Frankv...what is this stuff?
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Frankv...what is this stuff?
It's a silicone based Powder coat. Because it is silicone based it has a higher working Temp than traditional epoxy polymer powder coat and a lowed coefficient of friction.In our application I think the silicone will aid in bullet lubrication.
Will probably apply with the Piglet method just fine.
I have ordered some to try.
Frankv
I have purchased a lot of powder coating material from Powder Buy The Pound, I powder coat a lot of things beside bullets.
Let us know how the Silicone dissolves with acetone, this might work good with the Piglet method if the material will dissolve.
Silicone has a lower coefficient of friction than polymer. This should give better FPS,we'll see when I get it.
I'd be interested to see what happens. Silicone is derived from Sand. and Sand is a very good abrasive.
Ausglock, What????? Silicon is a component of sand molecules as in SiO2. Pure silicon, Si is also crystalline and used in electronics manufacture. SiliCONEs are a family of organic polymers consisting of silicon and carbon (not SiO2). Their properties are myriad and are dictated by the ratios of silicon to carbon and various functional groups. Making a comparison like yours is a real leap. It's comparing apples and well.... space rocks...
I am considering the coating available from Bayou Bullets and I have a question. The method use to cure the coating is very similar to the heat treating method used to increase BH of COWW as described by Glen Fryxell and Rick Kelter. When heat treating bullets they're left in a 425 degree oven for and hour and then quenched in water. This yields a much more consistent BH than water dropping straight from the mold.
So the question is, if I desire a higher BH and at the same time use the coating, can the coated bullets be quenched in water when the are removed from the oven? Is the coating sufficiently cured to survive the water quenching?
Ausglock-That's like saying that charcoal has the same characteristics as the wood that burned to make it.
Silicone is derived by a chemical process from silicon and other elements,it possesses it own characteristics which are nothing like silicon.
I don't want to get lengthy so here you can read all about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicone
Upon further investigation the hardness of the generic silicone powders are about 4H
ABQ- I'm trying the Bronze
I said I would report back on the Piglet method with Harbor Freight Black ( powder ) paint. I ran about three hundred through my cement mixer with a Rectangular tub ( kitty litter bucket ) retrofitted to the hub. This makes the boolits tumble. I was wrong in an earlier post. I still needed to do three coats. I sozed the boolits .452. The mold I used is the Lee 200 Tumble Lube . I am not sure if that is a good choice or a bad one. I have a 200 grain Lee semi wad cutter ( knock off of the Hensley and Gibbs # 68) on backorder from Midway. It is supposed to be in stock sometime next week. I will try that one, and see which I like the best.
The coating stays on the boolit even when it hits the sand trap where I normally shoot into. THe lands remove the coating at some point in the trip down the barrel, but the leading, and there is some, seems to stay on the top of the lands and basically comes off with a brush. I fired fifty rounds of draw and double tap, rapid magazine changes, etc. I did not try for accuracy, just function and leading. I used 5.3 of Winchester 231. I had a little problem with the powder measure I am using, and I got some rounds with no powder when I used a lighter charge. I want to be clear on one thing, the bullet behaves a lot more like a j word bullet if it gets stuck in the bore. As the barrel gets dirty it gets worse getting them out.
Cleaning was worse than J bullets, but not as bad as some cast loads I have used and been happy with. I HAVE NOT tested the alloy for hardness, and I am using what is purported to be the worst Powder paint, Harbor Freight Black. I have some Harbor Freight Yellow, and someone posted that it is better for what we are doing. In any event, a new brass brush and some Hoppes #9 was all it took. More black stuff than lead. The lead that was in there was very easy to get out.
I have some 124 grain Lee 2r bullets . These have a small conventional lube grove, and that will be my next test. I have a GLOCK 17, a Cz75b, and two Smith & Wesson revolvers. I am holding off 'til I get a .356 sizer die to try the 9mms. I have a 105 grain 1r Lee two cavity I bought for my Bersa .380. I am going to try it in the .380 and the 9mm.
Anyhow, the mixer works very well. If you get too much powder, which I did several times, you can just put more acetone in the mixer, let it spin a minute, and then dump the extra stuff out. You pretty quickly get a feel for how much powder the boolits will take. The powder will kind of go dry as it tumbles. If there is too much powder, you can get it back liquid pretty easy. Not enough, pour more mixed powder / acetone in. When I take the out, they are basically dry and I know I have a good even coat on the boolits. I was convinced I could do it in one coat, but It takes three.
I found using dishwashing soap while sizing really helps. You can wash it off after you size with water, no problem. More later.
G'day.
If you have an alloy with 10 BHN or higher, you do not need to increase the BH. The Supercoat will still work fine. I am currently trying some Lee 120gr Con with 8BHN alloy and push them fast out of a 9mm STI Trojan. The Supercoat will be 2 coats and I'll post the results.
Also. The coated bulltes are only in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. This is probably not long enough to heat harden.
I have an XP100 7TCU and I use the RCBS 145. When comparing two different load combinations that were identical in every way except BH, the loads that were 12BH produced 100 yard 5 shot groups of 3.25"..........the other load at 18BH grouped 5 shots into 1.25". Neither load produced any leading. Accuracy was far better with the harder alloy. My DW 44 mag is the same, preferring a harder alloy when I use a 250gr GC SWC and 296 powder. I have other guns that don't really need a hard alloy. But there are times when a higher BH number is needed.
So back to the original question. Can these coated bullets be left in the oven as long as an hour and can they be dropped in water without adveresly affecting the coating?
G'day.
You can leave them in for an hour, But you may cause the coating to become brittle.
I don't know. Maybe you should PM HI-TEK or swamprat and ask them.
I am doing some coating tonight. I might drop a few into a bucket of water and then do a smash test on them.
Doc, I'd consider this test a failure if you are getting ANY leading at all. .45's are about the simplest/most forgiving round to successfully cast/lube. I can tumble lube with LLA and not get leading from them. I'd be interesting to see what hardness your lead turns out to be.
9mm's are the bullet I have had difficulty preventing leading with, and using HF paint, I can avoid leading when using WW.
So, I suspect your lead may be too soft if you are getting leading - almost as if its pure lead.
I water quenched some 9m Makarov boolits on the last coat. Then my Saeco hardness tester decided it did not want to work so I sent it to Redding. I will take reading when it comes back.
I would not leave the coated boolits in the oven for an hour. I turned the knob on the oven the wrong way once and they baked to long. It did the hammer test on that batch and the coating flaked off some, not alot, but it would probably lead in the barrel.
I did state before that the cooking had negative effects on the water quenching from the mold but now that my tester broke I am not sure that is true. Will test when my tester comes back.
Tomorrow if I'm feeling good I am going to the range for some testing. Have some 180gr boolits loaded in the 30-06 for higher velocity testing with H4895 and am also going to test the Lee 5R 230gr boattail boolit in my 300 Whisper with no gas check.
I have had only positive feedback from the people using my boolits coated with HI-Tek. Now to test the boundries and see if they have moved with the use of this coating.