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Thread: Getting the thinnest coat - Show me Your Sifter.

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Getting the thinnest coat - Show me Your Sifter.

    My goal is to reduce the amount of sizing the bullet is subject to. I get better accuracy that way.
    How do you all remove the excess powder from your bullets before baking them?
    I do shake and bake in #5 yogurt containers. I tried putting a disc of 1/4' hardware cloth partway down in one of the containers as a sifter to use after shaking, and that kind of worked, but I need something more robust.
    Guess I could have titled this thread, "Show me your Sifter" (which I went back and did).
    Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    I use a simple 2 inch high wooden frame with hardware cloth as a bottom. I have a couple sizes to fit into different powder catching trays. I don't use the bb's.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/sto...nders-strainer

    I use these for many things in the shop/garage and find them ideal for sifting off excess powder over a piece of cardboard with a corner crease running down the center. After sifting off the excess, partially folding the cardboard creates a funnel of sorts for pouring the powder back into a container (as seen in an Elvis Ammo video).

    The sifter is no help separating BBs from boolits but since I stand my boolits up for curing, I just pick the bullets out one at a time with powder dusted fingers.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    OK. Think I'll stroll over to the dollar store and get me a sifter.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by oley55 View Post
    https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/sto...nders-strainer

    I use these for many things in the shop/garage and find them ideal for sifting off excess powder over a piece of cardboard with a corner crease running down the center. After sifting off the excess, partially folding the cardboard creates a funnel of sorts for pouring the powder back into a container (as seen in an Elvis Ammo video).

    The sifter is no help separating BBs from boolits but since I stand my boolits up for curing, I just pick the bullets out one at a time with powder dusted fingers.
    That’s what I use as well. Works really good.

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy MaLar's Avatar
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    I put the bare minimum of powder in the container to start. Shake then look if I need more, I put just enough to cover the grove bottoms.
    I start with a 1/4 teaspoon to about a cup of boolits. I don't want any powder in the tub when I'm done shaking. And I don't have to sift or knock the the powder off after shaking.
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  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    First, try sizing the bullets before PC. Then, if you need to, size again after.

    I have found using clear leaves a slightly thinner coating.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by MaLar View Post
    I put the bare minimum of powder in the container to start. Shake then look if I need more, I put just enough to cover the grove bottoms.
    I start with a 1/4 teaspoon to about a cup of boolits. I don't want any powder in the tub when I'm done shaking. And I don't have to sift or knock the the powder off after shaking.
    Going to try this. Seems like a pound of powder will last me a looong time.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I use BB's and quite a bit of powder (probably a tablespoon of powder to start with) in heavy-duty Rubbermaid containers. I have a container for each color as I'm weird that way. After shaking, I dump onto a quarter sheet aluminum bakimg pan with a small grid cooling rack. The BB's and powder drop right on through and the bullets stay on the cooling rack (32's mostly stay on top). Curved tip forceps and a little bit of time and in the oven they go.

    Honestly I PC every bullet after casting and don't check the diameter before PC. Some clear added makes for a great coat and the bullets slide through the LEE sizers easy.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Your enemy is not the PC, it is we are saddled with molds that produce oversized bullets designed for grease. PC produces a hard polymer jacket very much like copper, but a lot slicker. The polymer jacket is capable of withstanding the torque spin-up of full power loads with a tenacious bond to the soft alloy core. Because we start with oversize bullets (the core) when we size we are having to move metal and the metal has to go somewhere.

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dragonheart View Post
    Your enemy is not the PC, it is we are saddled with molds that produce oversized bullets designed for grease. PC produces a hard polymer jacket very much like copper, but a lot slicker. The polymer jacket is capable of withstanding the torque spin-up of full power loads with a tenacious bond to the soft alloy core. Because we start with oversize bullets (the core) when we size we are having to move metal and the metal has to go somewhere.
    Agreed. For 38 caliber I powder coat bullets meant for the 9mm with good results. Anything meant for a 38/357 gives me groupings the size of the pattern my empties make on the ground. But I exaggerate.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by sknhgy View Post
    Agreed. For 38 caliber I powder coat bullets meant for the 9mm with good results. Anything meant for a 38/357 gives me groupings the size of the pattern my empties make on the ground. But I exaggerate.
    My limited Ransom Rest testing confirmed your findings. Using identical loads with the only variation being the bullet sizing, as the bullet's size increased over the barrel's land diameter the group sizes also increased accordingly.

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy
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    Im with Malar on this one, easy and effective

    Cheers

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've started using the "shake, check, add, shake some more" technique and it has solved my problem.
    Thanks.
    Just a note. I do this next to a box fan with a furnace filter on the intake side. (Our basement is nice and I powder coat and reload down there.) It catches what little air born dust there is.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    PC sieve. BB:s fall through.



    But for really thin I use Hi Tek.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Petander View Post
    PC sieve. BB:s fall through.



    But for really thin I use Hi Tek.
    Thanks. Have you got a link to a simple explanation of the Hi Tek method?

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    Ok I looked up some videos. Think I'll stick with PC for now.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master


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    Thinnest coat is with an ES gun and spraying them. The finish is outstanding as well.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have a piece of fiberglass (?) Window screen stretched across a frame. I put bullets on there in a single layer and roll them back and forth a few times, to even out the powder coverage before baking . I think metal screen would make the powder a little thinner. Using two thin coats of smoke's powder. Single coat makes me nervous because thin spots look bare.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by MaLar View Post
    I put the bare minimum of powder in the container to start. Shake then look if I need more, I put just enough to cover the grove bottoms.
    I start with a 1/4 teaspoon to about a cup of boolits. I don't want any powder in the tub when I'm done shaking. And I don't have to sift or knock the the powder off after shaking.
    this

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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