Which process should I use? Hi Tek go Powder coat?

[TES]

I thought most of us were in this as a hobby!

I coat 250+ slugs per 30 min with the ES PC gun from HF. I like the finish and ease as which it goes on. No leading, no residue, not extra smoke.

And I can literally drive down the street 2 miles and get a bottle of powder if I run low for $5.50!

My vote is for ES gun PC coating. Have had NO luck at all slopping anything on my boolits in liquid form. I have not tried the Hi-Tek stuff, but until I can buy it locally, I will not use it. I try to keep my money in my State.

bangerjim

Well that's what I meant. I am going to sell these. I need faster production methods than PC can offer.

[xacex]

My vote is also for ES gun PC coating. With a simple jug set up for hollow-points, or gas check shanks, or just sprayed on boolits set of a cookie sheet with non-stick foil. Nice fast one coat application with no mess. I do over 100 in less than 20 minutes, and the PC can be picked up cheap at any HF. No waiting for something to come in stock from over the pond. Plus you can do a huge spectrum of colors!

[xacex]

Well that's what I meant. I am going to sell these. I need faster production methods than PC can offer.

All set up with your 07 FFL, and ITAR huh? Must be nice. Cost to much for me.

[Love Life]

Did I mention how clean the HI-TEK supercoat is?

I tried both the HT and PC. The HI-TEK is better.

$30 toaster/convection oven (has to be a convection oven) from Wal-Mart with a 2 year warranty
1 liter kit of super coat
1 plastic foldgers coffe jug
1 can of acetone
Bug juice (drink brand) bottle for the mixture
Free drying racks from stuff I had in the garage

That is all that is needed. Cast you a whole mess of bullets, let them cool, hit with 1st coat, let dry, bake, hit with second coat, let dry, bake, done.

I cast all through the week and bake on the weekends. I have about 90 lbs of various coated bullets now. I just need to figure out what to do with all this leftover lube...

Oh, and I sold my lyman sizers. Happy!!

[jmort]

"Oh, and I sold my lyman sizers. Happy!!"

You tried PC with acetone/lacquer thinner (I assume) but not ES PC. Right now I'm not inclined to do the ES PC which seems to be the best option if one is willing to do the work. Trying the VHT. Will see what happens.

[TES]

All set up with your 07 FFL, and ITAR huh? Must be nice. Cost to much for me.

No just an 06 FFL and yes ITAR makes my ears burn. I'm not trading internationally yet I have to pay an International trade tax. It's BS all the way. Get this... I called and asked how to pay the "tax" and the person on the other end said " I'm not aware of any tax sir?" I said so I don't have to pay the ITAR tax? He said "oh...yes you have to pay the fee. Its not a tax!"

I'd like to stick an egg beater up that dudes **** and put a wild man on the crank.

[Love Life]

"Oh, and I sold my lyman sizers. Happy!!"

You tried PC with acetone/lacquer thinner (I assume) but not ES PC. Right now I'm not inclined to do the ES PC which seems to be the best option if one is willing to do the work. Trying the VHT. Will see what happens.

Building a jig to powder coat a limited number of bullets with a messy process is really not my idea of a good idea. Why would I take 2 steps back?

[fastglock]

ES PC HANDS DOWN

-one coat
-10 mins bake
-much more colors
-tougher
-choices of brand :HF, PowderByThePound, Eastwood, etc, etc
-choices of powder type: TGIC, Epoxy, Hybrid, high temp


even comparing HiTek vs PC Piglet , I'd go PC Piglet which is cheaper and faster

[xacex]

No just an 06 FFL and yes ITAR makes my ears burn. I'm not trading internationally yet I have to pay an International trade tax. It's BS all the way. Get this... I called and asked how to pay the "tax" and the person on the other end said " I'm not aware of any tax sir?" I said so I don't have to pay the ITAR tax? He said "oh...yes you have to pay the fee. Its not a tax!"

I'd like to stick an egg beater up that dudes **** and put a wild man on the crank.

Its the fee that gets ya. The FFL is not a problem for most, add some insurance, do an LLC, but that fee for ITAR when you are not even selling out of country is a scam.
For bulk production contact Federal. They had the Nyclad which they stopped selling that was basically what we are doing, but on a larger scale. Or, research for someone that worked there and get the run down. Someone has pictures of the equipment somewhere.

For ease of use I think your best bet is coating like Bayou . Hi tek in a cement mixer.

[fastglock]

Building a jig to powder coat a limited number of bullets with a messy process is really not my idea of a good idea. Why would I take 2 steps back?

The idea of building a jig is to take two huge steps forward. Its about getting awesome results. Awesome results is a byproduct of hard work.

