Nice, Joe!
I'm using a 1/2" aluminum plate for mine now. It works good and carries the heat well and also cools faster than the steel ones.
But I do still use the nuts under the foil to prevent a skirt. (but I spray mine)
Printable View
Nice, Joe!
I'm using a 1/2" aluminum plate for mine now. It works good and carries the heat well and also cools faster than the steel ones.
But I do still use the nuts under the foil to prevent a skirt. (but I spray mine)
I use 3/16 aluminum plate that fits the original shelf with a sheet of oven liner on top I only pull out the shelf a couple of inches and stand bullets up with a pair of tweezers if bases are flat not a problem to stand bullets, only knock over if I get clumsy. Plate gives a firm platform to stack on.
Thanks Beagle333 I like the aluminum plate for the same reasons, been considering going with thicker material. :)
Got bit by the bug to try PC bullets, but, long and tall and shaky hands do not go together.
This method worked well for just a few bullets (Lee C309-180). I drilled washers to 5/16" and placed in pan. Non stick AF in the pan. The washers are a pretty close fit and the provide a surprising amount of support to the bullets when transferring to the oven. FWIW, these were tumbled. Eastwood blue, flat black airsoft BB's, small rubbermaid plastic tub, shake ;) I sized before and after.
The after sizing is shown. The washers stick to the bullets nicely so I just put the whole thing on the sizer. The punch goes right through the washer (sometimes some 'jiggling' is needed :) ).
This is not suitable for high volume. The washers need to be reamed out each time to get rid of the powder coat that gets inside.
I am going to do the double 1/2" wire grid next time. Maybe even try a trivet. Thanks for all the help in here.
Attachment 250749Attachment 250750Attachment 250751
Since my first bullets shot so well I went ahead and got some Al sheet ( diamond tread from Lowe's). Drilled with 19/64. As cast bullets fit nicely. After PC I apply gas checks and size. Works really well and I have not had one tip over yet (I have dropped a couple with the tweezers :) ).
So far I have had some sub MOA groups at 100yd and one sub MOA group at 300yd.
Thanks for all the help.
Silicone ice cube trays
https://i.imgur.com/6qCnmtE.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iKtr3o3.jpg
Conditor22, what brand mini ice trays are you using? Did you run into any issues with the base of the bullets peeling off when you dumped them from the tray?
160 Grids Mini Tiny Silicone Ice Cube Trays off Amazon, they are out of the ones I bought
I use silicone ice-cube trays, too:
https://i.imgur.com/KtLKdvs.jpg
I had a horrible time recently with some 311041s. Falling over, sticking together, blotchy due to flat silicon mat....I'm really glad I stopped by this thread. I just purchased two of these 160 ice trays. Trimmed the front and back off and they fit perfectly side by side in my little oven. Gonna give 'em a try this weekend.
redhawk
NOE 311-247 Using 2 different wire grids (a 45 acp case wired under the grid makes for the perfect height)
*** the wire grids are wired to the trays they are on to help prevent tipping***
this grid is a cooling rack
https://i.imgur.com/sGqn0QD.jpg
this is just a heavy grid I bought at a thrift store
https://i.imgur.com/SfrhA9I.jpg
the trick is to nock/shake off all the excess PC to prevent sticking!!!
Try a 1/4" layer of clay on a baking sheet to hold up bullets when you spray powder coat on, they will not tip over and a breeze to pop off when cool and indentions are reusable for next batch of same type
As I mentioned in another post, I tumble coat using shake and bake with either smoke4320 paint or Eastwood from Amazon and black airsoft BB's shaken for about 1 minute in a #5 plastic shredded cheese or other container. Then I toss them onto a 1/4" mesh hardware cloth basket and bake in goodwill toaster oven for 15 minutes at 375° F, take out and set basket on cool garage floor to cool. I size these both before and after. They don't stick to the basket nor do they have any indication of wire marks. One coat, various boolits up to 311299 length so far. Even some big bruiser .45 rifle boolits. Probably left something out so ask if you need to.
Was much easier than I had thought it would be.
You might try using a silicone ice cube tray...I think that the PC coating is more concentric around the cast as it flows down the sides rather than having the excess accumulate on the bottom side of a cast laying flat in a basket?
https://i.imgur.com/lQyEB8v.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/GL7t4ra.jpg
You can find the dimensions of these trays in a search, I find these at Amazon but they are available everywhere...
https://i.imgur.com/Gl8VYWA.jpg
Sorry, I haven't looked in this thread for a while.
I don't shoot the Lee bullet anymore, mostly the 210gn Eagan (Acc 31-210E). I size the driving bands at .310 and the nose at .302. I do size and seat GC's before PC and then again after PC.
Current loads are IMR4198 at 24.0gn which gives 1850fps. IMR3031 at 28.0gn and 1950fps.
There are a few other loads that come close, but the 4198 load is my favorite out to 400yd. If I shoot at 500 or 600 I use 30.9gn of 3031 for 2100fps. That keeps the big slug supersonic out to the target.
I use Hornady brass with the flash holes drilled out (#35 drill) and either Federal or CCI BR primers. I weight sort the brass, kinda. Weigh 100 and pick the middle 50.
The biggest gains I have seen in accuracy have been from weight sorting bullets. I now keep them in 0.3gn batches.
Sent from my SM-P580 using Tapatalk
PS I don't use the washers anymore either.
I use a silicone baking sheet with a 1/2" wire mesh above it to keep the bullets from falling over.
This is one of my best group.
Attachment 292494
These are more common. Note that two are the XCB bullet and two are the Eagan
Attachment 292495
Like they say, to each his own. At first, I made some jigs out of electrical box plates screwed together with the boolits standing up in between the plates. Looked pretty cool.....but, after I tried the hardware cloth basket with the boolits all laying on their sides, I won't go back to my earlier method. It does not leave a heavier coat on the bottom like one might think (noticeable by eye or measurement), even with boolits like RCBS 165 gr. silhouette loaded into Garand or some 311299's. I thought it was amazing-and fast too. So, I'm just throwing it out there, was worth a try to me and it worked just fine. So, might be worth actually trying it. Not that I don't appreciate all the different ideas here, this is just my $2.00 (inflation!).
As an aside, I had a hard time fitting gas checks on after P/C so put mine on before. I was using Gator copper checks.