simple Hi-Tek coating

[wlkjr]

Well, last Saturday I sold my Master Caster and all lead, tools, Hi-Tek powders, oven, sizer. Everything I had accumulated in the past several years. It's bee fun and rewarding, but at my age, I no longer have the energy to keep on. Just going to buy a few copper plated bullets to finish out my shooting career, if you could call it that.

[Ausglock]

We will all have to make this call sooner or later. All the best to you for the future.
I hope you got a good price for all your toys.

[Marvin]

Hey guys, I've got a question for you. when I first started with hi tek I wanted the green colors but my cheap oven wouldn't hold a very steady temp so some were over cooked and turned a weird colors. they worked fine, I just didn't like the look. so I got some K 15 black figuring you can't over cook black. well black is boring and I need to buys some more soon. so I was wondering if the bronze or gold colors look ok if you cook them to long? thanks

[DDriller]

Hey guys, I've got a question for you. when I first started with hi tek I wanted the green colors but my cheap oven wouldn't hold a very steady temp so some were over cooked and turned a weird colors. they worked fine, I just didn't like the look. so I got some K 15 black figuring you can't over cook black. well black is boring and I need to buys some more soon. so I was wondering if the bronze or gold colors look ok if you cook them to long? thanks

post #14567 shows some over baked gold.

[Marvin]

those aren't bad looking maybe i'll give them a try. thanks

[Ausglock]

if your oven is overbaking, just reduce the time in the oven.

[Marvin]

you know that should be the easy thing to do. but i can't seem to do right, i'll cook bullets while casting or reloading or watching a ball game. then the alarm will go off and i'll tell myself after i finish this last 10 primers. well then i need to reload more primers right? wait a second did i throw away the trash last night? is the oven still on? wait what was i doing? a lot of times i'd get there on time but most of the time a few minutes late i 've even forgot about them for over an hour. i'm either hyper focused on one thing or i'll jump around a bunch of things.

but that's ok instead of worrying about whether they cooked enough i'd just throw them in on high for 15 minutes and be done

[Marvin]

you know that should be the easy thing to do. but i can't seem to do right, i'll cook bullets while casting or reloading or watching a ball game. then the alarm will go off and i'll tell myself after i finish this last 10 primers. well then i need to reload more primers right? wait a second did i throw away the trash last night? is the oven still on? wait what was i doing? a lot of times i'd get there on time but most of the time a few minutes late i 've even forgot about them for over an hour. i'm either hyper focused on one thing or i'll jump around a bunch of things.

but that's ok instead of worrying about whether they cooked enough i'd just throw them in on high for 15 minutes and be done

[Ausglock]

OK... I guess that is the difference between only doing them for your own use and doing them commercially. I bake around 30,000 in a day. 2 coats, 2 baked cycles. and size.

[Marvin]

thanks for your help

[Bearded Phil]

I built a PID control box and modified my toaster oven to better control heating temps for my Hitek coating. Works like a charm every time now. Insulating wool inside the casing and lining the bottom/back of the baking area and a type K thermocouple probe that sits just around the middle of the oven.

I tuned the PID for 202.6C and once the temp reading crossing 196C after putting a new tray in I start an 11 minute timer. I do 3lb trays with this set up.








Some 38-55 bullets waiting to bake



Some 44 Mag bullets ready to size.

[Echo#154]

I’m gonna liberate my wife’s Emeril air fry oven(I’ll buy her a new one to keep her happy) and use the same PID I use on my Lee 20 Lb melter. Hopefully it will work better than the toaster oven I got from goodwill!

[kevin c]

So I started another thread (here: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...54#post5886954) about how my coatings have started to fail, even though I haven’t changed anything. I’m still in the process of eliminating variables, but asked for insights. One comment was that maybe the powder I have is too old. Well, it’s all a few years old, stored in the original containers in a cool dry space that admittedly is not truly temperature and humidity controlled. The powder is caked, but breaks up without too much effort and still dissolves.

Is that problematic?

[prariefirearms]

Is Hi-Tek Supercoat still popular in the lead cast world?

[Michael J. Spangler]

Sure is! We just have all of the kinks worked out so the thread lost its steam.

[Avenger442]

I haven't used anything else in at least the last ten years on my cast. Everything from .223 to 300 PRC .380 to 44 mag all get Hi Tek coated. What amazes me is that it holds up under the 300 PRC loads. That magnum rifle load is a kicker. If I max out the load in 300 PRC my pretty hard bullets just detonate. Nice shotgun pattern on the target. But no lead in the barrel. In my .308 loads, which I have worked on the most, it will do average 1" MOA. And have shot a few five shot groups at 100 yards that you can cover with a nickle. So accuracy is not an issue with Hi Tek.

There is a reason why this thread is 14,000 comments long. This stuff works better than anything I have used.

[ioon44]

I started using Hi-Tek around 2012 and have never had any problems with leading.

[Ausglock]

Yep 2011 was the first time I used it... mixing the liquid coating and the liquid catalyst... how things has changed.
and Now Joe has a new resin that may stop the colours darkening... looking forward to testing it..

Pinks, Purples, blues, everything starts again...lol

[ioon44]

I also started with mixing the liquid coating and the liquid catalyst and I am glad Joe developed the dry system, it's so much easier.

[Avenger442]

I also started with the liquid. Still have some of the 1035 Gold liquid with the extreme catalysis in my stash of coatings. Glad to hear about the new resin. Never did get blue to work right and pass test. And I would like a real orange orange. The burnt orange is nice though.