simple Hi-Tek coating

[Ausglock]

Same.

[Shotgundrums]

Same.

Now now now, Trev... At one time you were saying MEK took longer. I personally can vouch for it taking longer as I have been using MEK almost exclusively. Plus as the coating solution ages (months), it seems to take longer and longer for evaporation... This is just my observation but the separated base solution at the top seems to darken as it ages as well. Not that you should be smelling it but it seems to change aroma too. I don't remember this happening when using acetone. Granted it all still works, I've had to do more force drying with older shelved MEK solution.

[Ausglock]

yeah, Yeah.

MEK takes longer to "dry" when you are swirl coating. Same time as Acetone with 20% Metho added to slow down drying.
But... once they are coated and placed for "Air drying" prior to baking, it is the same.

You lot that choose to live in cold climates will need longer air drying times prior to baking unless you run a warming fan etc etc.

We had 40 Deg C here yesterday with humidity of 80%. Thought I was in the jungles of SE Asia. Hot and sticky.

Old coating does smell "off" after a few months, but still works fine.

The experiment with Fluro Orange failed. Colour was too dark. I have now mixed a different brew to try again.

Will bake it tonight and see what happens.

Wanted:........ once fired 45ACP Nickel cases. about 500 or so. Brand does not matter, but must be large primer.

Thanks.

[Shotgundrums]

yeah, Yeah.

MEK takes longer to "dry" when you are swirl coating. Same time as Acetone with 20% Metho added to slow down drying.
But... once they are coated and placed for "Air drying" prior to baking, it is the same.

You lot that choose to live in cold climates will need longer air drying times prior to baking unless you run a warming fan etc etc.

We had 40 Deg C here yesterday with humidity of 80%. Thought I was in the jungles of SE Asia. Hot and sticky.

Old coating does smell "off" after a few months, but still works fine.

The experiment with Fluro Orange failed. Colour was too dark. I have now mixed a different brew to try again.

Will bake it tonight and see what happens.

Wanted:........ once fired 45ACP Nickel cases. about 500 or so. Brand does not matter, but must be large primer.

Thanks.

Well, scheisse. I'd be your nickel plated man if geography wasn't an issue.

I'm doing an experiment with my Dillon D 38/357 powder funnel and hopper. After loading 300+ 2x coated 9mils, I found the reason behind some recent anomalous leading... The 9mil F funnel just isn't cutting it anymore. I'm not getting enough case prep as it measures .353, doesn't quite expand enough and is intermittently thinning my twice-coated bullets' coating too severely (realized by pulling a few).

We'll see how it works and I'll report. If it does work, no need for custom 9mm powder funnel. Stand by.

[Ausglock]

Never had a problem with the F funnel for 9mm or 38 Super. Even when loading with .3575 dia pills.
I do use a rather largeish bell on my brass. A bevel base bullet will sit about 1 1/2 to 2mm down in the case mouth.
I run Lee seater die with a Dillon crimp die on the 550B.

[HI-TEK]

[QUOTE=Shotgundrums;3546155] I personally can vouch for it taking longer as I have been using MEK almost exclusively. Plus as the coating solution ages (months), it seems to take longer and longer for evaporation... This is just my observation but the separated base solution at the top seems to darken as it ages as well.

Shotgundrums
Your observations are correct.
Once product is made, with time, it will thicken, and also get darker.
Simple, add a little more thinners, Acetone or MEK, to reduce viscosity, (make thinner).
The odour may also change due to storage.
I have had product concentrate liquid, on the shelf in shed for 5 years, and it had a consistency of dark honey and dark colour.
Product after dilution worked just fine.
Strange stuff.
If possible, keep out of sunlight, keep in good sealed containers and keep cool.
All should be well.

[leadman]

I used some of the first liquid Red Copper I got from Donnie maybe 3? years ago. Had to shake the heck out of it to get the boolit inside the can to break loose. The liquid is a little darker but seems to have coated the boolits just fine. Stayed on when I sized them so next test is shooting them.

[Shotgundrums]

Never had a problem with the F funnel for 9mm or 38 Super. Even when loading with .3575 dia pills.
I do use a rather largeish bell on my brass. A bevel base bullet will sit about 1 1/2 to 2mm down in the case mouth.
I run Lee seater die with a Dillon crimp die on the 550B.

Maybe my practices need tweaked and I'm coating too thin... I usually use 1ml per lb. Even less on the first coat; first coat say 3lbs I might put 2mls with a mini splash of solvent to pick up residuals in the bucket.

If you're coating 2kg with 6mls (4.4 lbs U.S. To 6mls) then have I potentially been way off this whole time? I know you don't measure when you coat twice. But if you did, would you say you use 6mls for both coats? To me that seems thick, but then again from day one I remember echoing stutters on the emphasis of THIN is better lol. So, I don't know.

This newfound leading is with a new 135gr pill from Accurate molds. True Works of art, they make... So, the bullet is obviously longer. Shrug...

[Gremlin460]

ShotgunDrums... not being a squirter like Trev, I use a syringe for measurement, in 200 9mm 128gn pills I squirt exactly 6mm of mix, be it either powder or Liq. I mix at 20g/110ml acetone.
As Trev said, we have had a few warmer days of late, so 45 mins in the sun is ample. 42.3c and 35 R/Humidity dries them quite nicely.

[Ausglock]

Yep. 6mls per 2Kg of bullets.
This works fine.
I have virtually moved on from dribbling to accurate measuring.

