New wrinckle to my easy pc.

[Freightman]

Mike they look good to.

[popper]

Freightman - What alloy are you using to get the PB to 2500 fps? I've gotten to 2400 with checks, w/o checks would be great. Gees guys, now I got to go tho HF to get a tumbler.

[Freightman]

I use range scrap that is 90% cast boolits understand I took the GC grove out of my mold so there is no space left it is now a plan base boolit

[starmac]

This method sounds simple, right up my alley.

[starmac]

Does the bases on the 45/70 boolits that are standing up, come out with good coverage?

[Freightman]

Yes they do.

[starmac]

Great I was hoping you were going to say that. lol

I talked to my son that has a commercial PC business today. He had not heard of pcing boolits at all. I told him of your method, and the first thing he said is we would need to heat them a little before tumbling or figure out a way to ground them. I wonder how many boolits I can do at a time in a 10 ft oven. lol

[sparky45]

How hot do you get the bullets before tumbling in PC?

[prickett]

I must have a different kind of powder. Mine just clumps to the boolits in globs (like it was wet, but..... it's not). But fortunately, when I pour thinner over it and tumble, the clumps dissolve and it just goes back to being the Rangefinder method without messing up any boolits.
(But I had rather do it dry....) 'May need to try other kinds of powder.

I just tried dry tumbling with HF Flat Black and had the same results as you... clumping (ironically, I don't have issues with clumping when mixed with Lacquer Thinner like most do).

I wonder why some are completely successful with this method and others get clumping - while doing the same thing.

Do you having success see clumping and only partial coating after the first coat or is it completely covered? If the former, does the second coat do much better at covering than the first?

[prickett]

Could clumping be the result of too much paint? I tumbled 20 200 gr. boolits in about 1/2 TSP of powder. I tumbled for 20 minutes.

[popper]

Pricket - could it be moisture in the dry powder? I put one of those desiccant thingys in my powder gun to help keep it from clumping.

[Beagle333]

Do you having success see clumping and only partial coating after the first coat or is it completely covered? If the former, does the second coat do much better at covering than the first?

I was not successful at all. I never got past the first coat. It wasn't even a coat, it was bisuit-dough clumpy. The majority of the powder was regular loose, fine powder, but what stuck to the boolits was clumpy. None of the loose powder stuck.
I know it wasn't damp, because I sprayed the rest of it in my gun just fine. I was not using HF powder though.

[Mike Hughes]

Are your boolits too hot causing the powder to melt? I have only used HF red and have only done a few batches of 22 and 30 cal, but have not had any clumping problems at all. I don't preheat boolits in a oven but I used a hairdryer to warm them up a little. I just put some boolits in the tumbler, pour in some powder, and turn it on. I hold the tumbler and tilt to the side. I let it run for 10 or 15 seconds, turn off and add more if needed. I just dump them out onto the oven rack and they come out smoother than I expected.

[xyankeeworkshop]

Good looking boolits, Mike. You guys are really making it hard for me to get off the fence as to what kind of barrel to hang off the front of my AR build.

.300 Blk is tailor-made for casting and coating, but a PC 5.56 that gets the lion's share of j-word velocity, plinking and gungame accuracy, and leaves a clean barrel makes it a real tough call for me.

Indecisions, indecisions...

[prickett]

Are your boolits too hot causing the powder to melt?

I didn't heat them up at all. Sounds like I need to pop them into the oven for a couple of minutes to warm them up. Would 150F be reasonable?

I let it run for 10 or 15 seconds, turn off and add more if needed.

How long do you tumble them overall? I did 20 min. Too long?

[Beagle333]

xyankeeworkshop, looks like the only choice is to build two!

Yep, those look good, Mike!

[prickett]

I didn't heat them up at all. Sounds like I need to pop them into the oven for a couple of minutes to warm them up. Would 150F be reasonable?



How long do you tumble them overall? I did 20 min. Too long?

I heated up the boolits and tumbled for around 4 minutes. Still getting clumping.

[Mike Hughes]

Don't know what could be causing the clumping. With HF red, I have no trouble. I have some HF black that I need to try and was thinking about picking up some HF yellow and white. Are you using a vibratory tumbler? I leave the lid off and can see the coating cling to boolits.

[prickett]

No, I'm using a Thumber's Tumbler rotary tumbler.

Are any of the people having success using a rotary tumbler?

[Wayne Smith]

Are you guys doing this indoors (temp/humidity controlled) or outdoors in a garage? I'm wondering if local humidity makes a difference in the clumping? Texas, assuming low humidity, no clumping. Ohio, Alabama, assuming high humidity?