"Shake and Bake" versus Vibratory Tumbler Coating Boolits?

[OTShooter]

I have searched and researched - here and elsewhere - without finding enough information that was clear enough for me to be able to work from, so here's a brand new topic!

In my first foray into coating my cast bullets, I wound up having a big problem. I couldn't get an even coating using #5 plastic containers, black Airsoft BBs and high quality powder (from Smoke). I wound up doing several passes before the coating was even enough, which meant that my final, baked bullets were WAY oversized.

Now that I have a chance to get back at casting, I want to try it again, but I want to do it right - as in get a solid application in one pass that doesn't build up so thick I can't use my push through sizer (from NOE) to size them.

What do I need to start using a vibratory tumbler to coat cast boolits? I assume the tumbler has to be really, really clean from any previous media, but other than that, what do I need to look at? How long does the tumbler run, and how much powder do I use for a given number of bullets?

[Rico1791]

I have searched and researched - here and elsewhere - without finding enough information that was clear enough for me to be able to work from, so here's a brand new topic!

In my first foray into coating my cast bullets, I wound up having a big problem. I couldn't get an even coating using #5 plastic containers, black Airsoft BBs and high quality powder (from Smoke). I wound up doing several passes before the coating was even enough, which meant that my final, baked bullets were WAY oversized.

Now that I have a chance to get back at casting, I want to try it again, but I want to do it right - as in get a solid application in one pass that doesn't build up so thick I can't use my push through sizer (from NOE) to size them.

What do I need to start using a vibratory tumbler to coat cast boolits? I assume the tumbler has to be really, really clean from any previous media, but other than that, what do I need to look at? How long does the tumbler run, and how much powder do I use for a given number of bullets?Slide is who knows Vibe coating the best. Helped me alot. I could not get any powder to stick. Vibe works.

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[OS OK]

I think... http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?22311-Dragonheart does the vibratory thing? He's a member here...

If he doesn't see your post and comment, send him a PM.

[Lloyd Smale]

i use a vibrating tumbler. I had an extra frankfort arsenal one on the shelf. Its coated 10s of thousands of bullets and has held up well. What i do is cast 20 lbs put 10lbs in the tumbler with some pc and let it run 15-30 minutes. Take them out and dump them on parchment paper and cook them. While that batch is cooking i put the other 10lbs in the tumbler. I get good coverage like that. I first tried air soft bbs in the tumbler then even tried some cast buckshot in it but found it isnt nessisary. Just the bullets alone work just as well. Gives me perfect coverage.

[kungfustyle]

Vibratory powder coating works very well. I just dumped out my old media sprayed it down with lysol and wiped it out. I didn't see any powder from the media remaining in/on the bowl or lid. I used white airsoft bb's but that is what I had from my shake n bake set up. I added a good table spoon of Smoke's powder and dumped in about 500 .358 swc's. It was very clear the coating was working in less than five minutes they had a very nice pc coat and were ready for the oven. Hope that helps. PM me if you have other questions. Thanks.

[charlie b]

Just for the heck of it I used my rotary tumbler and it worked well.

I don't typically do many bullets at a time so I use a separate bottle that goes in the tubler (old Hodgdon powder canister). Bullets, bb's and powder go in the bottle. Bottle in the tumbler.

We used to use the bottle trick decades ago for various things. Like early experiments with moly coating cast bullets, polishing smaller items with special media, etc. Basically any time we did not want to fill up the tumbler or introduce a substance that would be hard to clean out.

[GregLaROCHE]

A Vibratory Tumbler will definitely make things easier, but you should be sure there are no other problems keeping the normal shake n bake from working. For example handling boolits with your fingers, that could have oil residue on them and making sure that your powder hasn’t been effected by humidity.

[Taterhead]

Using powders like from Smoke are pretty foolproof. Like these I did in cold rainy weather. This is white aluminum with a touch of jet black.

The method is no more complicated than a 30 second swirl followed by a few up and down shakes. Tweez onto a tray with non-stick foil and done.

The second pic is the "tumbling" vessel. I don't think a vibratory cleaner is needed to apply the PC.

https://i.postimg.cc/Gtq4XCMp/20210325-110748.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/DwyZhx69/20210322-203012.jpg

[OS OK]

Joe Leadslinger gave me some polyester type 'stuffing beads' and these lil'suckers really create static! Swirl for 15 seconds or less here behind enemy lines in the mostly dry NorCal climate here in the Sierras.

https://i.imgur.com/2VOr3rB.jpg

I like to dump the whole contents in the bowl onto this cookie sheet & swish it back and forth a few times...any nicks from tumbling in the bowl will get re-coated perfectly...

https://i.imgur.com/m4HB8Tg.jpg

Only thing is there's a caveat about these small beads..."don't do as this goof'Tard did and use them with HP cast boolits, I think the reason 'not to' should be obvious!"

https://i.imgur.com/SMK3l7b.jpg

:bigsmyl2:

[Taterhead]

Joe Leadslinger gave me some polyester type 'stuffing beads' and these lil'suckers really create static! Swirl for 15 seconds or less here behind enemy lines in the mostly dry NorCal climate here in the Sierras.

https://i.imgur.com/2VOr3rB.jpg

I like to dump the whole contents in the bowl onto this cookie sheet & swish it back and forth a few times...any nicks from tumbling in the bowl will get re-coated perfectly...

https://i.imgur.com/m4HB8Tg.jpg

Only thing is there's a caveat about these small beads..."don't do as this goof'Tard did and use them with HP cast boolits, I think the reason 'not to' should be obvious!"

https://i.imgur.com/SMK3l7b.jpg

:bigsmyl2:

Similar colors to mine. What are ya blending? I assume that you are then tweezing the coated bullets onto a separate tray for baking?

