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Thread: Powder Coated Boolit Weights

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy jeepvet's Avatar
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    Powder Coated Boolit Weights

    I am one of those OCD guys that weighs every boolit after casting and separates into groups + or - .5gr. I tend to think that if I shoot boolits of roughly the same weight I will get better groups than if their is 2-3gr difference over the group.

    The last batch of boolits that I cast were all weighed, placed in their own containers and powder coated different colors for each weight. After coating I went back and re-weighed just to see how much difference there was. Mind you that I am just using a little Frankfort Arsenal electronic scale to weight these boolits, but it seems to be at least fairly accurate. I was pretty surprised to find out that one coat of powder added about .5gr weight to each 45ACP boolit. Now I know that .5gr is not very much, especially on a 233gr boolit, but that was a surprise. I just keep thinking how much difference .5gr powder makes inside the case, but it makes very little difference outside the case. That is of coarse if you don't think about lubrication, leading, smokeless, less cleaning and better accuracy.

    Fortunately I only greased boolits for a short time before I found Powder Coating. Thank You to all who have pioneered and perfected this technique. And thanks for sharing all of our experience with those of us with less imagination.
    "Nothing is more uncommon than common sense." Benjamin Franklin

  2. #2
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    I do the same when I am working up a load. Actually, you can weigh/sort a lot of bullets pretty fast. One thing weighing does do and that is show up a bullet that wasn't completely filled out.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy tmanbuckhunter's Avatar
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    I haven't found my PC adds any weight, but then again, I don't weight sort until I PC. Like you, no matter what I do or how consistent I am my boolits always seem to fall within a 3 grain spread. I weigh them, separate them, say 241gr-244gr (boolits in those weight ranges are usually within 3/10ths of each other anyway), and then separate them into sandwich bags, and back into the container they go. Boolits that don't make the cut get remelted PC and all. Like I said, if I have 100 boolits that are in the 241gr. weight range, they are all usually within 3/10ths +/- with a few outliers. I haven't found getting anymore stringent to help with accuracy.

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    I now shoot mainly handguns and when developing a load these are the things I pay most attention to. When I am developing a load I use a plastic tackle box with compartments and separate the bullets into half grain increments, which appears to be accurate enough. I find the vast majority fall in a two grain spread or less. All my molds are 4+ cavity with the majority being H&G and NOE Brass. All cases are same manufacture and trimmed to size: 9mm to .750" and 45 ACP to .893", shorter cases increase the group size. My OAL for each type of bullet is determined by fit to the individual handgun barrel. A handgun's accuracy is just like a rifle, the best accuracy is obtained with the shortest bullet jump to the lands. Finding the best OAL can cut group sizes in half. I use Federal of Winchester primers. I use a lab scale under glass to measure powder and keep the consistency to 5/100 of a grain or less. Load are tested using a Ransom Rest.

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    ANy weight added is pretty uniform from PC. IMO, unless I am shooting bullets past 50y, I never weigh my bullets. Uniformity is great, but unless you can shoot 1" 25y offhand groups, you will never see accuracy advantage from weighing. Unless you are segregating cases by weight, even weighing powder charges will yield little advantage. As to shortest distance to lands, plenty of 38sp will out shoot their owners & that is a huge jump to the lands.
    Some people like to chase numbers as a hobby but I find the targets don't lie. If my hobby were developing loads for a Ransom rest, diff story. It is not though, my shooting hobbies are either hunting or action pistol, mostly shot freehand, though I will rest whenever I can hunting. Why I will weigh those bullets.
    Last edited by fredj338; 10-01-2019 at 02:25 PM.
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    Boolit Buddy jeepvet's Avatar
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    I did not mean to get off on precision handgun shooting. I just thought it was interesting how much weight powder coating adds to a boolit. Last night I weighed all of the 45ACP boolits that I cast that day (about 400) and found that the actual increase in weight after one coat of powder was close to one grain. That stuff is heavier than I thought. If I can keep all of the shots on an 8 1/2 X 11 paper at 25yd, that is enough accuracy for me. But I do seem to notice that a 229gr boolit will hit in a much different place than a 241gr boolit will and occasionally I will get those extremes in a large batch.
    "Nothing is more uncommon than common sense." Benjamin Franklin

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    So as not to confuse I weigh my handgun bullets when I am developing loads, but not usually for my general practice. You are correct, shot placement often changes significantly with different bullet designs even though they may be almost identical in weight.

  8. #8
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    I have found a half grain increase on powder coated 280 grain 375 boolits.

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  9. #9
    Boolit Master redhawk0's Avatar
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    I recently took my 30-30 to the range. I had identical loads of Lee 170 FN powder coat boolits and Sierra 170gr FN bullets. My Lee's weigh in at 172gr (I didn't weigh the Sierra's) So there is about a 2-3gr difference between the jacketed and cast-PC'd.

    I found 1/2" POI difference between the two at 50 yards. I don't worry about the weight difference any longer...the proof was on the paper.

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  10. #10
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    In my load testing of various handgun and rifle loads, PC adds about a 5% increase in velocity due to its superior lubrication.

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    How much weight does lube add and how much stays on the boolit during/after you shoot?

