Thanks for the idea! Should it be fulled with government cheese, or hot dogs?Originally Posted by Rangefinder
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Thanks for the idea! Should it be fulled with government cheese, or hot dogs?
358432 HPs. Piglet method.... 17:3 pure/coww, 1% tin. Double coated/baked, then sized. Not a scratch and they're as slippery as an eel!I shot several 358063's last weekend at 1300+ and they were perfect! I think this is gonna let me shoot stick-on weights, range scrap (or maybe even pure) at a nice mushroom growing speed. But I gotta give that tumbler method a try. 'Looks like Rangefinder has found something for those of us without an ES gun.
(p.s. This thread needs more pics!)
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
I'm kinda gettin' fond of the Piglet method.... it doesn't waste much on the inside of the grooves and nose, but look how nice and slick the bands are. These are sized and ready for whatever. I didn't get the tumbler out yet... it's football Saturday and I'm pressed for time.
And just for testing, I put some PB checks on some of em to try out.
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
This drives me crazy!!!
We know what they're SUPPOSED to look like, but when I tried Piglet Powder Coating (PPC), my lube grooves filled with slurry and they stuck to the screen when I baked them...
The real question I have (and I think I speak for others) is EXACTLY how did you overcome the problems?? What do your jigs look like?? How do you keep the slurry out of the grooves??? yada-yada-yada... We know you're proud of the finished product, but with no sequence details they are just pretty pictures of your boolits... I want to know where I'm failing in my process vis-a-vis your process....
<<I gotta stop reading this thread; my failures are making me crazy...>>
Well, I just followed the directions I found on here. I didn't have problems, or use jigs. I just pour the boolits in a butter tub, cover em with lacquer thinner, sprinkle a 1.3CC Lee dipper full of powder over em, shake vigorously, pour thinner back into can, pour boolits onto hardware mesh in front of fan (I'm using plastic mesh, since that's what I found out in the yard), and standing them up on non-stick foil on the baking pan - using some needle nose pliers, then bake at 400 in the toaster oven (Black and Decker) for 20 mins. Repeat. That's how I'm getting mine.
Now, I did have to put my oven on 475 to get it to actually reach 400. (using my casting thermometer to tell temperature)
(all of this was printed on here before, earlier.... I just used the techniques as described)
just so I don't get credit where credit isn't due.
Last edited by Beagle333; 10-12-2013 at 03:13 PM.
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
Just guessing, but I don't think you are using enough LT/Acetone. If you did, I wouldn't think there would be any slurry, only a very thin "stain". One thing to realize/remember - it is the pigment that clumps and/or doesn't cover evenly (powder coat = pigment + paint). So, even if the coating doesn't appear to cover all the lead, odds are the paint component is covering it.
Thinking further, a second reason could be that the solution is mixed well enough. Do you have clumps? If so, continue to stir vigorously and/or add LT/acetone until you don't.
As to what the jigs look like... Piglet doesn't use jigs. Simply tumble to coat, then dump on hardware mesh to dry, then cook with.
Last edited by prickett; 10-12-2013 at 06:36 PM.
I feel your pain LOL !!!!! I actually gave up on my third try with piglet method. Then when back a week later to try again. A lot of variables to consider: thinner amount, thinner dry time, thinner brand, tumbling speed, lay on mesh speed, "x" amount of boolits "X" amount of powder. I usually make the first coat thin (ex: 1/2 teaspoon powder per 100 9mm), and the second coat gets a full teaspoon. I think of the 1st coat primer.
Guys (and gals).................ELIMINATE the variables!!!!!!!!!!!!
STOP the guess work and experimentation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spend more time shooting and less time fiddling around with liquid coatings!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dump the liquid slopping methods and apply the powder like it was designed and formulated to be.
Electrostatic gun application.
ES PC = 1 coat + 1 bake = perfect boolits EVERY SINGLE TIME! No lumps....no leading.....no lube.
Depending on how big your oven is and how many trays you build, you can do around 250 slugs at at time.....in around 20-30 minutes TOTAL.....including lay-out, coating , and baking.
Why use anything else? The HF gun is a bargain at $59 -20% coupon. Darn near everybody as some kind of an air compressor, from a small airbrush to a 2 lunger shop unit. That is all you need besides the gun.
There are a ton of us on here that have tried various methods ( I tried ALL of them) and have realized the ONLY logical and functional way to successfully do it is with the HF (or equal) gun.
good luck!
banger
......and NO, I do not work for HF! This is just one of the very few products they make that actually works the way it should over time.
Pictures. More pictures. I have seen a few scattered pics (maybe a month ago) of some lipstick smooth boolits. If you fellers are makin' em by the thousands...... surely you got a pic or two?
Yes, I am saving up for the ES gun, but tease me a little along the way!
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
StratsMan
I've had good results with the piglet method. I haven't done a lot of it, but after a few attempts I got it to work well. I just don't want to go with an ES gun for now myself. Anyway, I bought two different powders from powder by the pound. A silver that doesn't work very well and a translucent blue Mirror Blue that has. I haven't tried the Harbour Freight because there isn't one close to where I live and I had read that the other powders might be better. I was having to order anyway, so that's the way I went. I bought 2 oz of the two colors. But man the shipping is steep. Like 13.00 for 4 oz of powder. If I were to buy right now I would go with a black I think instead of the Mirror Blue and for sure not the silver. It has tiny glitter in it.
