Anybody Hi-Tek in the Air Fryer?

[SpotHound]

HAs anyone used an air fryer successfully to heat up the Hi-Tek on bullets?

[kevin c]

I’d like to know, too.

Seems like it should work. Joe Ban, the HiTek inventor, stresses the need for really good hot air circulation (“cyclonic” is what he describes as the ideal), and an air fryer is all about that, right?

One problem is the cooking baskets I’ve seen in some models: they wouldn’t allow laying out much of a single layer of bullets.

[475AR]

I did just today, worked like a charm.
I got a bigger one (air fryer) as my first one was smaller and had to do meals in stages, but works very well, so I retired my black n decker toaster oven, that I used for bullet baking and replaced it with the small air fryer. I set it to 400* and 13 minutes and the bullets came out great.

[GregLaROCHE]

That sounds interesting. Is it any faster than an oven? I hope no one uses it for food again after heating lead in them.

[kevin c]

I did just today, worked like a charm.
I got a bigger one (air fryer) as my first one was smaller and had to do meals in stages, but works very well, so I retired my black n decker toaster oven, that I used for bullet baking and replaced it with the small air fryer. I set it to 400* and 13 minutes and the bullets came out great.

475AR, how big a load of bullets did you bake? Were they spread out in a single layer?

[charlie b]

A caution here. Air fryers (at least the ones I have and have looked at) are broilers, ie, the heating elements are at the top. That means the bullets are exposed to direct radiant heat, which is very effective for cooking.

The 'danger' is the heat can be enough to melt the bullets if you are not careful. The plus side is the large amount of air being circulated means it evens out that temperature quickly.

The key is to make sure of the temps. Use a good thermometer to check the inside temp and compare to the oven settings. Don't exceed the powder or HiTec recommended cure temps. And don't load up a 'full basket' of bullets since those near the top may get much hotter than the ones at the bottom. Remember air flow is your friend.

[Hossfly]

What ever you’re cooking your boolits in, to test temp of a boolit to get real precise you could drill a small hole in a test boolit, insert a thermocouple and pinch it down to hold. Then cook your boolits and that will give the temp. Inside and you wont melt your lead from radiant heat.

[kevin c]

That sounds interesting. Is it any faster than an oven? I hope no one uses it for food again after heating lead in them.

Thinking about it, the bullets should all be coated as they go in, and they shouldn’t get hot enough to melt, so maybe there isn’t any lead released?

The main thing that my coating oven has that may make it unsuitable for future use with food is a thick coating of smoke residue from the HiTek getting heated. I have no idea if the stuff is toxic (I’d guess not, otherwise JB would have some kind of warning on the containers).