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jeepvet View Post
    I did not mean to get off on precision handgun shooting. I just thought it was interesting how much weight powder coating adds to a boolit. Last night I weighed all of the 45ACP boolits that I cast that day (about 400) and found that the actual increase in weight after one coat of powder was close to one grain. That stuff is heavier than I thought. If I can keep all of the shots on an 8 1/2 X 11 paper at 25yd, that is enough accuracy for me. But I do seem to notice that a 229gr boolit will hit in a much different place than a 241gr boolit will and occasionally I will get those extremes in a large batch.
    About what grease lube adds to a bullet, maybe a bit less? BTW, how much will be determined by the bullet size. Big bullet will gain a bit more than smaller bullets, more surface area.
    Last edited by fredj338; 10-03-2019 at 02:47 PM.
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  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by redhawk0 View Post
    I recently took my 30-30 to the range. I had identical loads of Lee 170 FN powder coat boolits and Sierra 170gr FN bullets. My Lee's weigh in at 172gr (I didn't weigh the Sierra's) So there is about a 2-3gr difference between the jacketed and cast-PC'd.

    I found 1/2" POI difference between the two at 50 yards. I don't worry about the weight difference any longer...the proof was on the paper.

    redhawk
    That is likely nothing to do with the small weight diff but the diff between jacketed & lead. Not at all uncommon for identical wt bullets of diff manuf to shoot to slightly diff POI.
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  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy jeepvet's Avatar
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    These are the 9mm that cast during my last session.
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	9mm cast.jpg 
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ID:	249229
    Hopefully you can see the numbers. Those in the right hand bottom corner are the number of boolits in that weight range. I had about 20 boolits outside of these weights. Most of them were on the heavy side but 2 or 3 were light. I felt pretty good about how these turned out. I will powder coat each weight batch different colors and shoot them as a group and should have pretty good accuracy for that group, but the POI will probably change slightly between each group. I feel sure that there will be a difference at least between the lightest and the heaviest.

    This whole thread started with my partially blown mind about how much weight powder coating added to 45ACP boolits. I expect 9mm to gain about .5gr when I coat them. That just seemed like a lot of added weight from just a little bit of powder but it is what it is. They shoot great and cost a lot less than store bought bullets and I can say' "look what I made. Ain't they Purddy?"

    When I tell people that I cast my own boolits they usually say "REALLY?". And then they ask "Why?" All I can tell them is it is a LOT of work, but it is a lot of FUN. The only part of it that I do not enjoy is not having as much time as I would like to shoot the little boogers. Maybe with retirement that will change.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dragonheart View Post
    I do the same when I am working up a load. Actually, you can weigh/sort a lot of bullets pretty fast. One thing weighing does do and that is show up a bullet that wasn't completely filled out.
    That is very correct .. Was doing this last week and found 3 bullets that were 4 to 6 grains light (air pocket ?). needless to say there would have a difference in POI
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  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master fredj338's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smoke4320 View Post
    That is very correct .. Was doing this last week and found 3 bullets that were 4 to 6 grains light (air pocket ?). needless to say there would have a difference in POI
    Maybe, depends on distance shot. If your gun game guy shooting inside 10-15y, not likely much diff in POI. Why I do weigh bullets to be shot out past 50y, any air pocket will throw a bullet off because it will yaw, not having the weight concentric. Slight variations in weight doesn't really have much affect under 50y, in my exp.
    EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
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  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy tmanbuckhunter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dragonheart View Post
    In my load testing of various handgun and rifle loads, PC adds about a 5% increase in velocity due to its superior lubrication.
    I have found the same.

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I weigh all mine and color code them to 1 grain increments in my 44 and 45 cal rifles. I have also got real anal and tried the EXACT weight boolits and found no accuracy difference at 100 yards between a 1 grain variance and all boolits being the exact same weight. What I have found is as long as I have my GCs seat perfectly even all is great. If I have a boolit I can’t snap a GC on with my fingers and have to force it on with my lee sizer it opens up groups. I have learned to bounce my PC’d boolits in another container to shake off the excess PC so the coating stays thin so I can snap the GCs on manually for a good start to a flat even fit. Clear PC seems to go on thinner, more even, and smoother helping the GC’s go on easier.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 10-09-2019 at 08:25 AM.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by jeepvet View Post
    I did not mean to get off on precision handgun shooting. I just thought it was interesting how much weight powder coating adds to a boolit. Last night I weighed all of the 45ACP boolits that I cast that day (about 400) and found that the actual increase in weight after one coat of powder was close to one grain. That stuff is heavier than I thought. If I can keep all of the shots on an 8 1/2 X 11 paper at 25yd, that is enough accuracy for me. But I do seem to notice that a 229gr boolit will hit in a much different place than a 241gr boolit will and occasionally I will get those extremes in a large batch.
    My goal at 25 yards is to keep all shots in a 6" square, the head of the IDPA target. I can easily do that without weighing bullets. Now that the weather is cooler I'll be back to shooting 500 rounds a week at a minimum. There's no way I can cast, coat, size and load that number of bullets if I take the time to weigh them.

    I have in the past, on a slow day weighed 100 random bullets out of a run of some 800 or so. The variance was less than 1 grain top to bottom or less than +/- 0.5 gr from desired weight.

    There's more variation in the three .45 ACP pistols I shoot than what the difference in bullet weight makes.
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by jeepvet View Post
    I just keep thinking how much difference .5gr powder makes inside the case, but it makes very little difference outside the case. That is of coarse if you don't think about lubrication, leading, smokeless, less cleaning and better accuracy.

    Fortunately I only greased boolits for a short time before I found Powder Coating. Thank You to all who have pioneered and perfected this technique. And thanks for sharing all of our experience with those of us with less imagination.
    Proportions.

    If you're using 5 grains of powder that 0.5 grains is a 10% difference.

    If you're using a 230 gr bullet that 0.5 grains is a 0.2% difference. Or a 50X difference.

    If my powder measure was +/- 0.5 grains I'd find a different powder measure. If my 4 cavity mold was +/- 0.5 grains across the four cavities I'd be dancing in the street.

    Don't obsess about the small stuff, 0.2% is small stuff, 10% isn't.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check