Pc harder????

[abunaitoo]

Does PC coating make the boolet harder?????
It seems like it's harder.
Could it just be the coating makes it seem harder????

[Toymaker]

It's the coating.
I was having issues with the bullet being "peeled" as it engaged the rifling. It left splinters in the bore. Changing to ever harder allow didn't work. Not even Lyman #2. So I went to PC - issue resolved.

[cwlongshot]

The PC itself does nothing for hardness or softness. Im sure different compositions of the coating as harder or softer than one another. I can say for certain some manufacturers/colors size more and less difficult.

BUT the process of applying powdercoat, meaning 20m @ 400degrees can remove hardness!! BUT even that is determinant on the amount of antimony thats in your allow. Read up on tempering.

I always quench my PC bullets in an effort to quell as much softening as i can.

CW

[mattellis2]

So out of the oven, into water, rather than air cooling?

I do water drop my bullets from the mold to try to harden them a bit.

[Conditor22]

PC puts a tough polymer coating on the boolits it does no affect the hardness of the boolit unless you water quenched after you cast then PCing would remove what you gained from water quenching. If you water quench after PCing you can gain some of that hardness back.

There is a time and a place for water quenching, maybe +P for handgun and hot rifle rounds if you only have COWW to work with

many people cast with much harder alloy than they need to, the reason commercial caster use 16 BHN alloy is so the boolits don't get damaged in shipping.

[cwlongshot]

YUP!!

I used ta cast mostly lino cause I had so much.

Now with powder coating, I shoot for 10/12 for handguns and 14/16 for rifle. Ill cast some real Hard for “special occasions”. But 75% of mine are 12BHN. NO leading worries and by and large I dont need gas checks!!

[fredj338]

The bullet wont be harder but the PC can be harder than the alloy. So you get basically a thin jacket.

[fredj338]

So out of the oven, into water, rather than air cooling?

I do water drop my bullets from the mold to try to harden them a bit.

IMO, if you are baking on the 400deg range for 15-20m, it is undoing your water quenching out of the mold. So I air cool the bullets then water quench out of the oven after baking the coating. Filing off the nose, I get about 3-4bhn bump from the air cooled.

[mattellis2]

Do you have a hardness tester, or is it a swag?

[fredj338]

Do you have a hardness tester, or is it a swag?

I have a Cabin Tree hardness tester. Posting a WAG is kinda stupid. A 3-4bhn is based on range scrap so that can vary. If you are using a diff alloy, then you will get a diff result.

[abunaitoo]

I will start water cooling after PCing.
I would air cool them, but noticed that they were a little softer.

[mattellis2]

Good to know. Fred, thanks for your input/guidance.

[oconeedan]

Let me ask an opposite question...can PC allow using pure lead for hunting loads? And would point of impact / accuracy be similar to PC ww?
Thinking about big bore moderate velocity boolits...44 mag, 45-70 at 1200 fps. Practice with ww, hunt with pure lead.
Dan

[glaciers]

I've read a fair amount about powder coating and I think I've got it down I'm thinking I'm going to try my first batch this weekend. But, I'm liking the idea of softer bullets, say not water quenched. If I quench I will drop straight from the oven.
The question I have is if a boolit is about 12 - 13 brindle hardness and PC'ed, can you push them faster then a regular lubed boolit of the same hardness.
Now if I'm looking for a tougher boolit, I'll make a harder boolit by heat treating or adding supper hard or foundry lead. By the way my base melt is COWW.
I just like the idea or possibility of "bump up" to seal and still not strip, and expand. Main interest is in rifle cartridges like 35 Rem, 30-40, 348, 32 SPL, maybe even a even a sweet old 03-A3 30-06. I will be shooting heavy for caliber boolits mostly.