New member quick question

[Dow.tom]

I'm loading with range scrap only.
Should I wet or dry cool my lead if I am powder coating?

It's 356 9mm 125gr loaded to 135 power factor

Thanks in advance

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[RP]

Air or dry cool water dropping if powder coating is a waste of time

[Dow.tom]

Air or dry cool water dropping if powder coating is a waste of time

Just curious as to why ? I'm new so I'll take any learning. Also where donuou drop to air dry? And old towel?

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[Tripplebeards]

I'm a newbee...started this year to. When you PC reheating your boolits takes away the WQ hardness...even if you WQ again. I tried it and tested with my Lee BH tester. My WQCOWW had a BH of 33. After I PC'd and immediately WQ again in ice wAter my boolits tested a BH of 15. Both tests were a month after the process.

I did a AC COWW test of 14.3 BH with the same lead boolits. So basically my PC WQ boolits didn't gain much more hardness...if any. You can get away with lower BH when you PC and also if you use a GC.

I have also learned that I don't need over a 15 BH for any application literally for any caliber out there lately. I've been AC all my boolits and now mixing with 50% pure lead and pewter so I get some mushrooming and energy transfer.

I started out the same...wanted the hardest boolit possible and now want to shoot the softest I can get away with and keep good accuracy.

I was shooting 7-7.5bh hp boolits in my 44 rifle at 1675 fps that were GC and PC with no leading. I'm sure your lead will be harder.

Just make sure to slug your barrel, size your boolits .001 bigger, PC them, and shoot away. Tried this with my first boolit and shot a group of 1.1" at a 100 yards with my 450 bushmaster.

If you haven't picked up any powder yet don't waste your time with harbor freight if you tumble...it dosent stick. Order some blue, red, purple, or green from smoke. They have tumbled best for me. Check some of my newbee posts from June when I first started ...it will probably answer a lot of your questions and you can see how well this green pea can PC.

[Dow.tom]

So using ra get scrap for 9mm I should just AC,coat, load? Or AC,coat WQ, load?

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[Tripplebeards]

Either way...the hardness will be the same. Dosent make a difference.

...and size your bullet before you load. Get a Lee sizer die in the correct diameter to run them through. If they are not properly sized your going to get poor accuracy and barrel leading. The Lee sizer die will run you approx $20-$25 on eBay

[Dow.tom]

Rger that

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[Tripplebeards]

Did you slug your bore?

[Dow.tom]

I have not. Can I use one of my cast bullets to slug it? I'm not looking for maximum accuracy.. more so practical accuracy for IDPA

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[Tripplebeards]

Right, but if the boolit is smaller than your barrel your going to have tons of lead fowling in it. How I make a slug...I melt fishing sinkers and split shot...pure soft lead. I either pile it up in an empty shell and tap it out with a bullet puller or cast a boolit. Then softly tap it all the way through your barrel and measure the outside diameter. For ex. If it measures .356 you need a .357 sizer die. There really isn't too much to slugging but it's a must.

[Walter Laich]

you can also take one of your cast bullets and squeeze it in a vice to 'fatten' it up; use that to check bore size

and no one said you can't do this several times to develop some multiple data points (always good to see if you can get repeatable results)

It's not hard and well worth it. a bit of lube or oil first helps too

[Grmps]

I'll cast a round ball using pure lead to slug bores with. An easy way is to get the right sized barrel fishing weight, lube it, tap it flush to the barrel of your firearm using non maring (plastic, leather or wood) then drive it though the barrel. An brass (or aluminum) rod (to prevent damaging the rifiling) is recommended to tap the lead through. I have used wood dowels cut in 8 inch lengths BUT you must be 100% sure they are straight grained so they don't shear and stick in your barrel. If you don't use pure lead you'll have a harder time driving the boolit through. If you use a metal hammer, protect the end of your barrel so you don't accidently hit it (you can drill a hole in a piece of wood, use a thik non maring washere/spacer, hold your fingers there or ?

Welcome to the forum.

[Walter Laich]

there have been some horror stories about wooden dowels breaking inside the barrels and jamming up

when I used them I would wrap each end with a bunch of thread and superglue everything. Idea was to keep them from breaking from the ends. Always seemed to work but each time is another test of my theory

[Tripplebeards]

I use a Phillips screw driver for my pistols and start the same to drive into my rifles and then use a cleaning rod to push all the way through. ..or an arrow. Just go slow and stay centered...its not a race. And make sure to use pure soft lead.

[Smoke4320]

I'm a newbee...started this year to. When you PC reheating your boolits takes away the WQ hardness...even if you WQ again. I tried it and tested with my Lee BH tester. My WQCOWW had a BH of 33. After I PC'd and immediately WQ again in ice wAter my boolits tested a BH of 15. Both tests were a month after the process.

I did a AC COWW test of 14.3 BH with the same lead boolits. So basically my PC WQ boolits didn't gain much more hardness...if any. You can get away with lower BH when you PC and also if you use a GC.

I have also learned that I don't need over a 15 BH for any application literally for any caliber out there lately. I've been AC all my boolits and now mixing with 50% pure lead and pewter so I get some mushrooming and energy transfer.

I started out the same...wanted the hardest boolit possible and now want to shoot the softest I can get away with and keep good accuracy.

I was shooting 7-7.5bh hp boolits in my 44 rifle at 1675 fps that were GC and PC with no leading. I'm sure your lead will be harder.

Just make sure to slug your barrel, size your boolits .001 bigger, PC them, and shoot away. Tried this with my first boolit and shot a group of 1.1" at a 100 yards with my 450 bushmaster.

If you haven't picked up any powder yet don't waste your time with harbor freight if you tumble...it dosent stick. Order some blue, red, purple, or green from smoke. They have tumbled best for me. Check some of my newbee posts from June when I first started ...it will probably answer a lot of your questions and you can see how well this green pea can PC.

Very good advice on the water dropping and alloy hardness.
By PC' ing you can shoot softer alloys
Below 2000 fps almost all my bullets are 49/49/2 alloy coww/pb/hsb
Above 2000 I switch to 98/2 coww/hsb and gas checks

[Smoke4320]

Another tip if you have been shooting lubed bullets most times you will need to rework your loads as pc bullets will shoot about 4% faster. Sometimes this will change the harmonics

[Dow.tom]

Thanks everyone. I went and air cooled then coated. I have quite a few loads made up and will be chronoing Sunday.

This is my first time shooting PC.

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[Rcmaveric]

I use the same bullet powder coated in 9mm with range scraps. Works like a champ. If you have any leading issues just sizer bigger. I size to .357

[Tripplebeards]

They look good! Did you ever slug your barrel and size your boolit .001 over so you won't get any leading?