Of the three companies I am aware of, which do you recommend for PC?

[honus]

If Smoke doesn't offer it, I'd stay away from the color for shake-n-bake. This may sound strange but some colors have different attributes. Smokes "Clear" and his "Bacon Grease" are consistently shooting the best groups my brother and I have ever had in our 38-55s, 45-70s, 45-90s etc. In the 358 Winchester, I've had consistent <MOA groups with "Bacon Grease". Now I'm playing with the 300 AACs and Smoke's "Clear".
Smokes carries a quality product and is there to answer questions if you have problems.

[barnabus]

I tried quite a few colors from smoke.
All worked well.

I've settled on smoke's clear.

Goes on white, cures clear.

All I use now.

Same here.I love the clear.cant tell its powder coated.

[Eddie1971]

I'll have to look into this Smokes powder coat. I have only used Harbor Freight Red, and black as well as my current go to, Eastwood Ford Blue, which is the best out of my limited variety. I also do shake and bake and have seen no difference in coverage with humidity, or temps using that. I used some HF red for the first time in years the other day, and it's not nearly half as good as Eastwood's the way I powder coat.

[Dragonheart]

I'll have to look into this Smokes powder coat. I have only used Harbor Freight Red, and black as well as my current go to, Eastwood Ford Blue, which is the best out of my limited variety. I also do shake and bake and have seen no difference in coverage with humidity, or temps using that. I used some HF red for the first time in years the other day, and it's not nearly half as good as Eastwood's the way I powder coat.

I didn't recommend Smoke's powder because I think it is the best powder you can buy. Companies like Prismatic and MIT make excellent powders for professional use and if you know what you are buying or want to experiment they have thousands of colors and finishes that give beautiful and unusual results. I recommend Smoke's for Shake & Bake because he and hundreds of others have tested his powders for coating bullets and know it works. So when you first get into PC there is a simple way to get a powder you know will work. Once you learn the simple technique and get the PC process down then by all means experiment to your heart's desire. I personally tried HF Red once and was not pleased with the results, since by then I had the PC process down and I knew HF was not a quality power like I had been using.

[Eddie1971]

I didn't recommend Smoke's powder because I think it is the best powder you can buy. Companies like Prismatic and MIT make excellent powders for professional use and if you know what you are buying or want to experiment they have thousands of colors and finishes that give beautiful and unusual results. I recommend Smoke's for Shake & Bake because he and hundreds of others have tested his powders for coating bullets and know it works. So when you first get into PC there is a simple way to get a powder you know will work. Once you learn the simple technique and get the PC process down then by all means experiment to your heart's desire. I personally tried HF Red once and was not pleased with the results, since by then I had the PC process down and I knew HF was not a quality power like I had been using.

You have a link to this brand?

[Smoke4320]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raying-bullets

first post has all the info

[Conditor22]

I agree with dragon heart. there are a multitude of brands and colors that will work well for dry tumble method. Smokes sells powders that he has tried and found to work with this method except for the flat black.

I have found that the polyester PC's in a gloss or high-gloss work well for me. White, yellow and some of the lighter colors can be problematic.

There is a thread of what powders work where people post the colors/powders they have used and found to work.

How well a powder works can depend on the relative humidity and how much static you can create swirling.

some powders will work better/easier than others.

[Walks]

I started with HF red, did 20 shake and bake. TERRIBLE.

Tried Smoke's Sampler with Carolina Blue, Flame Red and John Deere Green. Came with Black BB's. WORKED Wonderfully Fantastic.

Tried Eastwood Squirrel Gray, worked well.

[flydad]

Smokes clear will cover the most IMHO , with Carolina Blue a close second.

[fcvan]

I tried Harbor Freight Black with an HF espc gun and black is beautiful. Never tried other HF colors. When I started ASBBPC I started with Prismatic. Shipping for me was overnight and reasonable, or I could order for pickup as they were 120 miles away. I still occasionally use a PC gun, I just switched to a Chinese knock-off of the Sears blow dryer type gun. The only time I ESPC boolits is for 30 cal and sometimes .224 cal because I had made jigs for the GC boolit design boolits.

I mostly abandoned ESPC for reloading after creating a workable ASBBPC regimen. I still use the 'blow dryer' type PC gun, only for a blend of powders that gave me an FMJ copper color, only used for demonstration purposes but prefer black. I have 6 different Prismatic Black colors obtained while searching a flat black like HF. Even their Prismatic 'satin' looked dripping wet when coated. Anyway, ASBBPC works great with Prismatic solid colors, the 'copper color' came out like copper camouflage, even coating, just not even color coating.

I mixed a bunch of colors to get my 'FMJ' boolits which require ESPC. I only shoot them once a year when re-qualifying as a retired LEO. The .308 rounds look good FMJ but I prefer my basic black 150GC Spitzer from NOE. Well, I am partial to Tecate Green which is my Zombie Green go-to. Every zombie I've shot was a one stop shot. Okay, I haven't shot any zombies but you know. If it is coated, it shoots well. I actually use different colors to differentiate loads for this rifle vs another. Pistols don't care, rifles often have better optics. Pigs die when shot with a 1911, lubed or PCd, I still have thousands of rounds that used 19th century lube which are shot first, followed by a mag of ASBBPC at the end of the day. Nothing cleaner at the end of the day than a bore that last saw PC boolits.

[fredj338]

I'll have to look into this Smokes powder coat. I have only used Harbor Freight Red, and black as well as my current go to, Eastwood Ford Blue, which is the best out of my limited variety. I also do shake and bake and have seen no difference in coverage with humidity, or temps using that. I used some HF red for the first time in years the other day, and it's not nearly half as good as Eastwood's the way I powder coat.

Sooner than later. HF powder is really crap. All of Smokes powders will work better & may be cheaper in the long run as you use less.