I have a question about bases, noses, and powder coating.

[C. Latch]

Got the HF kit today. I may or may not get to coat some tonight. Have a couple of questions first:

In reading through the various stickies I see a common theme that people either use a nut or other small protuberance under their aluminum foil as a 'stand' so that the bullet is somewhat elevated and touching as little as possible, so as to coat the maximum amount of bullet surface. Alternately, they sit their HP bullets on a nail or something to that effect.

With a WFN-type bullet, can I just coat nose-down and ignore the fact that my noses are uncoated? Or can I coat base-down and ignore the fact that my bases are uncoated? With conventional lube neither base nor nose gets coated; I can't see a real need for PC on either end of a projectile.

I'd thinking of simply sitting my bullets on aluminum foil in a small pan, spraying them, baking them, and not worrying about the small uncoated portion, whether base or nose. Am I about to go astray here?

[Beagle333]

With a WFN-type bullet, can I just coat nose-down and ignore the fact that my noses are uncoated? Or can I coat base-down and ignore the fact that my bases are uncoated?

Yep. No reason for it to be coated if it isn't touching something.... other than it's pretty. All boolit bases are exposed in normal lubing, and the nose doesn't matter if it don't touch. As long as the driving bands and any bore riding section of the nose are coated, she'll slip right down the barrel. 8-)

[VHoward]

No your not going astray. Lots of metal jackets bullets have soft lead points and all the fmj bullets I have seen the base of the bullet is exposed bare lead. I'm thinking as long as the driving bands and grooves get coated, you are OK. Do a few, load them and test to see if you get any leading in your gun is the final say.

[Maximumbob54]

The only problem I see is if you do nose down you may have a puddle that flashes around the nose. Base down it should come off during sizing.

[JASON4X4]

I set mine on the foil base down without any nuts. I coat and bake never had any problems

[C. Latch]

Well, I put the kit together, let the air compressor run until full, hooked everything up, and just coated ~50 bullets.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it was almost anticlimactic. Hook it up, spray, watch everything turn red (I didn't get the black powder, and stopped at HF on the way home tonight and grabbed a pound of red), disconnected everything, put it in the toaster oven (wife is headed to wal-mart to buy herself a new one for kitchen use) and here in about 10 minutes I should have bullets ready to size and load and shoot.

This is too cool.

[el34]

I've tried and posted a few methods to stand them up including screw heads and nuts, and can fairly confidently say you will eventually have baked-on powder buildup problems if you don't use the non-stick foil for them to sit on. I tried sitting them just on ns foil (banger's advice) and it worked but the powder would form fillets around the base and sometimes stick to the foil. Final solution was to use ns foil over the 6-32 nuts and that worked well. The nuts formed little pedestals that the base overhung, and the foil could be replaced as necessary. I used beagle333's idea to JB Weld the nuts to the tray. It's been great ever since, I change the foil almost every time but it's easy. Beagle recently posted pics in one of the pink threads I think.

[el34]

This is too cool.

Yep .

[C. Latch]

I used a round cake pan for coating; the high sides, in hindsight, make it harder to coat bullets. But the wife came home with her new toaster and it had a nice, flat pan it it that the wife won't use as she has her little pizza-stone pan she likes to sue in the toaster. So I have the 'pan problem' fixed.

I overestimated; I actually only put 31 bullets on the pan. I coated them, baked them, inspected them, and while coverage wasn't perfect on several of them, it was 'good enough' (meaning the imperfect spots still had at least some coverage on all driving bands and good coverage on 2 of the 3 bands) and out of the 31 I culled exactly one bullet.

Eighteen of those were .45s, and I happened to have 18 pieces of primed brass, so I loaded those up. Hopefully I'll get to shoot a bit tomorrow. The other 13 were .38 bullets. I don't have time to load them tonight, but I took the one 'cull' and a hammer and went to the front porch and smashed it. The coating held up fine.

If these things shoot as well as lubed bullets, you can consider me hooked. :)

[el34]

Set them directly on the pan or on foil?
Got pics?
Copy that on the high walls, use it upside down if it'll fit.

If you haven't seen it, check this thread-
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?224082-Tray-Ideals#top

[C. Latch]

Pics uploading. Slow on the phone.

I should have turned the pan upside down but next time I'll just use the low-wall pan that came with the new toaster.

