First PC (shake and bake method)

[adcoch1]

Hello all I finally got me a toaster oven and a little bit of time... This is my first pc ever on some of my first cast boolits, I think I'm hooked!

[Buck Butcher]

Yep. It adds another layer to the fun.


Um, could we have a pic!

[adcoch1]

Yes, finally got the pic to show up. So, next question, how to seat gas checks after getting too much pc on the base?...
They actually turned out ok. I used Smoke4320 's powder and black airsoft bb's and ran them at 400 for 25 min. Did a crush test and most of the PC stayed in place so I think it will hold up. I was having trouble getting the gas checks to seat flat on the few I tried to run through the sizer. But it's all new to me, so maybe I need to play with it some more.

Very excited to be making progress😊

[Walks]

Congrats,
Now you'll find another reason to cast even more bullets.

[bmortell]

Congrats, pc is still work but its my funest part of the work. Im excited i got santa bringing me new colors from smoke.

If you mean the gas checks are hard to get on because theres thick spots then you need to hold em in the middle with tweezers or scissors and tap the extra off on the rim of the mixing container. If its still hard to get on with a smooth coating from diameter increase then some people put them on before.

[CamoWhamo]

It depends on the bullet with gas checks.
If they drop from the mold with the shank on the small side i usually seat the gas check afterwards. The coating adds a bit which makes the check a better fit.
With Smoke's powder you don't need a lot. A teaspoon goes a surprisingly long way and when you get the quantity right the coating only adds 1 -2 thou.

If the shank is already tight from the mold, then before coating i put the checks on and push the bullets through a sizer that's the same size or a thou bigger than the mold drops. This is just enough to lightly crimp the check so that it will stay on during the shake'n'bake but not so tight as to smooth out the driving bands of the bullet which could effect the powder coat adhesion.
Coat the bullet with check attached as normal and then size the coated bullet and check to the desired size.

[charlie b]

Congratulations and welcome to the club.

I would ask how you seat them. It is important to seat them squarely with the bore and unless your bases are cast perfectly then the GC will not be square.

I seat the GC with a Lee sizing die and a 1/4" punch (for .30 cal bullets). Put on the GC lightly. Put bullet on the ram and raise until you can just feel resistance. Back off just a tad. Use the punch through the top of the sizing die and 'whack' the nose of the bullet to seat the GC. Sometimes two or three taps are needed. Then remove punch and shove the bullet through the die to size and crimp the GC. Yes, you will get a slight flat spot on pointed or round nose bullets, but, it does not affect bullet flight.

I like to install the GC after PC but it works fine if you do it before PC as well.

When installing after PC it helps if your rack for the bullets is drilled accurately to hold the bullets just by the GC shank portion of the bullet

[adcoch1]

I haven't developed a system to seat them other than to set a pc coated boolit on the ram nose down(Lee sizer here), then set gas check on the bullet shank and run it through the sized upside down. I really like the idea of seating the gas check with a punch, going to try that...

[Big Boomer]

I apply the gas check on gas-check boolits before powder-coating. Then use my Star sizer to fully seat and crimp on the gas checks afterward. Do not lube the boolits with the Star, however. Big Boomer

[frankmako]

i put the gas check on before i coat.

[DHDeal]

Yeah, a GC can be a bear to put on when the PC gets thick. When I started the PC thing a couple years back, I tapped them on with a delrin headed hammer. It worked, but wasted time. Since I have a couple lubesizers (LAM and LAM2), I use them to seat the check. I have a pair of the Lyman gas check seaters on the rod and a quick pull on the ram seats those pesky checks on quick and straight. I consider the straight part more important than the quick part.

I do size the PC'd bullets with a Lee sizer, so I guess I still have too many steps.