Baked the second coat of the Orange/Gold.
Not quite HI-VIS Orange, but close.
Have mixed a different gold and will bake 1st coat in a few hours time.

[Kjeksen87]

Hot top tip for the dudes such as myself living in cold climate. Force dry in the convection oven. Set the oven for 30 - 50 degrees and leave the door a tad open for the acetone to escape. Works like a charm.

Shot some 9mm BHN 10 Hi-Tek coated bullets out of my Glock 19 yesterday. And almost no leading. I say almost because I could see 2 very VERY minor streaks of lead last cm of barrel. The 2 streaks was so minor that I am tempted to say no leading. Shot 100 shots.
Load was 3,8grs of Vihtavouri N320 COL 1.110". Theoretical QL pressure of 28 000 PSI.

Very good result considering that some had leading issues with soft BHN in 9mm earlier in this thread.

As for the coating I do myself here, I have noticed that my bullets have spottet coverage when using 1:5, 1ml pr 400grams of bullets. This was not visible with the naked eye but under a light magnifying glass. Think I need to upper my dose of Acetone (maybe its flashing off too fast) , or upper my dose of coating when tumbling. I do ofcourse more than 1 coat, but i resize after coat 1. This could maybe be a bad thing making the coating not bonding to the spots of bare lead on coat 2, because of the sizing.

[kryogen]

Never had a problem with the F funnel for 9mm or 38 Super. Even when loading with .3575 dia pills.
I do use a rather largeish bell on my brass. A bevel base bullet will sit about 1 1/2 to 2mm down in the case mouth.
I run Lee seater die with a Dillon crimp die on the 550B.

You cast hardball alloy that's why. softer lead gets squished if we don't expand more.

[Shotgundrums]

You cast hardball alloy that's why. softer lead gets squished if we don't expand more.

Well, I use hardball or similar as well. I may be coating too thin... From the OZ practices yeah, I coat too thin��
I am still experimenting with the 38/357 D funnel and getting it to work for 9mm on the press without integral parts modification.

[Kjeksen87]

Plenty shot through a Tanfoglio today, no leading at all with Hi-Tek Bronze 500. BHN 15-16 9mm. Love it.

[Shotgundrums]

Success!! My 38/357 D funnel experiment worked. I fashioned a hollow spacer to place between the top of the funnel and the powder hopper aperture leaving no clearance for loose funnel play. Diameter was close to funnel shank size and about .165" tall. Hole clearance was about the same as the powder hopper aperture size. Powder drop was unaffected. However, the D funnel expander portion is longer and did inflict a minor bulge at the case's midspan because it's contacting the beginning of the case web...not a big deal but I could machine it shorter and repolish it. I dumped some twice coated and tri coated pills out yonder. No leading... I hope this keeps true.

[Ausglock]

Success!! My 38/357 D funnel experiment worked. I fashioned a hollow spacer to place between the top of the funnel and the powder hopper aperture leaving no clearance for loose funnel play. Diameter was close to funnel shank size and about .165" tall. Hole clearance was about the same as the powder hopper aperture size. Powder drop was unaffected. However, the D funnel expander portion is longer and did inflict a minor bulge at the case's midspan because it's contacting the beginning of the case web...not a big deal but I could machine it shorter and repolish it. I dumped some twice coated and tri coated pills out yonder. No leading... I hope this keeps true.

Good job.

[Sgtonory]

Just started Hi-Tek coating with bronze 500. A few questions. Is any color on the wipe test a fail? I get the smallest tint when doing it. I am doing 6ml per 2kg and baking in a convection toaster oven for 15min set to 450. When i cook for 10min i get a major fail on the wipe test. Any downside to cooking over 15min? It passes the smash test. Also any downside to water dropping on last bake? Will that harden the boolit at all? Last question, the powder version of the bronze 500 come with the extreme cataliyst or normal?

[Sgtonory]

Also anyone know what color SNS casting is using ?

[Shotgundrums]

Just started Hi-Tek coating with bronze 500. A few questions. Is any color on the wipe test a fail? I get the smallest tint when doing it. I am doing 6ml per 2kg and baking in a convection toaster oven for 15min set to 450. When i cook for 10min i get a major fail on the wipe test. Any downside to cooking over 15min? It passes the smash test. Also any downside to water dropping on last bake? Will that harden the boolit at all? Last question, the powder version of the bronze 500 come with the extreme cataliyst or normal?

Yeah, wipe off is under-cured coating, no bueno (wipe for 30 whole seconds). Make sure your oven temp is correct. From there adjust as needed. Don't overload your oven, internal circulation is a good thing. I use a breville oven. Works great as it's more or less internally PID controlled from factory. With 9mm pills I usually bake 3lbs at a time. Do to surface area differences, larger bullets I usually bake 2.75lb. This way I keep bake time around 12-13ish minutes.

For testing, I will quickly pluck one slug out of the oven with needle nose pliers and close the oven door. I'll dunk that hot bullet in water to cool it, then commence with wipe and smash test. This is all very fast. If it passes, I'll remove all the finished bullets.

[Rich22]

I am amazed you guys are having success with coats that thick, I had a 50% failure rate at even 1.25 ml/ coat. I am now attempting .75 ml/lb first coat 1ml/lb second coat, size, then 1 ml/lb third coat. Pass all tests. Hopefully ill get to load testing in a few days.