Wax lubing Hi-Tek coated boolits

[514parts]

I have some 230 grain round nose and wondering if anyone has wax lubed boolits after coating. Why or why not should you do it?

[Rcmaveric]

I have tumbled lubes PCes bullets when they caused leading. It temporily solved that problem while I investigated the issue to create a perminent solution.

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[popper]

works fine. LLA, BL,veggie oil, anything.

[Grmps]

514parts, Welcome to CastBoolits

HiTek coating is an excellent lube and adding more lube is not needed.

Like Popper said you can add anything you want to them if so inclined.

Curious why you would want to add lube to these boolits, are they not shooting well or leading your barrel?

[514parts]

Thanks for the input. I will give it a try.

[514parts]

514parts, Welcome to CastBoolits

HiTek coating is an excellent lube and adding more lube is not needed.

Like Popper said you can add anything you want to them if so inclined.

Curious why you would want to add lube to these boolits, are they not shooting well or leading your barrel?

I’m not really getting leading I’m leaning more towards the coating fouling my barrel. You really have to scrub it to get it out. I could be wrong but I thought some wax lube might help.

All my boolits have passed the rub and smash test. I regularly recover lead from underneath steel plates that still has all the coating on it. I’ve also dug misses out of the berm that still look like new except for rifling marks. I’m at a loss as to what is fouling my barrel so thought some conventional lube might help?

[Grmps]

Have you slugged your barrel and ire the boolits at least 1 to 1.5 thousandths over that measurement?

Some people size their cast boolits up to 3 thousandths over slugged diameter dependant on the hardness of the lead alloy and how fast they are pushing them.

A coat of lube should help but you really need to figure out the cause.

HiTek has been used commercially for over 25 years and if the coating passes the tests then it's not the coating.

[514parts]

I’m at 1 thousands over right now. I’ll try to experiment with sizing a little bigger.
I really like the Hi -Tek and I’m not ready to give up on it yet. My main concern right now is not to have to remelt the 1000+ I have ready to load if I can help it.

[dikman]

In my club we generally size to 2 thou over. If the coating is passing the smash test, with no flaking whatsoever, then I don't see how it's coming off in the bore. What exactly are you shooting - calibre, powder, how many fps?

[514parts]

I’m shooting 45 acp, 4.5 grains of Bullseye powder and it’s a Lyman #452374 mold. OAL and all the data is coming out of the Lyman 4th edition cast book.
I haven’t ran any of these over a chronograph but they are right in the middle of the load data with low FPS being listed at 680 FPS and high end being 815 FPS.

[fredj338]

The entire point of coating, either HT or PC, is to get away from the smoky/messy lubes. So no, don't plan to try either.

[dikman]

Well, you're not pushing the coating past it's limits so it shouldn't be flaking through firing, and the recovered lead indicates that the coating is doing it's job and sticking to the lead. What makes you think it's the coating that's coming off in the barrel?

[514parts]

I’m guessing that it is because it’s the only thing that was different. I’ve used this boolit and load for quit a while with conventional lube and never had a problem. I just ordered three different colors and coated some this weekend. All I had before was black and the directions gave a different mix ratio with that color. I’m hoping to get out tomorrow and try some of the black cherry and copper ones from this weekend. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

[Grmps]

OK let's go to the basics.

Check your oven temperature with 2 oven thermometers set on the middle of the shelf you will be baking on, adjust temperature setting until both thermometers read 400°F (200°C) [almost all coutertop ovens are off.]
use less than 1 mil per pound on the first bake and 1 mil per pound on the second bake
swirl no more than 20 seconds (if the sound starts to change you've gone to long) they should be dumped damp
dry coating COMPLETELY ( I put the trays on a rack in front of a fan)
after dry, Warm/dry them 10 min on top of the oven.
Bake 12 min. if the boolit coating gets dark shorten the bake time ( it's still OK to shoot dark coating)

ps love the black cherry

[Ausglock]

I All I had before was black and the directions gave a different mix ratio with that color. .

The mix ratio for the powdered hitek is the same across all colours.
20gms to 100mls Acetone.

What ratio have you been given?

If the coating was coming off in your barrel, you have not coated correctly, and you will not remove it easily.

[dikman]

If they're passing the smash test then it's a little perplexing. I had a batch that didn't pass (I put it on too thick) and, while annoying, it was good because it showed me what it looks like. I had tiny little flakes coming off on my fingers when I picked up the smashed one and rubbed it - is that what's coming out of the barrel?

[DerekP Houston]

I've done it with BLL. I had some 9mm rounds in particular that didn't get a good coating and seemed I couldn't get them to not lead no matter what. 2 light coats of bll and they shot just fine and cleaned up quick. Salvaged a whole ton of bullets that I really didn't want to melt and recast.

[514parts]

OK let's go to the basics.

Check your oven temperature with 2 oven thermometers set on the middle of the shelf you will be baking on, adjust temperature setting until both thermometers read 400°F (200°C) [almost all coutertop ovens are off.]
use less than 1 mil per pound on the first bake and 1 mil per pound on the second bake
swirl no more than 20 seconds (if the sound starts to change you've gone to long) they should be dumped damp
dry coating COMPLETELY ( I put the trays on a rack in front of a fan)
after dry, Warm/dry them 10 min on top of the oven.
Bake 12 min. if the boolit coating gets dark shorten the bake time ( it's still OK to shoot dark coating)

ps love the black cherry

I shoot 250 of the Black cherry coated boolits today and had no problems at all. Came home and ran a few patches and a nylon brush and the bore was clean as a whistle.

I appreciate the tips especially the dumping while still damp. I have not been doing that. I wait till the sound changes and then dump.

I also shoot some of the black coated boolits with the lube and they smoked just like regular old cast lead but didn’t foul the barrel. It’s possible the mix ratio is what is my problem. Im going to go see what the ratio that was written on the directions when I bought the black powder. That could very well be my problem I suppose.

[514parts]

The mix ratio for the powdered hitek is the same across all colours.
20gms to 100mls Acetone.

What ratio have you been given?

If the coating was coming off in your barrel, you have not coated correctly, and you will not remove it easily.

There was a page added to the instructions and on the last page it reads.

“With the black k15 I have found that using standard mixing ratio produces a coating that is too thick.
Instead of using 20 grams of powder to 100 ml of acetone I suggest using 10-12 grams of k15 to 100 ml of acetone.

Ratio can be adjusted up or down as you see fit. “

This is what I did and stuck with 10 grams because everything I have read says thin is better. I don’t know if this was the problem but I guess it could be.

Thanks everyone for the time and information.

[Ausglock]

I use the K15 Black to cover the experimental colours that HITEK Joe sends.
20gms to 100 is my mix ratio. and use 6mls of the mixed coating to 2.5Kg of bullets.
never had any issues with any colour at this mix ratio.

I have heard of people doing a 20gms to 120mls Acetone. But never what you have stated.