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Before I buy a pound of powder, does one color work better than another or are they all about the same. I'd rather not have my loaded rounds look like tubes of lipstick so I'm thinking of something in the gray to black range if it's all the same otherwise...
Tony
AKA Geezerbiker
Look in the vendor section for smokes powder. He lists some information about what colors work best depending on the method.
you might also want to consider buying Smoke4320’s sampler pak. my suggestion would be clear, gloss black and traffic white. those three will give you a nice granite looking gray boolits and some darkened natural colored boolits. I don’t recall if the samplers are 1/4 or 1/3 pound. also buy some plastic airsoft bullets from him incase your climate needs the pellets help.
When starting use Smoke's Carolina Blue or Eastwood Ford Light Blue. They are proven to be the easiest to get good coverage when using the shake and bake method. Once you have a method that works well, then pick a color you like.
Smoke offers a sample deal of three colors that is a good way to start.
Most of mine now are done in clear. The powder is white so you can see if you have decent coverage before you bake. When done you can still inspect bullets for any flaws you might have missed before.
I still bake some in Red or Purple to denote different loads for the .45acp.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...or-sale/page30
Smoke's clear all the way. Goes on like powdered sugar, bakes clear, slick and shiny making the bullets look like fresh cast. Very smooth with no pigment to clump or spot and a slightly thinner coating, which makes sizing a breeze.
Just buy Smokes.
#1 he is here and one of us
#2 he knows what we are doing and knows his powders work REGARDLESS OF COLOR.
#3 he is a good guy.
CW
I like the clear powder - bullets still look like lead bullets when finished. and Smoke's powders for sure.
Thanx guys. I'll try some clear once I get the rest of the stuff I need. This has been a back burner project for me for way too long...
Tony
AKA Geezerbiker
Another vote for smokes powder. As of a week ago his silver was out of stock. Black tumbles very well on lower humidity days. That is one of the biggest tricks to getting flawless coverage. Air conditioned works too.
I havent tried clear yet, but its on its way...
If you dont have a cyber wallet, he has (in the past) taken a credit card over the phone.
I prefer Eastwod chrome black. You should store the black in an air tight container, in a low humidity environment, AC, etc. I use the shake and bake, two coat, nose down, no gas check, process.
Smokes clear is my goto powder. Bakes on perfectly even.
Especially happy with it in high humidity when all colors for me don't cover even. Clear still goes on easy and even every time.
Hi. About airsoft bbs. ❓. I found some locally airsoft black 25gm wondering if this is the good stuff❓ Thanks. Attachment 304186
I’m sure any air soft BBS will work for tumbling. I use to buy some from smoke for $2. I was at the thrift store buying pewter last Friday and found a third or quarter container full of air soft BBS for $1.99 so I snagged them. If your a first time tumbler Smokes clear will be your friend. For colors the easiest color for me is Smokes traffic blue to get to coat. If you get spotty cover coverage there is still clear PC that covers the boolit…it just downt look as pretty to me. I like mixing colors so the boolits come out speckled.
All smokes powders I tumble coated. If I don’t tumble in the winter when it’s cold and dry clear is my fiend. It will coat year around for me.
Purple, black, and blue…
https://i.imgur.com/jtlLm7o.jpg
Green and purple…
https://i.imgur.com/nJvB017.jpg
Clear…
https://i.imgur.com/yEaGnYn.jpg
Bunch of mixed colors and then bounced in another container with another color…
https://i.imgur.com/QpXlm8S.jpg
Red…
https://i.imgur.com/MwMT3hi.jpg
Forgot what color this is…
https://i.imgur.com/1Gi2yL5.jpg
More purple in different light…
https://i.imgur.com/MTXDfV2.jpg
Some fishing sinkers I did with mixing his powder…
https://i.imgur.com/VSSHHYe.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wT5jmRS.jpg
I think I made brown from red, green, and??? Don’t remember but like it. When I don’t get even coverage I start dumping powders together. It seems to coat nice and even funky looking new colors for me when I do.
All Smokes powders.
Thanks. Looks good. Yup first go. Waiting for powder to arrive Carolina Blue Flame Red OD Green waiting for nose first sizer. Got a small toaster oven for $2. And looking forward to some color in my life.
