dry tumble powder coating?

[bangerjim]

Yeah but...

if you touch the hot oven there will be boolits all over the place!

Get well soon Walter.

Well, just don't touch the sides of the oven!!!!!! I have put lots of stuff in and out of a HOT oven for many many years and have NEVER been burned. Not once.

banger

[Beagle333]

I do wear my casting gloves when moving trays to the oven, because I slide the rack out (which is hot, because I preheat), then slide the tray partially onto the rack and slide both back in, with gloved hands. I find that to be a smooth motion and haven't knocked any boolits over except the one time a kid fired a shotgun at a squirrel, right up against my property line, as I was loading the oven.
(I spilled all of those and just started over and dry tumbled that batch)

[bangerjim]

At only 400F, all I use are a pair of heavy white cotton gloves from HF. They allow me to have prefect flexibility unlike casting gloves and will not allow the heat thru for at least 10 seconds, plenty of time to move the racks over in front of my evap cooler to cool them down.

banger

[Rushthezeppelin]

Bout to be trying my first batch of pc tonight and had a question. When people say the are baking on hardware cloth are yall refering to screen door material? I picked up a roll of alum screen at lowes and am wondering if this will work for a baking tray.

[prickett]

Bout to be trying my first batch of pc tonight and had a question. When people say the are baking on hardware cloth are yall refering to screen door material? I picked up a roll of alum screen at lowes and am wondering if this will work for a baking tray.

No. Hardware cloth is a stiff 1/8", 1/4" or 1/2" steel mesh. You can kinda see it in this link: http://www.lowes.com/pd_90-16418-122...ductId=3160773

Screen may work, but hw cloth is stiffer and has fewer points of contact, both of which are more desirable.

[Rushthezeppelin]

No. Hardware cloth is a stiff 1/8", 1/4" or 1/2" mesh. You can kinda see it in this link: http://www.lowes.com/pd_90-16418-122...ductId=3160773

So will screen door material work at all?

[bangerjim]

You are gonna get a LOT of contact points and every one will leave "bad spots" on your boolits. Especially on the tops of the grease grooves.

I have used the 1/4" screen (called hardware cloth....heaven only knows why!) and everywhere the boolit laid, there was a "peek" of lead showing thru and high areas of PC. Not what I want.

I pick them up with surgical tools and set them on NS foil. They turn out as good as can be expected with DT. Minimum divots from thin spots. ESPC is still the superior method.

Now I have a big roll of hardware cloth I do not have any use for. Inferior method in my book. I guess people think they have to do thousands of rounds a hour by just dumping them. Nobody can load & shoot them that fast.

Take your time, pick them up with a tool, and put them on foil. You will be much happier. And I am talking not just for cosmetic reasons on the nose.......grease groove tops will be coated!

banger

[Rushthezeppelin]

Well ended up finding the hardware cloth, smallest they had was 1/4" which I figured was at least small enough not to let my 30 cal bullets through. Ended up having problems with the bullet sticking to the mesh and ripping a bit of the PC as well as to other bullets. Went ahead and did a second coat and tried to break them from the mesh before they were completely cooled. Still have have most with bald spots from mesh contact and other bullets. Any tips on keeping the bullets from sticking so bad? Am I maybe not hand tumbling long enough or something like that? One that I tried out did pass the smash test btw. Also I'm using PBTP RAL green.

[HDS]

You are gonna get a LOT of contact points and every one will leave "bad spots" on your boolits. Especially on the tops of the grease grooves.

I have used the 1/4" screen (called hardware cloth....heaven only knows why!) and everywhere the boolit laid, there was a "peek" of lead showing thru and high areas of PC. Not what I want.

I pick them up with surgical tools and set them on NS foil. They turn out as good as can be expected with DT. Minimum divots from thin spots. ESPC is still the superior method.

Now I have a big roll of hardware cloth I do not have any use for. Inferior method in my book. I guess people think they have to do thousands of rounds a hour by just dumping them. Nobody can load & shoot them that fast.

Take your time, pick them up with a tool, and put them on foil. You will be much happier. And I am talking not just for cosmetic reasons on the nose.......grease groove tops will be coated!

banger

This is part of the reason I want to try the MCC method of coating, some guy said that using a heat gun on the bullets before going into the pan and while still shaking them about, eliminated sticking and the need to place them base down. I'm interested in this method since now I want to coat all my bullets and not just the 223s as I was planning on.

I want to reduce my exposure to lead, and in turn reduce any accidental exposure to my kids. The new house, garage and reloading setup will be made with that in mind as well, a single locked room with only one key will be where I reload. I will cast at my parents place to keep it as far away as possible from the kids.

[a.squibload]

Agree with Bangerjim, tried window screen, it left a rough pattern.
Setting each boolit on non-stick foil allows smooth coat all over,
including the base. Tool marks from picking them up by the nose
are very rare, almost never find marks as the PC melts together.

If tou teach the kids not to eat the lead they will be fine.
Wash before eating (you do this anyway, right?).
The myth of "lead fumes" from casting has been debunked many times.
Don't be deluded by non-science politicos who want to eliminate ammunition
(& free enterprise, rights, liberty, personal responsibility, etc. ).

PS: "boolits all over the place" was meant to be humorous.
After welding for so long I am not scared of a toaster oven.
I found that preheating for PC is an unnecessary waste of current.

