You'll get the hang of it the more you use it. Don't be afraid to add more acetone to smoothen them out if you let it get too dry. If you dump them out and they are bumpy, there is no problem scooping them up and adding acetone to dissolve the coating and letting it smoothen out before dumping out again.
As Ausglock said, drop them while still wet.
kcofohio;
At the risk of adding to your confusion, you can also tumble in a closed container. It keeps the acetone from evaporating quickly. But be warned this is not an accepted practice by some.
The last two times I have coated I've added additional acetone and almost always closed tumbled. I tumble for about 30 seconds. Makes it easier to dump wet and covers the groves and hollow points a little better. Not that that last one matters much to performance of the coating.
Tazza is right, you'll get the hang of it. Lots of help here.
Last edited by Avenger442; 07-22-2020 at 07:23 PM.
While I work at it, it is by God's grace that it happens. So it is best I ask him what, how and when before I start..
Thank you! I added more acetone and swirled for 15 seconds. They came out much smoother. 3 coats are pretty even in color.
It's getting use to not being able to visually detect much of the coating until after baking.
The first time I baked some according to directions I didn't think that I had enough on them. So, knowing little about the coating at that time, I tried to turn it into a jacket. That was a mistake that caused me to have to remelt about 10 pounds of .45 bullets. This stuff is a great heat shield if left thin. I have shot .308s with one coat and no leading. But most of my bullets get three coats.
While I work at it, it is by God's grace that it happens. So it is best I ask him what, how and when before I start..
A little alcohol will also slow down the drying out while tumbling and also makes for a smoother coating. As Joe and Ausglock have often said, the first coat is the important one and should be just a light stain. If you do put a little too much on in first coat just put a few uncoated in the bucket with some acetone and re tumble the over coated cast again. Regards Stephen
Just did my first batch of Tru Blue. Did some testing trying to work out time and temp. I'm at 5 minutes at 375F. They passed smash test. The picture below makes them look more blue than they are in person. Even at that short a time and low a temp they still turned a little turquoise. You can see in some of the lube grooves it got really green. There's a mix of bullets coated once and some twice in the pic below
Last edited by asmith80; 07-30-2020 at 05:24 PM.
They do look pretty good, a little thinner coat o adding a few ml extra acetone when you dump them to swirl may help get the lube grooves, i know it doesn't matter, but i like to have mine coated, and a little extra acetone and 3 coats and they are a uniform colour.
Hopefully you can get your temp and time just right to get them the blue you want, the pic does show a nice blue.
asmith80
Did they pass the wipe test?
While I work at it, it is by God's grace that it happens. So it is best I ask him what, how and when before I start..
They did, but I tried a batch today at 6 minutes and 30 seconds and they look identical. I may stay with 6:30 just for the extra piece of mind
Well....Say hello to HITEK Kinky Pink.
It is experimental at this stage.
Joe is trying to tweak it to have a metallic component to make it sparkle...
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Australia
Cant wait to try pink out. All the boys will be jealous.
That looks really good, sadly i have no clothes that would go with it, so i'll stick to red and black
He tried to rope me into casting all that lead last year. Id still be doing it if I said yes.
I love it.
I make those and load them up. Put 'em in a can and those are the ones my buddies will have to shoot!
NRA Benefactor.
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 |