[TES]

Its the fee that gets ya. The FFL is not a problem for most, add some insurance, do an LLC, but that fee for ITAR when you are not even selling out of country is a scam.
For bulk production contact Federal. They had the Nyclad which they stopped selling that was basically what we are doing, but on a larger scale. Or, research for someone that worked there and get the run down. Someone has pictures of the equipment somewhere.

For ease of use I think your best bet is coating like Bayou . Hi tek in a cement mixer.

Compared to electroplating or swaging; Hi-TEK coating gives "us" the advantage when competing with bigger guys.

[Love Life]

The idea of building a jig is to take two huge steps forward. Its about getting awesome results. Awesome results is a byproduct of hard work.

I get the same results from HI-TEK with way less work for shooting pistol.

I don't have the need or the urge to try to get jacketed performance with cast bullets, so I don't have the need or the urge to try to.

What do your ES PC coated pistol bullets do that my HI-TEK coated bullets don't?

[fastglock]

I get the same results from HI-TEK with way less work for shooting pistol.

I don't have the need or the urge to try to get jacketed performance with cast bullets, so I don't have the need or the urge to try to.

What do your ES PC coated pistol bullets do that my HI-TEK coated bullets don't?

It don't smell bad while shooting....








Joking aside, to really answer your question, probably nothing. But you are only asking pistol performance ONLY.

What about how it's processed?
Can you get HiTek anywhere?
Can you get easily anywhere?
Bake time?
Color choices?
Cost?
Availability ?

In my opinion ES PC results has no competitor. Yet.

Piglet PC vs HiTek is a good debate.....

PC Piglet method is still new. I get that there's many HiTek users at this time. Its just a matter time. I don't need to keep listing the Pros of PC Piglet or ES PC. It'll sell themselves .

[Love Life]

HI-TEK does not smell bad when you shoot it.

Yeah, lets see which is still standing years from now.

Just a show of hands from bullet sellers who use some kind of coating. Which coating process are you using on your mass amounts of boolits?


Back on track with the OP's question:
As you can see, there are a couple methods to use when coating your bullets. They have all been proven to work.

Pick the one which best suits you, roll with it, and have a blast!!

[angus6]

Very interested in the HI-TEK coating, any chance that I could work something out with one of you guys doing it to do 250 rifle bullets so I could try them before buying a mold and setting up to do it

[popper]

angus6 - I'd wait until HiTek is proven for rifle. PC does work for rifle.

[MacFan]

I look at barrel wear as a non issue as I'm not sure I could afford the volume of ammo it will take to wear one out. I've tried soaking the barrel from my 9mm and .40SW M&P's in both acetone and lacquer thinner trying to see if anything comes out and I get nothing on a patch. The one PC'ed boolit I did manage to recover was pretty mashed up. I'm an darn fool for not taking a pic of it and just tossing it into the melt next time but sometimes I just don't think. I could see on part of it wear the rifling left the usual marks and the coating did look worn but again I have no leading. All I know is it works and it's cheap.

Here's a pic of a recovered bullet I posted in another PC thread- http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2418154
It's PC for me.

[Maximumbob54]

Here's a pic of a recovered bullet I posted in another PC thread- http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2418154
It's PC for me.

Mine was misshapen but not that flat. But the coating was pretty much the same It was still sticking but had broken apart.

[Love Life]

Here are two 45 acp bullets coated with HI-TEK red/copper that smacked into my AR500 steel target.

Coating is still on them.

Bullet was the H&G 34 clone made by NOE. 230 gr RN.

[dverna]

Bangerjim makes an interesting point and most of us forget. We recommend all sorts of stuff based on what WE do and what works for US. 250 PC's bullets is a decent production rate for him and likely many others. But remember you still need to size so it is less than that.

I get at least twice that production rate using a Star and can lube and size in one operation.

So many of people looking for advice do not give enough information: such as production rate desired, and velocity requirements. We just assume what we use is the right answer for everyone because it is the right answer for us.

Lastly, for those looking for advice, ask yourself why you are getting "passionate" recommendations that are not consistent. Is one of the "gurus" wrong???? I see three answers:
They do not know what they are talking about , or
They have different needs that the other "guru", or
They are so enamored by their method they ignore a better way (not invented here syndrome)

But for sure it is a red flag as most of this stuff is not art but science. Also, beware of claims - especially accuracy. Lots of junk about "good accuracy" but almost no numbers, either with respect to groups size, at what range, number of shots in a group and number of groups shot. If you want blasting ammo for 7 yard pistol shooting or CAS, anything that does not lead will do. If your needs are more demanding it matters.