The thick 'n thin of it. ASBBDT

[prs]

This has spoiled me. Its so danged easy. No mess. Cheap. NO LEADING. Very easy gun cleaning if powder choice and charge weight combo is clean burning. My pistols shoot well with PC boolits.

My previous batches were double coated and sized. Today I ran a batch that were pre-sized and then given one thin coat. My prediction is that it won't make a bit of difference other than saving me some time, powder, and a little energy. Powder By the Pound Super Durable Gold. It was very humid and the gold powder just jumped right onto the bare lead.

Also, my first batch with two trays in the small convection toaster oven "double decker" style. 250 .453-200-SWC H&G 68 clones, one tray hollow point, one plain point, 30 minutes at 400F. Worked great.

Edit: The NOE mold drops true to nominal with my alloy; .453". I sized and verified post size at .452". The thin single coat of PC took them right back to .453" on the micrometer. Should fit my 1911s fine.

prs

[WallyM3]

I get (and agree) with the general premise, but what is "ASBBDT"?

[prs]

Air Soft B-B Dry Tumble

prs

[WallyM3]

(whew!)

You had me worried there for a minute.

[prs]

I WAS WRONG IN MY PREDICTION! I shot 100 rounds of the single coated in my Ruger SR1911 which had NO leading with double coated boolits of same design and powder paint and same loading. That same pistol does not lead with same loading and NRA 50:50. That same pistol used to lead with any cast boolit loading I could imagine until I used a reamer to relieve the leade. Result today, VERY HEAVY leading. The single light coating did not do the job.

It was humid when I coated them, the powder was Powder By The Pound durable gold. Would other powder paints do better when applied in one thin coat? Maybe. De-leading barrels is not so much fun that I care to try right now.

From now on, its a good heavy coating for me.

prs

[ipijohn]

Size after coating.

Always size after coating!!

[el34]

prs- ES or DT? I'm starting to get unhappy with DT.

[ipijohn]

I have never tried DT since I started with ES and have all the time in the word since I am retired. When you have the best why try the rest?

[prs]

prs- ES or DT? I'm starting to get unhappy with DT.

I have only used dry tumble with the black airsoft bbs. I am not unhappy with it, I knew the coating was thin. It was vey humid when I did the tumbeling.

prs

[prs]

Size after coating.

Always size after coating!!

Explain please. Is it that the sizing process toughens the coating? Is it the issue that the boolit will be over sized if not sized as a final step? Do you reckon the pre-sized boolit will be too slick for good adherence? I plan on recoating the ones I have not shot, then sizing. May do the coating tonight as the humidity is supposed to be unusually low for summertime tonight and tomorrow night; unusually cool too.

prs

[ipijohn]

Explain please. Is it that the sizing process toughens the coating? Is it the issue that the boolit will be over sized if not sized as a final step? Do you reckon the pre-sized boolit will be too slick for good adherence? I plan on recoating the ones I have not shot, then sizing. May do the coating tonight as the humidity is supposed to be unusually low for summertime tonight and tomorrow night; unusually cool too.

prs

I always size as the last step to INSURE that they are the correct size no matter how thick or thin the coating is. I have never had an adhesion issue even when post coating sizing down .007 (taking 9X18 boolits down to .358 for 380 ammo) The thing I am looking for is repeatable 100% function, which I haven't been able to guarantee unless I size after coating.

[prs]

Thanks! Got it. My oven is cooking the second coat on those thinly coated boolits right now. When they cool, I will run them through the sizer (for the second time). They dropped from mould at .453, took a trip through a .452 die, were coated and back to about .453 and now recoated to ? and back through the die. Labor intensive this mistake is.

prs

[ipijohn]

My Mihec 45 HP mold casts at .4525 +.0005. I don't size B4 PC, only after. All has been well for over 5K boolits. I just cast and coated 750 today. Will size them tomorrow.

[prs]

These are NOE 68 clones, some hollow pointed and some standard. The mold is nominal .453 and with my alloy of 96:2:2 it drops exactly as listed, all 4 cavities. I typically run batches of about 50# before getting tired of it. 35 boolits to the pound, 50# yields 1,850 and very few culls indeed!

prs

[el34]

I typically run batches of about 50# before getting tired of it. 35 boolits to the pound, 50# yields 1,850 and very few culls indeed!

prs

Is it hard for you to get up and go pee?

[bangerjim]

This is just a thought:

You are using a weird metallic powder. Not all powders are the same and many of those metallics require a top coat for toughness and state SPECIFICALLY that in the listings. ( a waste of time for boolits)

We all use HF red and matte black and solid colors from Smoke. I ONLY use one coat of anything. If the powder takes more than one coat, I use another powder!!!!! Multi-coats are a total waste of time and energy. After all, they just go splat on the other end!

Try some HF red. I have not had problems with ESPC or BBDT. ESPC is my favorite for perfect coats.....and matte black!

I have no leading in 223/30/9/40/45 in any gun.

And I ALWAYS size after casting AND coating.

Good luck with your experimentation.

bangerjim

[Beagle333]

We all use HF red and matte black and solid colors from Smoke. I ONLY use one coat of anything.
And I ALWAYS size after casting AND coating.

Exactly!

[prs]

Is it hard for you to get up and go pee?

To paraphrase Forest Gump; .... "when I had to go, you know, I went"

Fifty pounds is not all that much. I have one twenty pound pot from which I bottom pour and its on a PID controller. I have another 20# pot right beside it using the Lee thermostat to keep fluxed clean alloy a bit over my casting temp and occasionally use a good sized ladle to top-up my casting pot. That way I don't run low and have to wait for alloy temp to recover. In the fall, I can cast kick-off to halftime and be done with 50#.

prs

[prs]

Bangerjim and Beagle333:

Previous loadings with this same PBP Super Durable Gold Nugget had no trace of leading even with more shooting in the same pistol single or double coat. Its just that the offending batch was very lightly coated (could see through it), maybe due to high humidity, maybe due to trying to dry tumble too many boolits in a batch. Last evening the humidity was right at 70%, less than before, and I restricted dry tumble capacity to 35 boolits in a 1# cottage cheese container. Both the remaining thinly coated boolits and a couple hundred as cast boolits gained a nice heavy fluffy even coating and after baking looked much better. I have PBP Super Durable Wet Black and Super Durable Blue (forget the rest of the name) and they shot well too single coated. I will use-up the Gold Nugget unless the leading does re-occur with normally thick single coating. I don't like to chew my cabbage twice either, but experimenting a bit.

BTW, doing over 200 452-200-SWC at time in my small Convection Toaster oven by using two racks instead of one has worked excellently without changing the powder maker's cook time or temp. That is real time saver.

[prs]

Originally Posted by bangerjim We all use HF red and matte black and solid colors from Smoke. I ONLY use one coat of anything.
And I ALWAYS size after casting AND coating.

I will keep Smoke in mind for when my original 3# are exhausted. Folks were recommending Powder By the Pound quite well too. Do you really size each round twice? After casting and then again after coating? Even with a Star, that seems rather labor intensive. Then again, for serious accuracy and competition ammo; I can see that easily. I am shooting close and large steel plate.

BTW, so far I have seen no trace of PC on the hard steel target plates and have found no bullet remains that have visible traces of PC on them. Then again, even with my relatively soft alloy, most of the lead is reduced to fine splatter when it hits the plates. May have to mine the berm, if I ever miss .

prs