Cheapest / Easiest way to coat Buckshot

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Hey all, I'd like to start casting some buckshot. I've read threads about how guys coat them with pencil let. I don't really care if they are uniform but I'd like them not to stick.

Without buying a rock tumbler, what's the cheapest and easiest way to get a coating on these? Would LLA work? To me that would seem to make them sticky. I have a lot of the mule snot laying around.

[birddog]

Buy some powdered graphite at hardware store and just take a large bowl that you will not take back to the kitchen and put your buckshot and graphite in and swirl the bowl to coat the shot and separate the mix.
Charlie

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That ought to work, but coating of buckshot isn't as demanding an application as coating a bullet which must rub on the bore all the way down. You could probably get good results by spraying them with an ordinary paint aerosol. You can spray one side, and when that is dry, pick them up on a piece of tape to spray the other side.

[Boolit_Head]

Make sure to use the graphite very sparingly. Easier to put more on than take it off. A little goes a very long way.

[bstone5]

I coat some cast pistol bullets with the Hi-Tech coating from Bayou Bullets. When I cast Double 00 and #4 with the Sharp Shooter Mold I coat the shot with the same Hi-Tech coating.

This coating seems to work well on the buck shot.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll look for some powdered stuff.

[Rally]

I coat all my slugs and buckshot in Beeswax. I have a 10 qt. pan I melt it in and put the buckshot in a fine wire strainer. When the wax gets hot I drop the strainer into the wax and leave it there for about 3 minutes. This allows the shot to get up to the wax temperature, which leaves a thin film on the buckshot/slugs. If you don't leave it in long enough the wax coating will be thick. I pour the buckshot from the strainer onto a large cookie sheet to cool and dry. When it is about half dried I roll the buckshot around on the cookie sheet to make sure it doesn't stick together.
I never cared much for the idea of graphite being transfered to a meat I may eat. I've eaten plenty of "homemade" honey in my life, and apparantly beeswax nor bees legs are hazardous to my health.

[GoodOlBoy]

yeah beeswax and tallow mix, or even a little 45-45-10 would go a long long ways.

GoodOlBoy

[FullTang]

Lee Liquid Alox works fine and is as cheap and easy as you can get, but for practice rounds I don't bother.

[oldlincoln]

Has anyone tried Bens liquid lube on buck? Seems like it would be the perfect thing since it drys so hard and slick.
E

[rsrocket1]

Ben's Liquid Lube is similar to 45/45/10 without bothering with the cooking off of the Johnson's Paste wax or mineral spirits. It's a great alternative for tumble lubing bullets, but for buckshot, LLA is fine. You won't worry about the added smoke because the burning gases don't contact the projectile and you aren't handling hundreds of bullets in your hand or worrying about build up on the seating dies. The little extra work in mixing in the Liquid Johnson's floor wax makes handling the dried shot easier than LLA coated stuff which never really dries completely. If your shot fits completely inside a shot cup there is no need to coat them. The coating simply helps prevent lead from scraping off if they skid along the wall of the barrel.

[1Shirt]

Good thread!!
1Shirt!

[woody1]

Has anyone tried Bens liquid lube on buck? Seems like it would be the perfect thing since it drys so hard and slick.
E

Good grief! I was wondering why someone didn't say BLL. I just did some the other day. Seems the perfect match to me. Regards, Woody

[Treeman]

I tumble with a little Johnson's Paste wax. Very easy. JPW is also a very decent tumble lube for low velocity pistol bullets.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Just a curious noob here, I don't yet load buck, just slugs and skeet loads. Why a coating on buck? Same reason for graphite on shot?

Just for giggles, I work in aviation and managed to get my hands on some lead shot ballast bags, we have to dispose of bags with tears, obviously having little balls of conductive metal rolling around inside airplanes is less than desirable! It's 25lb bags of No:8 and No:9 but not graphite'd. I just fill the bottle of my Mec up ans sprinkle in a tiny bit and roll it around a bit, seems to work well enough!

[BAGTIC]

I use JPW and the same technique I use to lube pistol bullets.

[35remington]

If the buck is contained in a wad coatings are completely unnecessary.

[possom813]

I've used graphite, I run across the small lock-lube tubes quite often at flea markets and garage sales for quite cheap.

I've also just put a handful of shot in a cool whip tub with the buckshot and let it shake around for a minute and pour it through one of the sifter screens to separate it back out.

[WRideout]

In the basement I found an OLD bottle of Johnson "Klear" floor wax. I think it is just polymer, with some type of liquid carrier. I used it to tumble lube some low velocity pistol boolits once, and it worked fine, except that it smelled like burned plastic when I shot them. In the shotshell, it wouldn't matter.

Wayne

[bhn22]

Hose them down lightly with "Mold Prep". I've used it on wadcutters before too.