New P.C. set up how would you go now???

[Dadswickedammo]

I'm in with powder coating!!!
Have done a good bit of research still doing more. I have zero equipment or supply that I know of. What I'm after is good quality fast and clean as possible with out breaking the bank. Would rather spend a lot more once instead of buy-in junk several times may take a lot longer to get set up.
So knowing what you know now how would you go and what to stay away from. Will be coating rifle and pistol. And are gas checks put on before or after and if before I guess we size again.

[Reddirt62]

They say not to size until after coating and a gc can be installed at that time. I purchased a Black and Decker convection oven at Walmart for $70 that works fantastic! My trays I made from 1/4" hardware cloth but I am going to attempt a silicone baking pan next go round.

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[sawinredneck]

$30-40 toaster oven from Walmart, I bought the Glad resealable bowls, get the cool whip etc. bowls and save the money, use the yellow bb's, imho at least, they are better. Spend the money on decent powder! I've got two tubs of the HF stuff, red and black, I haven't had great luck with either.

[jcren]

Check out smoke4320's vs page. Proven awsome powder and bb's and step by step directions for easy shake-n-bake results. His clear, gloss black and signal blue and hard not to get coverage with.

[Reddirt62]

I have been using Eastwood powder, the Ford light blue works very well.

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[Handloader109]

If $ are tight, get cheap toaster oven, heck look at garage sales or salvation army store. Bbs not required, speeds up the generation of static, for not required, use minimal powder in your bowl. Buy a roll of nonstick foil, it works for several bakings. Enjoy!

[Bama]

Get toaster oven that when opened at least 50% of tray is accessible from the top to make it easier if you plan to make HV rifle bullets (easier to stand up). If you are shooting normal pistol just about any powder will work but if you are shooting at or above 2800 fps Smokes bacon grease works very well. Max loads for 308W and 6X45 for jacketed bullets is no problem. Read all the threads on adding copper if you plan to go HV. If you want to get started low cost then the shake and bake works. I started with it and have not found a valid reason to switch. Keep good notes and reread to see what works best for you. Have fun!

[clearcut]

Shake n bake w/non stick foil, used toaster oven, thermometer, smoke's sample pack.Under $30.00 you can't go wrong for cheap PC. Just like reloading you'll save tons of money

CC

[sawinredneck]

Shake n bake w/non stick foil, used toaster oven, thermometer, smoke's sample pack.Under $30.00 you can't go wrong for cheap PC. Just like reloading you'll save tons of money

CC

You were doing good, until the last sentence. Change "save" to "spend" then its right.

[HABCAN]

A CONVECTION oven is pretty-well necessary to keep even temps. Smoke's powders, BB's, and directions. Shake and bake in large #5 plastic bowls from Kool Whip or margarine or ?? For ME a 1-minute very fast 'swirl' in the bowl of an ingot's worth of boolits (or LESS) WITH adequate Smoke's powder and BLACK BB's, then maybe only three or four 'shakes' at the end gives best coverage, but YMMV. Start. Try. Learn. DO it YOUR way.

[11B-101ABN]

Shake-N-Bake is fine but since you mentioned fast, I would go with the Harbor Freight spray setup right away. I got tired of picking each one up with tweezers/pliers/foreceps or whatever rather quickly. I spray while I cook, and can do over 2000 a day with a toaster oven. My shootin buddy uses an old house oven and cooks 500 at a time and did almost 20k in 10 hours last fall.

[fredj338]

I bought a 12" double rack pizza oven from wally for $50. I shake & bake using wire mesh drawer trays & can do 4 of the 6x9 trays at a time, about 240 bullets. I use large tweezers, like chop sticks, to pull the bullets out & place them. It goes pretty fast once you get the hang of it. All bullets are sized after in Lee pass thru sizers.

[Dragonheart]

Forget cheap, unless it just drops into your lap. Get a good convection oven that will hold it's temp within a very narrow range and has a good capacity so you can cook 1K+ bullets at a time. I have a Hamilton Beach Counter-top Convection Oven that does just that. It was over $100, but can be found for less. I also have a Black & Decker Convection Oven that gets to temp much faster, but then the temp is all over the place. Get a good glass thermometer to monitor the temperature like the Taylor Oven Guide about $10. Cover the oven's wire racks with sheetmetal front to back so you have maximum flat surface or you can use metal trays if you can find the right size.
Attachment 192716Attachment 192717

Buy a new small tumbler or find a deal on a used one and convert it by removing the bowl like the attached photo. I coat 400+ bullets at a time. I used a #5 plastic 5 gallon painter's bucket. The side rods hold the bucket in place and act as an adjustment for the amount of vibration. I also use
black airsoft BB's to help with the coverage.
Attachment 192715

Get a pair of self-closing tweezers to transfer the bullets to the cooking racks. Cooked base down will give you bullets with a flat base, if accuracy is a concern. Use silicon baking mats, cut to fit to cover your racks.
Attachment 192718

Buy good quality powder that you know works, available from Smoke off this site. Once you have it down, Prismatic Powder has about 6K colors, but the solid colors work the best.