Do you still need gas checks with power coated bullets? I was hoping to not have to use them any more...
Tony
AKA Geezerbiker
Depends on how fast you are pushing them. CWlongshot I believe was pushing his 450BM to 1850 fps without GCs. I use GCs for all my rifles. Pistols normally not accept for my 44 mags. Imo GCs helps with long range accuracy. IMO twenty five yard pistol shooting its not needed. I believe users here have tried without them to 1850fps with great accuracy and no leading.
My cast loads tend to be on the mild side so I'm thinking I will be able to do away with the gas checks. I hope so anyway...
BTW, what's the reasoning behind powder coating fishing sinkers? I've always left mine plain.
Tony
Went to Florida this past winter and read orange looks like sand flea eggs. Painted them orangish yellow for a color attractant. I’m sure the divers there are having a fun time finding all the ones I lost on corral. I also figured it beats touching lead and leaving oxidation in my tackle box. Seen many boxes over the years with lead staining.
Eastwood blue was my first and best try.
Smokes pink and green worked Soso and the purple was great.
I don’t have the air soft bbs in my #5 plastic container
The air soft BB’s help build static to get PC to stick.
My 45/70 red PCed loads sure look lipsticks. If you don’t want to attract attention, go with clear. I use different colors for different boolit weights. Black if they are black powder loads.
Depends. Pistol bullets I would venture that you won't see any difference. For higher vel rifle bullets it can.Quote:
Originally Posted by technojock
The problem comes in when you have a bullet designed for GC. If you don't use a GC then you have several surfaces that need to be perfect, the base and the bottom drive band, as well as the GC shank area. The problem is at the muzzle. As the bullet leaves the barrel any flaws in the base area will try to deflect the bullet. If shooting rifle ranges (100yd and up) then any flaws will cause groups to open up.
Plain base bullets do fairly well with just PC up to pretty high vel.
I enjoy playing around with the colors, especially when I find a blend that will get me something nice like the gray.
Attachment 304215
The color doesn't seem to matter, just that they are the opaque colors, not the shiny translucent colors.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mandoair
Hey y’all. Let’s be clear that I’m not bashing Smoke. He’s got a great product! I just haven’t followed the directions and I am brand spanking new at this.
Fast delivery Smoke!!!!!
I don't use BBs anymore. Works fine for me without them and I have as high a humidity level as anybody.
I tried the BBs once but didn’t see any difference. PC has always worked well for me, even in a humid environment. I just make sure the powder stays super dry.Quote:
Originally Posted by Finster101
I just PCd my first run of out .402 group buy HP mold. It's raining here so I figured I wouldn't have that great of coverage. I even used old powder I had sitting it Tupperware wit air soft BBs. I used Smokes powder. First go was traffic purple with black and blue mixed in. I noticed the HP cavities didn't want to have PC stick to them today. I had a few bright specs of bare alloy showing as well. All colors I tried did the same but seemed to flow into the spots but not the HP cavities. Not to worried about the HP areas anyway. I then had some red, Green, and orange mixed from last year or longer. Made a nice brown. I ran out so I dumped some.orange in I had in a another Tupperware tumbling container.
https://i.imgur.com/2iGUfbl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/d1Flndf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JgpWebd.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/imN234o.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/ZiyQlh4.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/M8Osu8p.jpeg
Eastwood Ford Light Blue seems to be the easiest and best coverage for shake and bake for whatever reason.
When I ordered from Smoke I asked him to give me the color that works best. He sent me Traffic Purple. Yes, it looks just like lipstick. But dang, I cannot make that stuff not work. I couldn't care less about the color.
Attachment 304575
Tumble coated these a few hours ago. I had to cast up some harder alloy because I had leading in my 10mm with the ones above. It smokes purple with black. Might have added a little blue to…don’t remember. To pretty to shoot!
https://i.imgur.com/WcOpPHX.jpg
My first go with powder coating it’s shake n bake blue with bb”s od green without bbs. Have some green loaded up to try��. Mine just ain’t as pertty as yours. Yet. Attachment 304598Attachment 304599