interesting PC results 🌡️

[Walter Laich]

today is 88° and humidity of 45% --ah, gulf coast Texas in the summertime

coating some Lee TC 45 bullets like I've done a hundred times before

I put some of the bullets out in the sun to warm as I swished/shaked the good old #5 plastic jar

after my usual procedure I was noticing that the powder wasn't adhering to the bullets. While there were some spots that covered well about 1/3 was bare of anything, not even a faint mist covering.

After more swishing/shaking they would cover...OK but not fantastic but today I'm not OCD so I can live with them.

just for kicks I tried some of the bullets that were in the shade with me. They worked fine--normal procedure and fully covered!!!

So for whatever reason today heating the bullets a bit didn't lead to a positive result

thoughts?

[Traffer]

I don't know the answer but the best powder coating I ever got was when I coated some in the garage which was 22 below zero Fahrenheit. I has to break up the powder because it was frozen. Another thing I learned after having some problems was that I had been using way too much powder. Now I use just enough to cover however many I am doing. A teaspoon of powder for a hundred 40 grain 22lr works fine. In case any of this info is helpful to anyone...there it is.

[popper]

I step outside and start dripping in DFW today. IMHO it's the humidity collecting on the hotter boolits. Hot air holds more water.

[fredj338]

I don't know the answer but the best powder coating I ever got was when I coated some in the garage which was 22 below zero Fahrenheit. I has to break up the powder because it was frozen. Another thing I learned after having some problems was that I had been using way too much powder. Now I use just enough to cover however many I am doing. A teaspoon of powder for a hundred 40 grain 22lr works fine. In case any of this info is helpful to anyone...there it is.

With Smoke's powder, I can use 1tsp to do about 200 40-45cal bullets, almost 300 9mm. Humidity also seems to affect Smoke's powder less than HF red.

[Lagamor]

I have similar problem with Prismatic Green powder when the humidity gets high. The red works fine.

[TexasGrunt]

I step outside and start dripping in DFW today. IMHO it's the humidity collecting on the hotter boolits. Hot air holds more water.

I went outside and cut some blocks of air for storage. Later on I'll squeeze the water out of them and use it to water the yard.

[bangerjim]

As I have always said..........BBDT is a little skill, a little luck.....and a whole lotta holding yer mouth jus right!

"Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Some days you wish you were just stoned!"

Keep on truckin'.
Banger

[Grmps]

Check out this post
High humidity adding Styrofoam helps

[Walter Laich]

follow up
another day PC and using same everything (OK temp and humidity probably wasn't identical) coated them like powder on a baby's butt.
think BangerJim hit it on the head: yesterday I was the bug, today the windshield (or something like that.)

[Walter Laich]

up-date
same as the first day

took the container inside and let it dry out in a/c

still the same--grrrrr

went back to basics:
swirled like there was no tomorrow
shook it till I thought the top would break (#5 plastic--remember)

covered like magic.

So the moral of this story was operator error. After several more applications of PC I determined I wasn't shaking it near hard enough.
Always had done so before but for some reason slacked off this time.

A mind is a terrible thing to lose!

[Grmps]

I've been curious about the shaking part, I don't see how that would help much in building static. I do shake a little (invert the container) to distribute the powder but have never got aggressive with it. My thoughts with DT is were manually building a static charge in the lead to attract th PC and this is done by friction (like when you would shuffle your feet on carpet then zap your friend, or rub a baloon and use it to make your hair stand up). sooooo we are looking for the best way to "charge" the boolits to attract PC in an economicle, workable size container / device.

[Walter Laich]

I thought that too but the hard shaking does make a difference.

seeing is believing to me

[popper]

Which side of your windshield fogs?

[Walter Laich]

Which side of your windshield fogs?

the side I look through

[rsrocket1]

Banging up and down hard causes the powder to break contact with the lead. THAT is the key to generating static electricity and exchanging electrons between dissimilar substances. Yes, you can do it by putting the bullets and powder in a gallon Ziplock bag and massaging them because it also causes the powder to make and break contact with the lead (BB's are optional), but it also tends to coat unevenly and leave bare spots where the powder coated bullets make contact with something with another flat surface unless you do the right tricks.

My trick is to use a Nitrile glove dusted in powder, pick up each bullet with my fingers and bang it on the bottom of a parchment paper lined pie pan, then place the bullet on the parchment lined cooking tray. It evens out the coating. It takes me about 10 minutes to place a full tray load of coated boolits.




When in doubt, SHAKE HARD.

[Walter Laich]

your correct about the banging smoothing the coating

I use forceps and tap each bullet on the edge of the plastic jar. I can see the coating smooth.

I take about 15 minutes to do an 8x8" tray of bullets. I'll give the gloves a try to see if I can save some time

[popper]

Walter - you gonna try shake & bake today? Hope you (& the rest on the gulf coast) don't get flooded from the storm.

[Walter Laich]

Walter - you gonna try shake & bake today? Hope you (& the rest on the gulf coast) don't get flooded from the storm.

we're in the NE part of the county and got all of 10 minutes of light rain this a.m. Just enough to allow cars to throw up water on my truck.

Winds did get all the way up to 20 mph for about 1/2 hour

Cindy wasn't a problem for us--further east...another story

[bangerjim]

I learned a long long time ago - - - - - you gotta REALLY shake those little buggers up and down HARD at the end! Makes all the difference.

Don't be gentle. Really shake them.....not just swirl or "tumble" as the name says. And you get some exercise at the same time!

[Walter Laich]

^ what bangerjim said