OK, I tried PC but I’m too “sat in my ways.”

popper

Well-Known Member
I couldn't get S&B to work with HF red, used the gun instead. Bake in PID controlled oven. Now I use Smoke's red, S&B, cool on a hot plate with ceramic floor tile as heat spreader. The hot plate starts cold, stays at flow temp for a long time. Then I have a cover to place on it for curing bake. I use BBS, not a lot of powder. Swirl for couple minutes (sometimes hold with baking gloves if humidity is high), then a popcorn 'shuffle' up and down, swirl some more. Pick out with hemostats and drop into 45acp holder with 'holes' drilled out. popcorn 'shuffle' for us old guys, forward & backward vertical plane rotary motion. Gets powder airborn without banging up the bullets too much. Impact must work as many have used vibratory tumblers. I don't do more than ~75 rifle bullets at a time. Pick out the good ones, do the bad ones second time. The AS BBs wear out or get smashed as when I change to a new batch, many are really small.
I've also tumble lubed with a light coat of BLL (no solvent) on some that I thought were light coated, worked fine. If you use solvent in the BLL it will degrade the PC. It keeps the residue in the barrel to minimum.
 
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358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I use containers that seal with o-rings for coating. This makes it possible to turn the container upside down while shaking which redistributes the powder back and forth from top to bottom, to top again. It made a big difference from my original butter tub with a snap on lid.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I use containers that seal with o-rings for coating. This makes it possible to turn the container upside down while shaking which redistributes the powder back and forth from top to bottom, to top again. It made a big difference from my original butter tub with a snap on lid.

Exactly what I do about three times during the orbital tossing and once right before the hard up-and-down.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I use clear plastic cups I can see in.
I try to float the powder and bullets through the BB's [I use glow in the dark ones cause that's what I had]
and swirl to try to build up some static, then do the cheek jowl slam dance similar to what Ian does,, hard, for a good 20-30 seconds.
the hard shake at the end is what really sets the powder onto the bullets.
I never get a real thick coating [part of that is because there ain't enough powder in the cup] but I do get an almost perfect .001 thick coat that flows super smooth during the 'wet' stage.
the coating sticks well enough for the hammer test and has even stood up to reshaping the bullet in a swage die.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Exactly what I do about three times during the orbital tossing and once right before the hard up-and-down.
The results are undeniable, especially with some specific powders. We all have to admit that some powders tumble coat poorly.
 

Charles Graff

Moderator Emeritus
The guys who first began to experiment with powder coating did so looking for a simpler way to do things, i.e. less equipment, time and money involved. It has now taken on a life of it's own.
 

Mowgli Terry

Active Member
Why not do both? None of this binary stuff. I'm greedy-I want the best of both worlds. How about tractor green that matches my Magma lube?
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I'm the guy that learned paper patch to avoid buying gas checks ........ Now I have a lube that works and checks really aren't all that expensive ......
PC would just be another tool set and another excuse for me to be frustrated with twist and alloy . ;)
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I kept all of my sizing equipment. My goal for PC was simply to be able to shoot at the indoor range in the winter without smoking the place up. It actually takes longer to do than conventional sizing, but I think I only have about $20.00 in additional equipment for PC, plus about six or so pounds of powder.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
heck PC just slows me down, I can size like 2,000 bullets in an hour or so, I can't even put a coat on that many in that amount of time.
I do it because it has advantages at times, and is just a good skill to have in my pocket.
it's a 10% of the time, some of the time, I might try it on something deal for me.
I got too many lubed and sized bullets that need nothing except shoved into a case on one of the 550's and then sent down a barrel to even bother trying to change them over.
 

Mowgli Terry

Active Member
heck PC just slows me down, I can size like 2,000 bullets in an hour or so, I can't even put a coat on that many in that amount of time.


Nobody talks about how labor intensive PC is. You maybe talking about the same time for each process until the coating or sizing part. You PC folks have not seen a Star lube sizer in action. I think even with a Lyman 4500 it's more economical of time than PC.
 

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
So your saying using a STAR sizer produces bullets with very little smoke, just like PC then?
It Gives ya bullets that aint sticky and can be stored in a plastic bag or recycled mayo or PB container? Like PC'd bullets?
Its encapsulates the lead particles making the bullets cleaner and safer?
It allows quick and east identification if the loading by different colors of the bullet?