[C. Latch]

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/clatch/Mobile%20Uploads/00AD0316-CC1E-4605-82B4-2218AEDC6FA8_zpsqtxtyjoc.jpg

The .38 in front was the cull.

[Beagle333]

Those look pretty good!!!!


I like to use the little nuts to hold the boolits up off the pan a bit.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/PowderCoating/pan001_zpsaade057a.jpg

This is what is under the foil. I can get 80 boolits on my little tray.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/PowderCoating/pan002_zps5eb3fb7b.jpg

I find that it helps the powder to swirl under and somewhat wrap around the base and get the entire side coated all the way to the flat part of the base, and it eliminates any flashing. This way I know the entire side of the boolit is sliding along on a coat of PC.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/PowderCoating/accurate45003_zps53f648bb.jpg

But everybody here has their system. Good luck and have fun with it!
PC'ing is a blast, and I think it's a great way to lube. 8-)

[el34]

Beagle, is that blue another custom blend? It looks 'grainy'.

[Rainier]

C Latch - welcome to the madness - you'll be looking about in no time wondering why oh why you lubed all those boolits. :)
I did the same thing for my pistol boolits - base down and coated away. Also, I found the HF black the easiest to use and then there's the cool factor of black boolits though "Lipstick" red does have it's shock value. Enjoy the madness because the first time you clean your boolit launcher after shooting PC'd you'll never consider slimy grease again.

[Beagle333]

Beagle333, is that blue another custom blend? It looks 'grainy'.
I had changed to "Liftow Blue" and there was still some "Kawasaki Green" in the cup. I kinda like the effect. 8-)
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/PowderCoating/blue-green004_zpsd61be94b.jpg

[C. Latch]

Ok, another question: when I sized these I was expecting a good bit of resistance; they were not sized before PC. Instead, they went very easily through the .452 sizer, then they seated very easily. Is that normal with PC?

The difference was enough that I'm sort of wondering what difference they'll show in velocity over a lubed bullet.

[C. Latch]

C Latch - welcome to the madness - you'll be looking about in no time wondering why oh why you lubed all those boolits. :)

That occurred to me while I was loading last night.

:)

[Beagle333]

Ok, another question: when I sized these I was expecting a good bit of resistance; they were not sized before PC. Instead, they went very easily through the .452 sizer, then they seated very easily. Is that normal with PC?

Yes. In fact, the first few times I sized some PC boolits, I had to stop and check that I was using the right sizer die. I do not size mine before PC either, and so I was sizing down .004 and it felt like they were just falling through. I have not set up my chrony with some PC and regular lubed boolits to shoot side by side yet.

[C. Latch]

I'm very glad to hear that. I was shocked at how easily they sized and seated.

[VHoward]

I had to tighten my crimp on my 45acp's to maintain the same pressures. About an 1/8th of a turn tighter worked.

[popper]

I do my WFN nose down to insure the base edge & drive band gets covered well, but I just set them on the foil, no nuts or anything. Also helps on loading as there is no flash on the base even after sizing. The sizer eliminates most of any flash problem on the nose - rolls over the nose or breaks off.

[el34]

I had changed to "Liftow Blue" and there was still some "Kawasaki Green" in the cup. I kinda like the effect. 8-)


You're often coming up with speckled boolits. The one time I had a new color mix with different stuff still in the jug it just mixed. Yours look 'designed'.


Yes. In fact, the first few times I sized some PC boolits, I had to stop and check that I was using the right sizer die. I do not size mine before PC either, and so I was sizing down .004 and it felt like they were just falling through. I have not set up my chrony with some PC and regular lubed boolits to shoot side by side yet.

My first PC's were sized first, no lube. It was a bear, I had to use the lowest part of the arm travel to get max leverage and the bases had 1/8" dimples from the nose of the boolit pushing under it. Now I cast-PC-size with the same ease as y'all. I've been trying to keep score, it's about 8-9 out of 10-11 that only size after PC.

[Beagle333]

The Kawasaki with the Blue does speckle nicely.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/PowderCoating/MP45-225006_zpse7938107.jpg

The candy apple with the blue just kinda blends though.
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/PowderCoating/MP45-225001_zps427c40cc.jpg


I think after I use up my colors I have, I'm going to pretty much stick with Kawasaki (or Zombie) Green, and HF red. Those work well and spray easily with great coverage.