[bangerjim]

Agree with Bangerjim, tried window screen, it left a rough pattern.
Setting each boolit on non-stick foil allows smooth coat all over,
including the base. Tool marks from picking them up by the nose
are very rare, almost never find marks as the PC melts together.

If tou teach the kids not to eat the lead they will be fine.
Wash before eating (you do this anyway, right?).
The myth of "lead fumes" from casting has been debunked many times.
Don't be deluded by non-science politicos who want to eliminate ammunition
(& free enterprise, rights, liberty, personal responsibility, etc. ).

PS: "boolits all over the place" was meant to be humorous.
After welding for so long I am not scared of a toaster oven.
I found that preheating for PC is an unnecessary waste of current.

I know what you mean about "all over the place"! Had the cat run in front of me while I was transporting a full load of 70 38's to the oven (only 4 feet!), tripped me, and nice ESPC's slugs were all over the patio bricks! The cat escaped unscathed. Most of the powder came off. Wove a small tapestry of profanity! Recoated and threw the cat over the fence B4 trying that again!

Only time that has ever happened!

banger

[bangerjim]

Well ended up finding the hardware cloth, smallest they had was 1/4" which I figured was at least small enough not to let my 30 cal bullets through. Ended up having problems with the bullet sticking to the mesh and ripping a bit of the PC as well as to other bullets. Went ahead and did a second coat and tried to break them from the mesh before they were completely cooled. Still have have most with bald spots from mesh contact and other bullets. Any tips on keeping the bullets from sticking so bad? Am I maybe not hand tumbling long enough or something like that? One that I tried out did pass the smash test btw. Also I'm using PBTP RAL green.

Remember, the powder is liquifying and that will run down on the screen and stick! That is why the ONLY way to guarantee NOT having sticking and bad spots is to pick them up and put them on a flat tray with NS foil. We use NS foil to prevent sticking. anything else you use will allow the powder to stick.

Sorry, but I have messed with all kinds of baking methods and the best is still setting on the base (no nuts) on NS foil. As I said earlier, it takes only a short time to arrange the slugs in rows with a ruler.

You don't need to worry about the nose......it's the TOPS of the grease grooves that need the coating to be 100%.

banger

[prickett]

Well ended up finding the hardware cloth, smallest they had was 1/4" which I figured was at least small enough not to let my 30 cal bullets through. Ended up having problems with the bullet sticking to the mesh and ripping a bit of the PC as well as to other bullets. Went ahead and did a second coat and tried to break them from the mesh before they were completely cooled. Still have have most with bald spots from mesh contact and other bullets. Any tips on keeping the bullets from sticking so bad? Am I maybe not hand tumbling long enough or something like that? One that I tried out did pass the smash test btw. Also I'm using PBTP RAL green.

I find that if you immediately swirl the mesh tray (I bend the sides of my mesh up about 1" on all four sides) after the buzzer goes off you greatly reduce this problem. It also breaks apart any boolits that are sticking to others.

[Rushthezeppelin]

Remember, the powder is liquifying and that will run down on the screen and stick! That is why the ONLY way to guarantee NOT having sticking and bad spots is to pick them up and put them on a flat tray with NS foil. We use NS foil to prevent sticking. anything else you use will allow the powder to stick.

Sorry, but I have messed with all kinds of baking methods and the best is still setting on the base (no nuts) on NS foil. As I said earlier, it takes only a short time to arrange the slugs in rows with a ruler.

You don't need to worry about the nose......it's the TOPS of the grease grooves that need the coating to be 100%.

banger

So I'm guessing these might have problems leading?

[bangerjim]

So I'm guessing these might have problems leading?

If you can see lead on the tops of the grease grooves.......so can your barrel!!!!!!!!!

May not be a problem, but I do not take the risk and re-do the ones that look silver!

banger

[bangerjim]

Well, I was messing around this afternoon and tried to DT a mix of black, red, and yellow that I use with my ES gun to get a darkish shade of brown. Looks really great. Out of the gun.

Now for the tumble...........

Amazingly, the boolits started immediately turning RED with a little YELLOW in there! No black. I kept swirling and eventually the only thing left in the coolwhip tub was BLACK! The boolits were well coated with the two other colors and baked well.

So much for the definitive proof!

banger

[fcvan]

Banger, you have discovered the fool proof method to reclaim black powder when mixed with other colors. You sir, are a genius!

[bangerjim]

Banger, you have discovered the fool proof method to reclaim black powder when mixed with other colors. You sir, are a genius!

Please.........tell my wife and kids about that "genius" thing! They still do not believe me!!!!!! HA.....ha.

banger

[Mike Hughes]

So will screen door material work at all?

I use the screen material for all of my 223 and some of the larger cal, also use the hardware cloth. I think the fine screen leaves less noticeable marks and has given me some of my best results

[PodPeople]

I use the screen material for all of my 223 and some of the larger cal, also use the hardware cloth. I think the fine screen leaves less noticeable marks and has given me some of my best results

I agree. I get much better results using aluminum screen than I did with stainless hardware cloth. Boolits would stick fast to the hardware cloth and removing them would pull paint off, exposing lead. They can be easily removed from the aluminum screening with barely noticeable contact marks and no exposed lead. I think the large number of fine wires spreads the boolit weight out to more contact points.