Help

[tbierley]

I have been casting for 30 years and just thought about starting to PC. I went today and got some yellow,red and white PC from Harbor Freight. Do I need to gas check my rifle bullets. I have been reading all the threads and there is so much to take in.

[RED333]

The PC will hold up well, just start slow with a PB boolit.

[RP]

I look at it this way if I was using GCs before I would keep using them. Try it that way and see how you like it then you may want to try some without. Remember what a GC is for and why we use them. PC is a barrier between the lead and the barrel and a GC is the barrier between the gas and the bullet for the most part. So people are shooting GCs bullets without GCs using regular lubes but slowed the bullet down. Hope this makes sense to you.

[tbierley]

I will keep using GC and one question does people size the bullets before PC or after.

[bstone5]

I cast, powder coat, size and then install gas checks.
The powder coat keeps the lead from contacting the steel in the barrel, the gas check provides the seal so the gas does not get past the base of the bullet and cut the powder coat.
I gas check plain base pistol bullets that have been powder coated to remove all the possibility of getting lead in the barrel.

[popper]

I install the GC before, using an oversize Lee die, then coat & re-size. PC'd shank SOMETIMES gives me trouble installing the Cu GCs when done after coating. Make sure boolits with GC are totally dry before cooking the PC.

[Gunslingerdoc]

Cast, add GC with sizing, PC, size again, load and shoot.

[wquiles]

Cast, add GC with sizing, PC, size again, load and shoot.

Question (since I am about to try this soon, and my boolits also have GC's):
If you size (say) on a .460" Lee push through die when installing the gas check, and then you do the PC (which adds anywhere from .001" to .0025"), wouldn't the boolits now be .460" plus whatever the PC added, or at least .461"?

If you size again through your .460" Lee sizer, wouldn't that force the PC + bullet down again to .460"?

Has anyone tested the diameter change to see if it was the PC layer that decreased in size (got thinner, except for the lube grooves), or if the actual lead portion of the boolit is now "undersized" to less than .460"?

Again, just trying to understand what is going on with the diameter change with PC.

By the way, I am only going to try the shake and bake method with Smokey's powder and the black plastic air soft balls.

Will