Sizing question with PC

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Thanks fiver, that makes it much more clear.
I didn’t measure before or after but can tomorrow evening.

What is a good bullet to bb ratio? What about no bb? The 200 swc were done with just bullets, about 110 in one batch
 

GRMPS

Active Member
Some powders do not need BB's.
How many BB's depends on the powder and the size of the container. Many cover the entire bottom of the container with BB's.
remember, they are there to help build static .
Some feel they get a smoother/better coat from the bumping/rubbing the bullets.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I went 1.5 deep for a long time, then started doing 2.5-3 deep and had MUCH better results. It's harder to pick those little .22s out of the bottom when there are two layers of bbs on top, though. If you're not picking the bullets individually, it doesn't matter if you have the bbs 2-3 layers deep before putting in the bullets.
 

GRMPS

Active Member
Ian, you can dump the mix into a pie pan to make picking the 22's out easier.

Many use HF Stainless Steel Tweezers Set 6 Pc, but you can use surgical type gloves, touch some PC first then the PC won't come off the bullets when you pick them up.
You still need to remove all the excess PC.

My ASBB's measure .2335 and fit through the 1/4" mesh I got from both home depot and lowes (which measure the same and a little bigger.
My blue colander has .308 square holes in it.

When coating .224 bullets I use a PC that doesn't need BB's and use a screen sieve to sift off the PC.

What I can suggest is find a heavy plastic colander with widely spaced holes mainly in the bottom, drill them out to the size you want then sand it smooth
 
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GRMPS

Active Member
Do you guys presize bullets or PC and bake first, then size?
If you presize do you take thickness of the PC into account? Say I want to .432 bullet. Do I size to .430, then powder coat, then size to .432 allowing for .001 coating thickness? Presize to .432, then coat, then resize and let the coating get sized down more?

If you are applying gas checks you may need to install the GC/size first (so they will fit) then PC. (make sure the sizing die is CLEAN, free of any lube.

With HiTek you CAN NOT size first because that seals the pores in the lead and the HiTek will not adhere properly. HiTek is actually a stain and goes into the pores of the lead, that is why it's recommended to use a thinner mix for the first coat.
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I put 1/2" deep of BB's covering the bottom of a screw top ZipLock #5 plastic container. I pick the bullets out with nitrile gloves. That is probably more BB's than I need but it works for me. I have used the Cool-Whip containers but like the screw top much better when shaking up the PC and bullets....don't ask why.

IMG_20181101_151258 (2).jpgIMG_20181101_151258 (2).jpg
 

GRMPS

Active Member
I don't understand why people shake the container, static is caused by friction. I only swirl the container (s) and get good results
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I mostly swirl but include shaking.....seems I read/watched a UTube video where someone said it was important to do that......NEVER AGAIN in a cool whip container with the slide on friction lid.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I don't understand why people shake the container, static is caused by friction. I only swirl the container (s) and get good results

I get that, but just swirling the bullets around never did work for me.

The way I do it, there's a lot more than static adhesion going on. When I'm finished shaking, the powder is partially embedded into the bullet surface. If I wipe the powder off of a bullet, the bullet surface appears as if it were bead blasted. If I don't give them a good up-and-down thrashing after lightly tossing for a couple of minutes, any little contact with another bullet or BB will wipe the powder off clean where it touched. The principle reason I don't sift and pour bullets onto a screen is that in those processes I lose too much of the coating to contact.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I did a fair amount of swirling and a bit of shaking. More swirl to start and a little shaking to keep loose powder distributed.
Powder seemed to adhere well and I didn’t have rub off issues.
I baked with bullets touching and left on wife mesh to cool. Very little issue with bullets sticking to one another.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
To mix colors without the splottcheyness ya gotta shake the crap outa it. I was sticking it in an pneumatic paint shaker to blend the hf powder.

Coating the bullets didn't take such aggression. If the bullets were good castings I sized once as a final step. If they were hurried volume castings I'd size before coating. I dunno
 
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waco

Springfield, Oregon
I just pulled these out of the oven. I will size one color .360” and the other to .361”
These will be tested in my 1894 Marlin 2A8C8929-56C3-4D88-9F61-B26CED1B1CF1.jpeg
 

GRMPS

Active Member
Waco nice boolits, good use of 2 colors.

You don't need a thick coat for the PC to be functional, I only go heavier if I want it prettier or need to increase the size of the bullet.

I prefer multiple thin coats , I feel I get a more even coating (like HiTek)
 

Ole_270

Well-Known Member
As far as sizing first to seat gas checks, do you wash the size bushing to remove lube? Seems any lube transfered would effect PC coverage. I'm still lubing some, PC others.
 

GRMPS

Active Member
The sizing die needs to be 100% clean if your sizing before PCing. (you can boil out lube sizer dies.)
 

M3845708Bama

Active Member
I don't understand why people shake the container, static is caused by friction. I only swirl the container (s) and get good results

Not everyone has the rhythm to get the bullets to swirl, some of us try but end up just shaking most of the time. Occasionaly I can get them to swirl and have to knock them aganist the side of container to shake off excess powder.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Just An observation on my part: By no means am I an expert on the subject But I have notice after using about 6 different powders that the "Smoke's Clear" seems to be the easiest to use and is the most forgiving if you touch it too much trying to stand up rifle bullets. It seems to flow and cover any marks you may have made. Also for instance my favorite rifle bullet is the 30 cal Ranch Dog NOE.
If I size that cast bullets to .310" then PC coat by swirling for 1 minute and banging up and down for 15 seconds Then tapping the tweezers on each bullet I pick up on the side of the container Amazingly I get a baked bullet & PC coating of approx .313" so Then I resize again to .310" which goes super slick in the lee size die.
I have a few other Smokes colors and also Eastwood Ford Blue but I can always tell where the bullets were touched too much with tweezers!
 

GRMPS

Active Member
JW you could try wearing surgical gloves, pinch some pc before you start picking up the boolits and you'll find that the PC won't come off where you touch them.
I dump the PC'd boolits in a colander to shake/sift off the excess powder.

When I use tweezers, I try to only grip them by the lube groove.
 
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BHuij

Active Member
Chiming in late here, but I'll add my voodoo recipe for getting good coverage. I'm using the #5 recyclable plastic with .2g white plastic BBs, and Smoke's Clear. I just leave the BBs and powder in and add more powder as necessary. When I drop a bunch of bullets in to be coated, I put the lid on, swirl it around for 30 seconds or so, and then shake up and down 5-6 times, aiming for the maximum amount of "air time" for the stuff inside the container. My completely unsupported theory is that the swirling generates a lot of static from plastic-on-plastic friction/rubbing, and then the shaking gives the charged powder its best chance to actually adhere to the bullets while everything is airborne. I usually repeat the whole process twice for good measure, that is 30 second swirl, 6 shakes, 30 second swirl, 6 shakes.

Bullets get coated really well this way in all calibers I've tried, I usually have to tap the tweezers holding the bullet on the side of the container to dislodge extra powder.

That said, I'm using Smoke's Clear which apparently is one of the most forgiving out there, and I live in Utah where we have dry air 100% of the time, so that probably contributes to me getting a good static charge.