Stand up or dump

[johnho]

I don't PC rifle bullets but only some pistol ones. I tried standing them up and it was too time consuming so tried dumping them. much faster. I spread them out a bit so none are on top of another. Sure there is a very tiny spot sometimes. I shoot them at 20 yards or less and don't see any difference in accuracy, who would at 20 yards handheld anyway?

[Budzilla 19]

Stand up the rifle, use a grid rack,dump the pistol except for the 310 grains .44 caliber slugs, they will stand on their own!!!!! Just me though.

[AndyC]

I stand my rifle boolits and dump the handgun; I'm not standing up hundreds of 9mm/45s and they don't have to win any beauty contests either.

[Old School Big Bore]

I'm a couple pages from finishing the big 138 page primary PC thread. So far all I have is HF matte black powder (tried mixing HF white with it to extend them but yecch). I have tried wet shaking in an old smokeless powder jug and dry vibratumbling with Airsoft BBs; I have no ES gun yet. When I tried dumping with the wet method, I got an inseparable clump; it broke apart but the boolits looked horrid. When I stood the wet up, I got fins of PC around the bases. The best results I have obtained were with dry ASBB tumbling, using nitrile gloves to stand them on the silicone, BUT when I tried preheating the boolits to get the powder to stick better, the powder in the tumbler immediately glommed onto the boolits and the boolits to each other, so that was 100 slugs I had to remelt. Luckily I had to make some alloy anyway, so they went in with the wheelweight and pewter ingots.
Just FYI, I am sizing pre- and post- PC for the reasons given by Beagle - why stress the PC when you have to size an oversize boolit several thousandths to start with, when you can hit your goal or slimmer OD first, and then only have the stress of squeezing the PC a thousandth or two? At first I sprayed a little One Shot pre-PC and rinsed it off with acetone, and sprayed the PCd boolits again before the post-sizing, but have decided to skip that step as unneccesary. Also, I have tried single and double coats, and with the dry BB vibratumble, one coat seems to give good enough coverage.
Cool tip for dry method: the same small-mesh disposable grilling screens (BBQ section of the supermarket) that I originally bought for draining the wet ones, works SUPER for straining the BBs out of the dry ones as well. A little agitation puts the powder and BBs right through into the pan I use for recovery. I was also gonna use that mesh for lining the baking tray but it just made too nasty of an imprint on the wet ones while draining & drying them, so I didn't want the dry method boolits sticking to the mesh when the PC melted. Next step, get some higher quality powder from Smoke if he's still selling it. I still have 14 pages to read so IDK what everyone's current status is yet. Good luck with your PCing.
Ed <><

[downzero]

I dump. I would have to touch them or use tweezers to stand them up, and that just takes the powder off anyway. If I wanted them to win a beauty contest, I'd coat them twice--both times by the "dump" method. I do shake the screen to spread them out, though.

[swheeler]

I used to stand them up, pistol and rifle, now I just dump the pistol and still stand the rifle.

[Petander]

I tried to stand these up for hours and eventually gave up. Just too much work.

Dumped and baked on a mesh,only a couple got stuck.

[Budzilla 19]

Petander, good one!!! I have some fresh cast buckshot, and I am going to try some pc .

[JM7.7x58]

I’ve been using clear PC. I Dump onto a wire basket. Single layer. Water drop. Blemishes don’t affect accuracy. With clear PC you can’t see blemishes easily unless you inspect closely.

People I respect have done accuracy tests. Dumped vs Stood up. They can’t tell a difference.

Blemishes don’t bother me when I cannot see them. That’s why I use clear PC.

JM

[clum553946]

I dump bullets for practice ammo, stand up for match ammo for pistol.

[dverna]

I do not PC but offer some advice anyway.

Like most of these discussions, there is too little information being offered by people wanting to help you out. What they do ONLY matters if it applies to your needs. But here is my "take'

9mm pistols bullets are rarely used for high accuracy applications. Standing them up makes no sense. If you are shooting 200 a month, the time "wasted' does not matter. If you shoot 1000 a month, and this is a "chore", it does matter.

There are enough guys dumping them and getting serviceable bullets that I would dump 9mm and see how they work. Why dink around and get anal about it. Try 200 and see for yourself. The risk is low and the ease of getting the job done is high. Plus you are using a good powder (Smoke has great reviews), so that is working for you.

If "pretty" matters, stand them up to get the best looking bullets.

I am a KISS person...pretty is low on my list of needs...at least with bullets.

