My experiments with PC pistol and rifle bullets
- Thread starter wquiles
- Start date
wquiles
Active Member
I am either getting too thick of a coat in one pass, or I am finally doing it "right" now, since I am achieving full PC coverage 
I have this 4xC NOE 124gr mold, and I casted these 4-5 months ago, but now that I have been doing PC, I started by boiling them to remove the existing soft blue lube:
I then coated them, a small group at a time (John Deer Green from Smoke) using the shake & bake method:
Close-up before baking:
After baking at 400F for 20min:
Sized them after cooled down. Unsized on left, sized on right:
I have this 4xC NOE 124gr mold, and I casted these 4-5 months ago, but now that I have been doing PC, I started by boiling them to remove the existing soft blue lube:
I then coated them, a small group at a time (John Deer Green from Smoke) using the shake & bake method:
Close-up before baking:
After baking at 400F for 20min:
Sized them after cooled down. Unsized on left, sized on right:
Last edited:
fiver
Well-Known Member
I don't get anywhere near that much P/C on mine.
I can't even get that much to stick.
I can see through the coat of dry powder and it flows on nicely during the wet stage.
I get right at .001 of a coat on everything I have coated.
except some high tin bullets, they barely get a coating, so I would have to do 2 coats to get to .001.
I can't even get that much to stick.
I can see through the coat of dry powder and it flows on nicely during the wet stage.
I get right at .001 of a coat on everything I have coated.
except some high tin bullets, they barely get a coating, so I would have to do 2 coats to get to .001.
wquiles
Active Member
I usually put a good number of bullets in the container, but never quite got this much coverage, so what I tried different this time was to use put only a "hand full" of bullets in the shake-bake container at a time. Literally as many bullets I can grab with a hand. This of course resulted in fewer bullets being coated at a time than any prior attempts.
I then did circular shaking for about 40-50 seconds, with a little up-down, but mostly high-speed circular, and that resulted in the most coverage I have had to date. Due to the smaller groups I had to do more batches, but the batches were fairly consistent in terms of coverage, so for now I will keep trying this method/variation to my PC routine. I have to remember Ian's advice to tap them to get some of the clumps off next time.
I then did circular shaking for about 40-50 seconds, with a little up-down, but mostly high-speed circular, and that resulted in the most coverage I have had to date. Due to the smaller groups I had to do more batches, but the batches were fairly consistent in terms of coverage, so for now I will keep trying this method/variation to my PC routine. I have to remember Ian's advice to tap them to get some of the clumps off next time.
This is what mine looked like this AM before baking. The coating looks like crap but this powder flows really well.
Once I get some out of the oven I will post a photo of them.
I do honk the coating I get from this powder is very thin. I am getting faint leading in the corners of the lands. I want to try a second coating to see if two coats eliminates the leading. I think I need a little more coating to help seal those corners.
fiver
Well-Known Member
I would try bumping the powder with another one first.
maybe add about 25% clear to your mix and see how that goes.
you can only get leading if your cutting through the coat, or if the coat is breaking at the corners.
you should be able to mash a bullet flat and have the coating stay intact.
if they won't do that your cooking process needs adjustment.
maybe add about 25% clear to your mix and see how that goes.
you can only get leading if your cutting through the coat, or if the coat is breaking at the corners.
you should be able to mash a bullet flat and have the coating stay intact.
if they won't do that your cooking process needs adjustment.
Coating is fine. No cracks, peeling, or other obvious flaws.
I think the thin coating is getting cut on the corners of the lands allowing slight leaking of powder gases.
I may do a side by side test with another powder I have on hand. That powder goes on thin also but covers different. The white aluminum powder looks better when applied but doesn’t flow the same.
Ian
Notorious member
I'll take some pre-bake photos of mine next time. The way I do it I cannot see any lead at all through the coating, but there's no "fuzz" or clumpy stuff at all, that causes the blobs when it starts to flow out. Mine look like they were sprayed with an ES gun. The ratio of bbs to bullets to powder makes a huge difference in how well the shake'n'bake process works.
I'm using a rectangular sandwich container with silicone seal and snap flaps, two full layers of bbs, and no more than 40 500-grain bullets or 70 230-grain bullets. I've done about 100 .22s at a time but even that is too much. When I'm done there is less than 1/4 teaspoon of powder left in the whole container.
I'm using a rectangular sandwich container with silicone seal and snap flaps, two full layers of bbs, and no more than 40 500-grain bullets or 70 230-grain bullets. I've done about 100 .22s at a time but even that is too much. When I'm done there is less than 1/4 teaspoon of powder left in the whole container.
Ian
Notorious member
So far the people coating rifle bullets for groups pretty much all stand them up. I stand pistol bullets up anyway, haven't proven it matters though and I really doubt it does. When I first started out I was coating the Lee 230-5R boattail BLK bullet and those are a bit of a buggar to stand up and transfer to the oven without domino effect, so I coated the first batch laying down in the low points of the corrugated pan that came with the oven. The paint flowed out and made thick stripes on the noses that wouldn't chamber reliably, so I abandoned that method and have stood up all bullets ever since.