I think not. Also, the only folks complain in about time & extra work is the traditional casters. It aint "hard" or labor intensive" by my definition of the word. Sure there is extra steps to PC. But anything worth a favorable result is worth the effort. In other words to some folks this little extra outweighs the results from
Not doing it. Its not for everyone and thats fine. PC is virtually brand new in comparison to traditional, and older folks are far far more set in there ways to just up n change.

CW
 
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Winelover

North Central Arkansas
:headscratch: Have no issues storing conventionally lubed bullets loose in plastic containers.
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Use mostly Carnuba Red. Recently, switched to Lar's 2500 and it is also a non issue. My basement shop stays at 74 degrees. When I used NRA 50-50 which was a little stickier, I stored my lubed bullets in 3M electrical tape boxes, stacked inside of one pound metal coffee cans.

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I'm also too stubborn and set in my ways to go the PC route.
 

Mowgli Terry

Active Member
So your saying using a STAR sizer produces bullets with very little smoke, just like PC then?
Casting bullets is the same process, I assume, using a lead pot and molds. Sure enough when fluxing there is smoke. The Star sizer is a push through machine the does size the bullet to desired diameter fast. It's one of the older pieces of reloading gear remaining in production. I have started to use custom dies with bullets sized for my handguns from the Starr. I have an assortment of different sizing dies for my the Lyman lube-sizers.

Is it true to that one has to do "'back flips" to size or install gas checks PC'ing? . Casting and sizing bullets is based on a body of knowledge. Know what you are about and have at it. I know it must appear complicated. It's part of the art and science.

Yesterday I started from scratch casting bullets for 45 Colt revolvers. I cast the bullets the lubed them in the Star. Next I loaded these bullets into the charged cases on a 550. Did I rush things? No, the bullets were sized at as cast diameter from that Lyman 452424. I'll try these loads out day after tomorrow. Also, I have stored bullets in plastic bags and boxes plus assorted tin cans. Lubes are not universally sticky. Next run will be a hundred rounds if not more.

Many of the benefits assigned to PC do not make sense what so ever. to traditional bullet casters The point about fast production with the traditional means is correct. I have been casting for a time and can tell my bullets apart with no problem. I might suggest some meditation on the difference between progress and change. Time consuming is time consuming. Identify by color? Have you considered a Braille like system to mark your bullets to facilitate finding same in the dark?:)

Added: The reloading press in the previous post is a serious piece of reloading great. Finding one of those usually means some serious dollars changing hands. Nice casting set-up.
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
star sizers with air cylinders and bullet feeders, damn near went full automated sizing at one time.
then I realized the only thing slowing me down was adding more lube to the tube, and filling all 20 tubes full of bullets.
[easy enough to cover that by simply switching to another machine and lubing something else while the wife fills the other tubes]
I still size my P/C'd stuff so the slow down is in the coating process.

sticky lube? pshhht uhh nope.
spent waay too much time developing lube that flows under pressure, stays put in the heat, and got too many ways to control the sticky to count here.

lube size lube... got that one covered too, I was the co-inventor of the famous 45-45-10 lube.
most people that cast can't even come close to identifying what is in those jars and tins on the lube making shelf.
[except Bruce,,,,,, and Ian..... you, well? you two would for sure know what's in them.. LOL]
 
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Mowgli Terry

Active Member
I started casting about 1985/6 started Powder coating 5-6 years ago. Starting reloading 1976 ish.

I started with a RCBS Rockchucker kit brand new. I removed the bushing to find the date of 1977. I started casting in the late 1980's with round balls for blackpowder matches. A few years later I bought used reloading gear including a Lee melter, Lyman 450 and several molds. From there I went to casting all my 45 ACP bullets for Bullseye matches. From that point it was to where I am today. Still a "newfer" but with vastly different machinery. What has remained the same is an RC press. Got the Star sizer and three Lyman lube sizers. Each machine has it's own lube. My toaster oven has cobwebs.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
still the same press... jeez.
I had a new ram made for my original RCBS press since it had so much slop in it after a number of years.
I was gonna order 2 but the second one takes the smaller size ram and I wasn't gonna pay almost double for turning it down .004"s when I could just buy another near new press for the same price.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Nobody's ever going to convince me to quit powder coating or take my lubesizers off the bench. I'm not throwing away any of my paper-patching equipment or my stash of LLA and Johnson's One Step, either. Still on the fence about re-distributing the two, 48-quart containers of miscellaneous and sundry lube making greases, oils, gellants, and additives. The giant storage tub with about a dozen flavors of wax it it will stay no matter what.

One thing I DON'T have is any of that seaweed fracking lube.