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Thread: Meticulously Stacking your Boolits in the oven...

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Meticulously Stacking your Boolits in the oven...

    If you're one of those folks who just dump your boolits on the screen/paper after coating...

    Don't you get flat spot(s) where the boolit rests on the paper/screen? Does that not affect accuracy? Does resizing remove the flat spot?

    I'm particularly concerned about shooting those loooooooooong 230gr. Lee .308 boolits through a suppressor. Avoiding baffle strikes is a high priority, and I would think flat spots increase the likelihood of instability.

    So, I meticulously stack all my boolits on the base before baking. Its a pain. Sometimes a boolit falls and gets a flat spot. I re-smelt those. Is that a waste?

    What's your experience?

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy dave 45-90's Avatar
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    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	287966I use plastic egg crate fluorescent light fixture covers cut to pan size to set them up Pull the grate up and pc. Stand up like solders. Then I use hemostats with a needle shape ground point to move them to another pan. Doesn’t affect coating and the overspray is contained in my special designed rotating table
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Just size them after. The flat spot might affect accuracy but they still do 1 1/2 MOA or less for me. If they are touching each other they form more of a defect than just laying on the side.

    I stand them up because I can fit more on the tray. I use trays with a 1/2" wire grid. I leave the wire in there when they are baked.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    I'm still pretty new to PCing and only cast/coat easy to stand-up pistol bullets. That said setting bullets upright doesn't really take that long. I can coat and set up a full tray of bullets in the time it takes to cook a batch. So no time wasted expending a bit more effort.

    I'm fairly certain at some point I will try shake, bake and dump in a pile, but not until I have fully mastered the basic processes.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
    shell70634's Avatar
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    I used to stand all of them up on non-stick aluminum foil covered piece of sheet metal to bake. Still do for small groups of large caliber boolits in a cheap toaster oven. For quantity I use a kitchen size oven a friend gave me. I buy plastic containers from Dollar Tree. They have screw on lids and the number 5 on the base. It will fit in my thumblers tumbler. I have done the shake method but I'm lazy. I haven't found the plastic beads to be anything but a pain so I don't use any. This is what I did this morning.
    Started with this: 165 grain swc 38 boolits
    Attachment 288049
    Tumbled a few handfuls per container for 15 to 20 minutes. I use whatever color I have laying around and sometimes get an interesting mix.
    Attachment 288050
    Then dump em in a hardware clothe box to shake of excess.
    Attachment 288051
    Then dump em onto the oven rack. It's covered with hardware clothe and non-stick aluminum foil. I leave gaps between the foil to allow heat to circulate. My oven can be 400 degrees down low and 250 degrees up high. I try not to let them pile on top of each other but I don't worry about them touching. If I watch the thermometers closely the bottom rack will get to 400 and I keep it adjusted for that. After 18 to 20 minutes at 400 I remove the bottom rack and then watch the upper rack and do the same.
    Attachment 288052
    Attachment 288053
    I have a laundry room utility sink nearby that I fill half full of water. The boolits get dumped into the water, foil and all. The only loss of boolits are when 2 are base to base when they hit the water. I can't get them apart. Any others that stick together usually break apart easily without bare lead showing. Then I dump them onto a towel to dry before sizing.
    Attachment 288054
    Monitoring the heat is the only critical process. I lost a loaded rack of 235 grain 45 acp boolits because the bottom rack got far to hot and the boolits started to deform. A few of the boolits that are directly on the hardware clothe have small bare spots, but most are usable.

    This works for me. I pc'd about 2500 boolits in less than 2 hours.
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  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    Try a silicone ice cube tray...

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  7. #7
    Boolit Man
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    I use ammo box plastic inserts from 38 Special ammunition that I quickly drilled out to be through round holes. I glued some together to fit my baking sheet. After "powdering" the bullets I use nitrile gloved hands with PC on the fingers to stand the bullets in the holders. When full I very carefully lift the plastic holder and all my bullets are neatly standing in rows. Carefully slide the baking sheet into the oven and cook them. If you had a heavy night of drinking the day before your results won't be so good...just sayin'

  8. #8
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by OS OK View Post
    Try a silicone ice cube tray...
    Yep - that's what I use for rifle boolits, too

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  9. #9
    Banned


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    I PC big bullets for .45-70 rifles and carefully standing up each bullet (using PC powdered surgical gloves) on a teflon mat insures creating proper coated bullets that have clean sides AND bases that will be ready for sizing, loading, and top notch accuracy to 200 yards and beyond. YMMV.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check