These will be for smith 38spl and a gp100 7shot 357.
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These will be for smith 38spl and a gp100 7shot 357.
Powdercoated will glide right thru a lee sizer. You will notice the ones that were cast with the blocks slightly open...due to more resistance.
The powdercoating will work better if you dont get the oils from your hands on the boolits.
Remember to wear a nitrile glove to handle the powdered bullets before baking. Just get the fingers into the powder first.
And check the actual temp of your oven before you make powdercoated discs....ask me how i know.....
Have fun.
You could make up dummy round and see if they will chamber with the bullets unsized. It will save you a step.
For my 38 special cowboy loads, I use a light coat of 45-45-10 and don't size.
If you preheat your bullet mold, you will probably have a better percentage of good bullets. If you still get wrinkled bullets with a preheated mold, you might try lightly smoking the cavities with a BBQ lighter.
Welcome to Castboolits!
That’s a great boolit. The reason for the different spelling is to differentiate between cast boolits and jacketed bullets without spelling out the whole term.
Misery-Whip is right. Powder coated boolits size easily IF you don’t let them sit around too long. Wheel weight metal age hardens over about two weeks and gets much harder to size. It’s best to cast, PC and size within 2-3 days.
I cast some .38 wadcutters earlier today and immediately sized them before powder coating. It reminded me to PC first. Lots more effort required before PC.
Sometimes life taps you on the shoulder and reminds you it's a one way street. Jim Morris
Powder coat from Smoke came yesterday so after work I'm going to try the shake and bake thing. I have some number 5 containers but I do not have any BBs. May have some craft beads around here somewhere with 3 girls in the house.
It sounds like you have some boolits that are sized to .358? It might be a good idea to see how they fit through the throats of the cylinders. If they slide through the cylinder of one revolver better than the other that one might be better to try your first reloads on.
Generally speaking if one of the revovlers have tight throats it can size the boolit small by the time the boolit hits the rifling which can cause leading. if you have trouble with leading in the barrel those copper cleaning pads like Chore Boy make quick work of removing lead. Sounds like fun good luck!
Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.
LOOKING GOOD! Get a good thermo/PID and monitor your temps. I like to run mine 700-725. You can tell by how liquidus the melt is and how it flows into the mold. I PC first, then immediately upon cooling a bit, size. My bullets are around 90 degrees when I size. I use a Lee sizer, too. I also spray the inside of the sizer die before starting and let it dry a bit. When you feel it getting sticky, give it another light shot. Good Luck and Welcome to the BEST forum there is! Good folks. They helped me tremendously!
Spray with what?Originally Posted by Cast10
very accurate bullet from lee no less, I shoot out of 38 and will shoot 1 1/2 inch if I really hold well,
Ans yes size after powder coating.
Looks pretty good to me. P.S. don't use wax paper it don't work. You can see the nose of one down on the paper. The red ones all have a wax paper base lol. Not sure why pics are sideways either.
Last edited by brokeasajoke; 09-10-2022 at 05:22 PM.
Right now I'm getting about 50/50 usable bullets. Still learning.
I have been casting for decades and am still learning. One thing I learned recently, after my initial effort with a new mold produced a high number of culls, was that when loaded and shot, the culls performed as well as the 'good' bullets. While this may be a comment on my mediocre shooting skills, I offer it as a caution that culling bullets can progress beyond discarding those seriously deformed and become a cosmetic obsession.
Alloy is 100% wheel weights, clip-ons and stick-on
You may well know this, but segregating the stick-ons provides a source of softer lead which can be appropriately alloyed.
Mold takes several raps to get bullets to fall out so I need to address that
Use a bigger hammer.
As for thermometers and PIDs, at the risk of being labelled a heretic, I have yet to feel a keen need for one. I don't delude myself that the variable rheostat scale on my electric pot gives exactly that temperature, but its close enough that I quickly learn optimal settings for specific alloys.
Also don't leave Windex in your sizing die. It will rust.
As long as you are considering a casting thermometer, take a look at Rotometal's offering. Their thermometer is very competitive in price and I would trust their quality as they are a major supplier for casting lead. I am very close to ordering one of these myself.
Welcome to the madness brother, you will quickly become as addicted as the rest of us. Lots of good people here that have lots of knowledge and willing to share. You will have best luck with non-stick aluminum foil for pc'ing boolits and I have had good results with light machine oil (3n1) for lubing pc'd boolits in a Lee die. When the resistance gets noticeable, I run one with the oil on it through the die. If you have a WalMart nearby they have 6mm airsoft BB's and they work like a charm for shake n baking. You first batch looks a heckuva lot better than mine did. Congrats.
IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!
So what's the trick for non stick? Dull side non stick foil didn't work for me. May try parchment paper next.
I don't remember which side I used but my piece of foil has been used do much
it is dull on top. I have used this one piece of foil through 10 or more bakings.
IT AINT what ya shoot--its how ya shoot it. NONE of us are as smart as ALL of us!
Sorry……Hornady Case Lube
Also, i use the copper grilling mats for PC……
For baking?
Case Lube is what I spray the sizer die with.
Copper grill mats for baking PC boolits.
Last edited by Cast10; 09-12-2022 at 04:34 PM.
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