.

If your mold drops a bare boolit at .002" or .003" over desired sized diameter, and you add .002" of PC, (we know how hard PC is) it can be a hard push through the sizer.


"But, but, but ......you have to size twice......Oh me oh my....." Well frankly Scarlet, I don't give a rat's behind! (I had to put this in, before the naysayers jumped in. Not directed at you Sixshot or any other PC ers.)

And yes I still shoot loobed boolits too!


A little dishwashing soap helps when the PC boolits get a little difficult. Just a little on the fingers.

I try to check out my boolits now by my above method. Some of my molds drop some nice fat boolits, and some don't.

[gpidaho]

I usually size my boolits before and after coating. This is a good way to pick out boolits that are under size for what ever reason and makes the final sizing easier. As Hickok says, a little dish soap is an excellent lube if things get stubborn and it washes off easily. Personally, I sometimes hand lube the groove ahead of the gas check on my rifle rounds (HV) and have no worries of this causing any sort of a problem. Gp

[Hickok]

Gpidaho, lubing plus pc sounds interesting as to rifle HV loads. You have gained my attention!

[Tenbender]

I have found my 180 gr 358's and 255 gr 454's are hard to push through unless I let them cure 48 or more hours. If I try running them in less time I need lube. Gas checks work better if I press fit them during the first 24 hours. Just some little things I have learned by trial and error.

[mannparks]

Do we know what the PC actually consist of?

[bangerjim]

Magic pixie dust and rainbow sparkles.

Check the MSDS sheets for the brands of powder you are using if you want to know what is in there. The internet is a magical, marvelous source of all kinds of useless & trivial data.



I always size B4 and AFTER PC on most cals. Some do not need the B4. Never had a one stick or scrape off. And that is THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of PC'd boolits!

Amazing how moldy old threads just seem to pop up over and over!

banger

[birdadly]

Amazing how moldy old threads just seem to pop up over and over!

banger

...if you look into who did it and their recent posts... it looks kinda fishy, like padding their Post count for some reason...

Sorry to be off topic! But I agree that we don't know for certain what lube does to PC -Brad

[mannparks]

[QUOTE=bangerjim;3556951]Magic pixie dust and rainbow sparkles.

Check the MSDS sheets for the brands of powder you are using if you want to know what is in there. The internet is a magical, marvelous source of all kinds of useless & trivial data.


I don't think smoke has a MSDS sheet

[bangerjim]

Yes - - he does. Just PM him and he will be happy to tell you. A real nice guy.

banger