mvintx,
If you search YouTube under Whistler Sweden, you will see that he simply shake off the access powder, then dump them in a tray lined with a silicon baking sheet, and straight into the oven.
I am not sure if I can post the link here....but if you search you will find the video in no time.
With my next batch, I will try that and let you know how that works out.
I use steel hardware 1/4" grill cloth homemade trays. After I shake in powder I dump the bullets on the grill cloth tray over a plastic bin. The bin catches the excess powder that falls through and the bullets are ready to bake. I also preheat the raw cast bullets for 2 minutes to 180 degrees before shaking in the powder. The powder coats better without the need for beads and sorting out.Originally Posted by hermans
BTW I bought the steel grill cloth at True Value Hardware.
Looked at the video and as I keep saying, people that are using the dump method to work are under-curing the polymer. His 180C is not equal to 400F degrees and as far as I can see that temperature was not verified then there is the timing, most powders manufactures are now saying 12 minutes once the substraight, not air temperature, reaches 400F.
180C is very close to 400F.
I bought 1 of those silicone mini ice cube trays with 160 cubes on Amazon, and it works great for my .25 cal and .30 cal boolits. Not so much for .44's, but they can stand up on their own anyway!
It's all chicken, even the beak!
I found silicone "trivets" on eBay that have little 1/4" squares. They work perfectly for the 22lr boolits that I do. I would imagine they would work with any .223" or .224" boolits. I stand them up in the little squares and the contact area does not cause any harm.
Yup, they are underbaking the polymer. It still works fine for our purposes These coatings only have to survive one trip down the barrel. The boolits still pass the hammer test and the coating in intact at the target.
Jim
"The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity." - Thomas Jefferson 1803
Is anyone actually measuring the temperature of their bullets while in the oven? Seems like everyone is using a PID is oven thermometer which is measuring air temp not the temp of the bullets.
Be interesting to know how SNS Casting or other pc and hi-tek coating bullet makers measure temp. I can’t see a way they measure temp of the actual bullet. Wouldn’t be cost effective time wise. They probably figured to just add 5-10% time in oven over paint manufacturer guidelines for cure.
I'm a few miles from Jim & Ryan ( SNS Casting ) I'll ask them next time I stop in. Just getting into PC myself so will be interested in knowing their process.
How can you tell you're under curing polymer? I've baked mine at 350 and 400F and works fine either way, I also tried 12 to 20 minutes and it was fine too. The only time I had problem is when I used Elvis Ammo low heat method at 275, it all looked good but I could scratch the PC off with fingernail
Measuring the bullet temp is easy. Go to Amazon,buy a digital thermometer with a thermocouple. Drill a hole in a coated bullet secure the thermocouple in the bullet. I use high heat aluminum tape. I am sure there a other ways to do it. Put the bullet in when you bake your bullets. The thermocouple is thin enough it won't interfere with the door closing. Whatever your powder calls for,set a countdown timer. Example. if your powder is a ten minute at 400 f, set your timer to ten minutes. When your bullets reach 400 F start your timer. These thermometers are not expensive and they react instantly to temp change. Everybody does it different. Try different things,see what works for you.
Last edited by slide; 04-26-2020 at 02:31 PM. Reason: more info
Boolits !!!!! Does that mean what I think it do? It do!
Slide is right it is so easy and inexpensive to pickup a cheap $7 digital K-type thermometer and a couple extra k-probes off Amazon. Aluminium tape is easy.
I just cast the end of the probe wire into the cavity of a bullet. Make a couple and you can check several places in the oven, by switching the probes or getting a multi-probe digital thermometer.
Why guess when it is so easy to measure and know? This way if you change something like an oven, the number of trays or the pounds of bullets you still don't have to guess at the bullet temperature and when to start timing.
I agree. The silicone sheets are great. I did one batch with the foil, but next was done with a silicone sheet. I cut it in half and then clipped the corners.
These are some of my 45-70 casts.
I started out with NSAF then parchment paper, then silicone mats and finally to copper grilling mats, which are by far the best I’ve used. I’ve had paint build up on the silicone mats. They worked fine when new but then paint gradually built up and caused a lot of sticking issues. When the bullets do pull off there is a much larger base around the bullets and they wouldn’t fall through my bullet feeder plates and output tubes. Now the bullets literally fall off the copper mats with absolutely zero sticking or build up. I’ve got close to 100K on them and they still look like new. I think they are Yoshi brand if I remember correctly?
Just checked out "grill mats" ...Ordered me some from eBay for $1.15 each.
Looks like the best solution yet...thanks for sharing.
Just started into the PC process and tumble and dump. Started with standing them but that was to time consuming and frustrating for me never did find a good tool to use to handle them. After a few loads my Amazon mats did start to build up. Trying the grill mats next. Thanks!
I use needle nose pliers to stand my boolits up or to just place them in one of those 160 space mini-ice cube trays made from silicone. For .44 cal boolits, I too, find it too time consuming and simply shake all the excess powder off by placing them in a food strainer that you can steal from your wife when she's not looking, and shake the heck outta them. Then I dump them on a tray lined with parchment paper and they don't stick together and resemble peanut brutal when they come outta the oven.
It's all chicken, even the beak!
I’ve been standing mine [.45’s usually] up on aluminum trays after pc, cooking them and when they’re done I drop the whole tray into my water quench. I use a 5 gal water cooler jug. The drop and temp change knocks most off the tray. I might have to knock a few off.
I wear a surgical glove to pick up the boolits. Does not take any powder off. And I set them on a heavy baking pan lined with a silicon sheet. 400 deg. for 20 minutes and out come perfectly coated boolits.
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