Granted I set up to do volume, but you can get started shaking a CoolWhip container and get good results.

[bluejay75]

Dragonheart,

I love the bucket!!! Post a parts list for us non mechanically inclined folk. I have an old Harbor Freight Tumbler not in use that I would love to convert.

[Dragonheart]

OK as requested, this is how I did mine. Your tumbler may be slightly different

You will need two pieces of 1/2" or thicker plywood cut 14" square, glue & screws. A piece of a 1/2" thick rubber floor mat (the lock together kind is what I used). One 5 gallon plastic paint bucket. (#5 plastic recycle code usually embossed on the bottom bucket works the best if you can find one, otherwise take what you can get) One 1/4"-20 threaded bolt with one 1/4" fender washer. The length of the bolt will need to be just long enough to secure the bucket and mat to the tumbler's base. Two approximately 18" long 3/8"-16 all thread rod with 4 - 3/8"-16 nylon insert lock nuts. A couple of pieces of scrap sheetmetal like shown in my photo, drilled with a 3/8" hole then bent and fashioned so as to clip on the edge for the bucket to hold it down.

Both my tumblers (Midway & Lyman) were secured with a 1/4"-20 threaded rod through the bowl. Unscrew the rod and remove the tumbler's bowl. Set your 5 gallon bucket on the rubber floor mat and trace the outline of the bucket on the floor mat. Cut the mat to fit the bottom of the bucket. Drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket and through the mat. Insert the short 1/4"-20 bolt with fender washer inside the bucket and screw the bucket down tight to the tumbler.

For the tumbler's wood base, set the round base of your tumbler in the center of one of the pieces of plywood and trace the outline of the of the tumbler's footprint. Using a jigsaw or what have you cut slightly outside the line so the tumbler 's base will just fit into the hole. Temporally screw the two pieces of plywood together and set your tumbler in the cut out hole.

For the tie down rods, use a framing square to locate the two support holes (one on each side for the tie down rods or just position a rod and eyeball it) Set the down rods location about 1/2" out from the edge of your bucket and opposite each other. Drill a 3/8" through both pieces of the plywood base for each of the two down rods. Unscrew the bottom piece of plywood (the one without the hole) and enlarge the down rod hole to appropriately 1". This will allow a recess for your lock nuts on the bottom of the rod. Now the two pieces of plywood can be glued & screwed together. Set the tumbler in the base, insert the tie down rods with the bottom lock nuts in place. Set the metal clips on the bucket and down rods and secure with the nuts. Tighten down just enough so the bucket is supported. Turn the tumbler on and add some BB's and test bullets. Start increasing the tension on the tie down clips by tightening down the nuts. You are looking for an even rotating motion that is not too aggressive. Add some stick on felt pads to the bottom of the plywood to help keep the tumbler in place and dampen the noise.

The bucket's lid can be notched where your clips attach so the lid can stay in place.

[WickedColt]

I'm getting into this now and this thread seriously helps!! Great ideas!!

[alfloyd]

Look under the "Will these work?" Thread post #13.
This is the way I would do it to start with if I were to be just starting.
I use this method with all my pistol boolits.

Lafaun

[popper]

Darn, D.H., now you got me wondering if my orbital palm sander would work? Haven't used it for anything for several years. My compressor does the vib pretty good too.

[shoot-n-lead]

This ain't rocket science...you can take $30 and powder coat bullets to great effect.

Workout YOUR process...not necessary to follow the crowd as it is almost impossible to mess this up, there are several ways to do every part of the process and be successful.

[Phantom30]

If you are thinking about high velocity rifle, follow Bama's advice, his stuff is also accurate. If your are looking for clean nose and tail aero then try hollow point molds, stand boolit nose on tip spike board and ESPC them, then bake on board for smoothest nose and tail coatings. Have fun.