I went with lacqure thinner instead of acetone. Again some say it works better. At first I used too much and it would take way too long like more than 5 minutes to evaporate. I got down to putting maybe 2 tablespoons at most now. I don't measure so that is a guess. I'm using a cool whip container and when it's tilted 45 degrees there is probably 2 inches of liquid side to side. Then I put in a scoop or maybe two of powder. I was using a pretty small Lee powder scoop from a pistol loading set. Don't recall off the top of my head. Sprinkle the power on the thinner. Put a few bullets in and start swirling to mix the powder. Should take long. But I will say that I could never get the silver to fully disolve however the Mirror Blue always does. Once it's mixed pretty good I add about 100 9mm or 357 bullets and tumble and swirl. At first the liquid just goes over and runs off. But as the thinner evaporates all of the sudden it starts coating. I swirl and tumble until the feel and sound changes and then within 10-15 seconds I pour the bullets onto a screen/non stick foil/parchment paper. But I think the screen is probably best. I shake them a bit to see if seperate them. I then pour a small amt of thinner in the container and with a heavy duty blue paper towel, clean my container. I let the bullets air dry until they can be handled. Of course I have my small oven heating up by then. I've started using the non stick foil on a pan and I use plastic bullet holders, fill them up nose down. Do a couple of them. Put the tray upside down over them, flip them over and I have nice rows of bullets ready to bake. I bought an oven themometer and found mine was running a little cool. So I make sure it's up to 400 degrees. I slide the tray in and set my timer for 15 minutes. The powder says 10 min at 400 degrees but your material has to get up to temp. I've left some 20 minutes because I wasn't sure they had enough bake time. When I take them out of the oven, I let them sit just a few minutes and then start tipping them over and rolling them around. I do that because they will stick to the foil just a bit especially after it's been used a few times. Anyway, I keep them moving a bit and they cool enough so they will not stick together. I use leather gloves instead of pliers so I don't mess the coating up while it's still hot. I have been doing two coatings, making sure they were cool before I do the second coat. If you have clumpy bullets I expect that you have one or two thinks going on. Too much powder for your number of bullets or you are not pouring them out fast enough. You go from too wet to too dry in 30 seconds. At least that is what it seams like. But that might depend on the thinner you are using too. My thinner is marked a medium dry thinner.
By the way, I've had a couple of batches early on that didn't look good before I put them in the oven. I just put some thinner in the container, put the bullets back in and swirled and tumbled again without adding more power. The thinner disloved the powder and I got a redo on it. If your problem is your waiting too long to dump them out. Give that a try. Good luck. This method does work. I'll not say it the best but it has worked for me. I've been shooting the Hi-Tech coated bullets for a couple of years from Bayou. But I had some smaller batches I wanted to do and the piglet PC is working for me.
Like Banger said, can't imagine doing it any other way than the HF gun. They just come out perfect.
"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
Theodore Roosevelt
Here is my latest: NOE .432 4C w/HP (245gr)
Loaded 44 Mag:
First pic is as-cast, Second is sized w/gas check, Third is after PC:
A bunch ready to load:
Nice looking. What powder and color are you using?
Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Nice pictures!
KE4GWE - - - - - - Colt 1860, it just feels right.
Those look fantastic. Great choice of color.
"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
Theodore Roosevelt
I just did my first attempt.
I use hf gun and hf mat black. It looks good. I did one coat for the top and another coat for the bottom.
This will go in 300 blackout without gc I'll let you know how they shoot.
The ugly ones to the right are the "soap" method which didn't work good.
The flat in the middle is a well hammered boolit showing the powder dosnt give...
Last edited by orisolo; 10-13-2013 at 02:35 AM.
The blue bullet must be ES PC. Either that, or I want to know how AZBrian did it. That is nice, nice, nice. I like the HF matte black as well.
Here is my latest: NOE .432 4C w/HP (245gr)
Loaded 44 Mag:
First pic is as-cast, Second is sized w/gas check, Third is after PC:
A bunch ready to load:
OMFG !!!! THEY LOOK SO PRETTY !!!
CANDY ?
I wouldn't even shoot them. Nice work !!
True.....
I use ES PC on all my rifle boolits, BUT piglet method for my pistol boolits. Piglet method, for now , is doing the job: higher volume, faster process, no smoke, and no leading. I compete in practical shooting sport and I shoot average 1200rds a month and there is no way I'm gonna ES with the current ES production rate. Some of us here is still in search of the holy grail method, that is why we are all still here on this massive thread.
I decided to start with HF ES PC based on bangerjim's enthusiasm. I bought the red, white, and yellow with the gun. They turned out ok from the getgo. I had trouble finding a way to keep them from sticking, even the non-stick foil stuck leaving a flange.
I made a jig with 6-32 flathead screws and nylon spacers to hopefully prevent the fillet from forming between boolit and screwhead and it worked. I got excited and ordered candy colors from PowderBuyThePound.com. My pics-
The 356 120TC on the left are a nice candy teal but the pic didn't capture it very well. I have candy raspberry (380's) and gloss black (357's) yet to try.
Last edited by el34; 10-13-2013 at 06:19 PM.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H. L. Menchen
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