Coating Tall Skinny Boolits

[Baja_Traveler]

Wanted to PC the boolits I use in the Garand and the Mosin, but they are tall and prone to falling over. I also wanted to figure out a method of keeping the gas check shank clean, so a standard gas check can be seated after coating without issue. I believe I solved both with the same setup - I bought a small piece of perforated stainless from the local metal supply. It has holes just smaller than 1/4 inch, so I opened every other hole up using a 7/16 drill that would allow the gas check shank to fit into. Then I used the perforated sheet as a template for punching correct size holes in a silicone baking sheet. A press fit requires a CS Osborne size 10 leather punch (17/64") for a 30 Cal gas check shank. 6.5mm boolits conveniently require a 1/4" punch.

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Next I loaded up the tray with 322 NOE 311365's - pre-sized to .310 without a gas check. Obviously I do not have the standard $5 toaster oven - I wanted to have the ability to powder coat larger motorcycle and car parts when I needed to, so I bought a big Oster digital convection oven for the job. Not only does it hold temperature to tight tolerance, I can do huge batches of boolits at one time.

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All set in place, but are they stable? Here's the 45 degree test - sure, the unsupported corners up top are leaning over, but they fell back in place then it went back flat. No issues will be had moving these between coating bench and oven!

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I use the box the oven came in as my powder coating booth, cutting a window in the front and placing a piece of scrap aluminum sheet to use as a ground plane - I clip the powder coating negative lead to the plate, and the bullet tray just sits on top. Here they are coated and baked using Powder by the Pound - Caribbean Blue.

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Ran them through the sizer again to seat the aluminum check (Pat Marlin Check Maker) and bring back to .310 and here is the finished product - 7.62 x 54R , 20 grains of 2400 with dacron. This will knock the 500 meter silhouette rams down with regularity using my Finn Mosin. Love the way they look! Like a shiny new car...

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[chrisstophere]

Definitely awesome. I'm currently trying to make a stable rig that week hold my accurate 311-247 with no groove that I use for subsonic loads thst have to fit the standard toaster oven. Also, I'll have to try that color.

[jimb16]

Nice job! I'll have to try that on my GC .30s.

[MajorDude]

Fantastic! I'm shopping for baking sheets soon.

[NYBushBro]

Baja Traveler - two questions:

What is the spacing of the holes in the silicone baking sheet?

With that amount of metal, how long does it take for the oven to come back up to temp after inserting the tray of coated items?

(The reason I ask is that I purchased that same oven...)

[Beagle333]

It looks like it requires a little bit of setup time, but once you got it, you're good for mass production. Great work! I like! :grin:

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Those are some nice looking bullets. I've been planning a similar rig.

I'm looking at a mold for 270 win and some reduced power loads but data is minimal. Especially published data. So question...what kind of load are you planning?

I've been tumbling my pistol bullets though i have a HFPC gun. I plan on spraying the 270 bullets .



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[OS OK]

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This is one of the best solutions I've seen so far…but…my question is regarding the 'flashing' at the base. In this picture it appears to come off the surface of the mat hanging onto the last drive ring above the GC. at the base. Does it shear off when you size, what sizing method do you use?
I'm doing the tumble/BB's method but would be glad to switch to Electrostatic for the clean definition you get here. Don't have any issues with free standing .323's falling over on the way to the oven but the .30 cals. are testing my patience.
At the moment I'm testing with a GC type boolit w/out checks installed but fully coated/jacketed in a quality clear PC. I want to see how hard they can be pushed w/out the GC's before using them.

OS OK

[Baja_Traveler]

The holes are right about 5/8" from each other. Since there is not a lot of mass to the metal it does not add anything to the bake time. In fact, the mass of the bullets themselves is probably 4 times that of the sheet they are sitting on. I have not pre-heated the oven, just put everything in cold, hit the convection button, and set the timer for 11 minutes. It all comes out perfect.
As to the flashing, most of them crack out nice and clean, but some will have a good amount of flashing. I use my bare thumb to break off what I can, and not worry about the rest. I use an RCBS lubesizer to seat the gas checks, and it shears off any remaining flashing cleanly at the same time as the check gets crimped.
These get loaded in the Mosin (I have a true .308 bore Finn) using 20 grains of 2400 and dacron (Disclaimer - I cannot recommend using any pistol powder in large rifle cases that may be double - or in this case even triple charged) but if you do, great care must be taken. Case gets charged, never leaves your hand and a bullet immediately seated. But what a ripping load it is - prone off the sticks it will reliably knock down the 500 meter silhouette rams at our Pala range. I also use this in my Garand with 34 grains of 4895. Nice mild load with just enough oomph to cycle the action reliably.
My next goal is to coat these red and white, so I can load up the Garand Enbloc's red white and blue for our annual D-Day commemorative silhouette match...