[fredj338]

I dump. I would have to touch them or use tweezers to stand them up, and that just takes the powder off anyway. If I wanted them to win a beauty contest, I'd coat them twice--both times by the "dump" method. I do shake the screen to spread them out, though.

It actually doesnt remove powder. The powder flows as it becomes liquid. Any small bare spot will cover up. I stand mine up, dont care for them sticking together, it does often put a flaw where I dont want it. I use plastic cartridge box jig, drop the bullets in nose first using large tweezers like chop sticks. I can fill a 150rd tray in 9-10min. I fill trays while I bake so not much down time.

[William Yanda]

Read the thread. Best tip I have gathered so far is to use a plastic insert from a cartridge box to stand up bullets. May give the best of both worlds, simple with good looking results.
I am more of a KISS guy than a perfectionist. Does it work? is the major question.

[Dragonheart]

If you are first starting out, you have already made a smart move by getting a powder from Smoke that we know will work, so if there is a problem it is not the powder. Now why not keep being smart and do what we know will give you the best bullets you are going to get and that is stand the bullets up, preferably on a silicon mat. As long as you have non-contaminated bullets, get a good even coating, tap off any excess and cure properly you should have bullets about as good as it gets. After that if you want to accept lesser quality it is up to you.

[bearhawk]

I’ve been using clear PC. I Dump onto a wire basket. Single layer. Water drop. Blemishes don’t affect accuracy. With clear PC you can’t see blemishes easily unless you inspect closely.

People I respect have done accuracy tests. Dumped vs Stood up. They can’t tell a difference.

Blemishes don’t bother me when I cannot see them. That’s why I use clear PC.

JM

I'm the newest PC'er probably today. Yesterday was Christmas and I got the stuff to PC so I did some yesterday afternoon and this morning (over 2k rounds). I did both dump and the standup routine. These were all with .40 170gr pistol boolits.

I found with the PBTP Super Durable High Gloss Clear I can lump and dump large batches (as in a few layers thick). As JM stated you can't see the imperfections. The bad of this powder I have is it acts like glue for me gluing lots of boolits together. I found if I put the cooled boolits into a 5 gallon bucket and shake it up and down that all the other loose boolits break apart the stuck ones. Of several hundred in the bucket I only had 2 stuck after shaking.

Using PBTP Super Durable Wet Black, standing them up produces a nicer looking product. I did do both with this powder. What I did find slick though was I also tried the Elvis low temp method with a water quench and my powders did not like that. I could still scratch off the PC with my nail if I tried a little. The hammer smash test failed. I then stood up the boolits on silicone sheets and recooked them at the 400F for 20 minutes and they were fine. The good about trying this is standing them up after the low temp was so easy with no gloves as the powder was stuck enough to handle no problem. If you are a stander-upper this method is clean as you just lump and dump at 250F for 12 minutes, water quench, then do the stand up routine.

All this advice is what you paid for from a 24 hour old Powder Coater.

Bearhawk

[Conditor22]

As far as I know, Elvis isn't a chemical engineer! Don't get me wrong, he does come up with some good ideas, but as you found not following the manufacturers' instructions can get you in trouble.

Not all powders work well in the dump and bake method, none work well IF you don't remove all the excess PC before you dump and bake.

[blikseme300]

I’ve been using clear PC. I Dump onto a wire basket. Single layer. Water drop. Blemishes don’t affect accuracy. With clear PC you can’t see blemishes easily unless you inspect closely.

People I respect have done accuracy tests. Dumped vs Stood up. They can’t tell a difference.

Blemishes don’t bother me when I cannot see them. That’s why I use clear PC.

JM

I can tell the difference when used in HV rifle at ranges beyond 200 yards. I sort my CB's prior to coating and stand them up for baking after coating using an ESPC gun. YMMV but I spend the additional seconds to ensure the best possible projectiles for my rifle loads.

[mike4045]

I have just done the dumping method for my pc bullets, for the shooting I am doing with them( pistol practice) I have not seen any accuracy issues to speak of.

[Petander]

I stand up PC...



... and dump Hi Tek. Hi Tek bullets never stick to each other,the whole system is designed for large amounts of bullets being dumped.

[Ky-Dave]

I’m just now getting into casting and the PC stuff. I called over to PBTP today and asked them about the differences in all their formulations. The guy advised me that for my purposes (shake and bake) I should look for colors in the RAL line. Is that just common knowledge here? I think I’ll place an order soon.
David