[Coopaloop86]

I was having all kinds of issues until I started using a gallon ziplock bag with the boolits in my tumbler for 3-5 minutes. Gives me perfect coverage even with tough powders and clean up is way easier.

[OS OK]

Similar colors to mine. What are ya blending? I assume that you are then tweezing the coated bullets onto a separate tray for baking?

I call it 'Old Lead' color, 50/50 white & black...Yup, tweezin'em to parchment paper.

https://i.imgur.com/gjULSLW.jpg

[OTShooter]

Joe Leadslinger gave me some polyester type 'stuffing beads' and these lil'suckers really create static! Swirl for 15 seconds or less here behind enemy lines in the mostly dry NorCal climate here in the Sierras.:bigsmyl2:

Those “stuffing beads” are styrofoam, and they probably should be the illustration in every dictionary for “static cling”. I’ll look at trying them with shake-and-bake.

Greg, since I was very new at this, I made sure I did everything right. Nitrile gloves, stainless surgical pickups, everything. I was using what I thought was the advised size of #5 container; the pint/2 cup/16 ounce size. I started with cheap reusable/disposable containers, but they were so cheap that my .452 bullets cracked the one I tried. So I went to a better grade of disposable ( ;) ) and didn’t break the container.

[OS OK]

Those “stuffing beads” are styrofoam, and they probably should be the illustration in every dictionary for “static cling”. I’ll look at trying them with shake-and-bake.

Greg, since I was very new at this, I made sure I did everything right. Nitrile gloves, stainless surgical pickups, everything. I was using what I thought was the advised size of #5 container; the pint/2 cup/16 ounce size. I started with cheap reusable/disposable containers, but they were so cheap that my .452 bullets cracked the one I tried. So I went to a better grade of disposable ( ;) ) and didn’t break the container.

You being a 'tweezer type', I thought I'd mention another benefit to pouring the whole mess on a cookie tray like this...

https://i.imgur.com/Om6T4cW.jpg

After giving the tray a few push & pulls back and forth most all the casts will align themselves sideways, they re-coat any nicks from swirling in the tub and make it a snap to tweeze them up really quickly...once you have grabbed all the ones facing in the correct direction (right or left facing noses) you turn the tray 180º and all the remainder of the casts are again facing in the correct position to tweeze'em fast.
This coats them so thick I have to tap the tweezers on the side of the cookie sheet to knock off all the extra PC.

Eventually I found a pair of tweezers that had a more aggressive grip, the ones I used above left marks on the sides of the cast (those marks fill in when the PC melts and flows down but it still bothered me seeing that)

https://i.imgur.com/GyeIlfJ.jpg

Bending the one side of the tweezers keep them heavy casts from getting away from your grip...less pressure using the tweezers and my old hands last longer.

[AndyC]

I couldn't get shaking to work well, so out of frustration I dunked my bullets into a #5 tub (actually, a chicken soup container) with some powder and set it going in my vibratory case-cleaner. I used a tub for the bullets and powder because I didn't want to have to clean out the bowl of my tumbler each time. Oh, and I didn't use BBs nor did I follow any particular cleanliness protocols:

https://i.imgur.com/ISUUZNy.jpg

I ran it for 10-15 minutes at first then quickly found it really only needs a short 1-2 minute run - works for me. The photo above shows the container standing up, but now I usually run 2 of those containers laying on their sides in my tumbler.


...but I want to do it right - as in get a solid application in one pass that doesn't build up so thick I can't use my push through sizer (from NOE) to size them.
After the bullets have come out of the tumbler, I swish them around briefly in a metal tray to get off the excess powder before putting them in the oven.

[Conditor22]

I started Vibratory Tumbler Coating Boolits to get HF powder to stick.

Not a fan of big batches of the same color so I put boolits and a little PC in doubled-up plastic zipper bags (they only survive a few uses) and lined the bottom of a Vibratory Tumbler with them. (no BB's/poly-pellets-beads needed)

most PC only requires 10-15 minutes.

Using the Vibratory Tumbler Coating Boolits method is useful when your hands/arms aren't up to ASBBDT/Shake and Bake.

some members use old powder jars with great success, screw-top or locking top plastic containers work well also (if the containers are snap shut type like margarine/cool whip containers a little tape is needed to prevent a mess)

Vibratory Tumbler Coating Boolits will help the harder to stick PC work

Rotary tumbling is also another viable method, pack a plastic jar (with PC and boolits) into a rotary tumbler with wood/towels/??? and let it run 10 -?? minutes [make sure the lid is tight]