Used Hi-Tec coating today- 1st time

[BJK]

Relax, the short story first and it's a good story. I tested them by the acetone and smash tests and they are fine.

I cast 457 9mm bullets a week or so ago and was just waiting on weather to finish them since I didn't know how much smoke would be generated. Next time I'll bake them in the shop, no good weather required just some wind to suck any smoke out the wind turbines. I've heard there are easier colors and certain colors that aren't so easy. I didn't know that when I bought my powder. Todays color is old gold and I have no idea if it's easy or tough, but I know I didn't have any problems with it. I mixed up 1/2 a batch, 50ml acetone and 10g powder and I have just a few ml left, maybe 5-10ml? I don't l know what I was expecting, but just not as easy as it was. I spent some time calibrating the old toaster/broiler and I think that was time well spent. I coated all of the bullets twice, pulling out a few culls as I saw them... Culls from casting and not coating, maybe 10. Gee, aren't they just gorgeous in old gold (not the culls!)! Next I size them and load a few to work up a load. Hey, I'm liking this casting my own bullets. IMO it's knowledge worth having. I'm not always glad that I do everything that I do, but this is one of the good things. Yeah, knowledge worth having. It took a pandemic and BLM/anitifa panic buying and shortages to drive me to it (I had the lead for 20 years) so I guess I'm happy for the fear driving the country. I never thought I'd say that. (Thanks Fauci and you too Biteme!)

[ioon44]

Sounds like you did good for the first time.
I use Gold 1035 and it is easy to work with. You said you coated the bullets twice did you bake each coat?

I hope the fear driving the country drives it in the right direction.

[BJK]

Thanks. I did bake them twice. Once after each wet coating. I really didn't find it difficult, just pay attention to details and no contamination. Not much different than handloading or even cooking, just different.

My hope on the fear also. But in the meantime I'm trying to ride the wave as best I can.

[dikman]

Well done, BJK.

[popper]

I can't get the gold to shoot fast in my rifles without leading. PC is just as easy and works for me.

[BJK]

Popper, but other Hi-Tek colors shoot fast w/o problems?

[Ausglock]

Old Gold, Red copper, Kryptonite Green, Gold 1035, Bronze 502 all are easy to coat with.
I have driven the Lee 150gn 308 bullet ( sized .310) coated with Kryptonite Green with no gas check out of a Parker Hale 308 with Sultz & Larson match barrel at 2580 fps.
at 500 yards.

Group was a bit over 4 1/2"
Zero leading...

Very happy

[BJK]

Thanks Ausglock, good to know. Yes, I'd be happy with that too. Next up is 300BLK subsonic, but I also want a light supersonic bullet. But I'm not opposed to using it in other . 308 bores driven faster.

I wonder how many people know your avatar is Beetle Bailey? Am I dating myself by even knowing? I don't know if it's syndicated anymore.

[Half Dog]

Sounds like you did better on your first try than I did. I really enjoy the Hi-Tec coatings.

[BJK]

Half dog, I didn't need it but I bought more coating today. I don't want to be without. I'm not one of those people who try to buy when there are shortages. It's just too easy a process. I did expect problems. It couldn't be that easy, right? But it is. Or at least it was for me. The instructions stresses the contamination aspect for failure. I just keep the clean and paid attention to temp's and times. But I couldn't take one batch out of the oven on time and it still worked but darkened up a little. This forum helped a great deal with my success. I had months to read and learn. That's my way of acknowledging my debt. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

The saga continues... I figured if I was going to experience any problems with the coating I would see it in the sizing. Nothing. Just as slick as snot with no issues. I'm REALLY liking this! The bullet is some smooth on the part that rides on the bore. It's 9mm and I sized to .356 (LEE sizer) that's the size I've always purchased and it's worked fine. My loading bench is set up in the attic of the shop, but it's summer and it's hot up there, so I brought the RockChucker down to the first floor. That was the most difficult part of the operation and I wouldn't call it difficult. I sized maybe 100 and I'll finish the rest tomorrow. It couldn't go faster.

I had a friend cast a mess of 9mm bullets that "didn't require sizing" in a LEE die a bunch of years ago. I lubed with liquid Alox. If I had known how easy and inexpensive sizing was I would have bought a sizer those years ago. The "no sizing needed" struck me as BS and it was. I can throw a rock more accurately and I'm not known for rock throwing at all. Instead I remelted them and turned them into what I now have. Not a big deal.

[dikman]

BJK, there are really only a couple of things to watch out for, clean boolits (as you said), temperature control (a bit higher won't ruin them or cooking longer, it will only affect the colour) and coating thickness. If the coat is too thick they won't pass the smash test, I learned this the hard way! Thin is good.

It's good stuff!

[BJK]

Yes, precise temperature control I don't have with the toaster/broiler. But in calibrating it I found that turning it to 425° and turning on the internal fan gave me between 390-410°. It worked perfectly. With the fan on it also seemed to have better temp' control. We used that T/B for years and I never calibrated the thing.

[popper]

BJK I use a 145gr (PB & GCd FP moulds) for the BO, push pretty hard. Work great. Also use a 311165 RD copy PB @ 1400 fps for short range and fun stuff.

[BJK]

Thanks Popper

[BJK]

Sunday I cast another 500+ bullets and today I gave all of them a first coat. The next 2 days could be rainy so my plan is to bake them off in the shop. Probably give them a 2nd coat and bake again same day. Hey, I'm liking this! For me 1k bullets is almost a years worth for competition since I'm not a huge competitor. Then I want a few k on the shelf for unseen circumstances.

[dikman]

It's easy to get carried away, isn't it? I've got several thousand .38's coated and sized plus a few thousand for my .44-40 but every now and then I cast and coat a few more.

[BJK]

I don't know about carried away. I'm older and my crystal ball is cloudy so I don't see the future clearly anymore. No matter what happens I want to be able to continue competing. I'm not a business so I see no need to have minimal inventory on hand for the IRS. My casting is weather dependent and the stars almost need to align, so I cast when I can. It costs almost nothing to cast, just my time since I already own the lead (propane expense). I do what I can when I can.