I've popped my boolit casting cherry

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Jim Timber
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Jim Timber »

bangbangping wrote:
Jim Timber wrote:So if I'm powder coating them, does it make sense to reduce the depth of the lube grooves to get more volume in the boolits?
So you want to go from 1/14th pound bullets to 1/13th pound? :lol:
Something like that. :mrgreen:

I'm limited by the speed of sound, so I might as well get all the kinetic energy I can, right? :lol:
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

And if you need ANY help or advice on casting I will gladly give you my number.

If you plan on coating there is no need to have lube grooves. Order up the mold you want them tell the mold maker to leave the lube grooves off. Haven't found a manufacturer yet who doesn't mind doing that.
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

One more thing to consider. If you use standard lube then that will be exposed to the powder. And if these are left in a hot car the lube will melt and contaminate your powder.
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Jim Timber »

We're at the near high for the week of 14F, so I don't think melting in the case is an issue. :lol:

I do see where wax lube could be problematic. I guess I'm just the type that plans for that kind of thing and would go with the 160F lube options by default.

I've got a treadmill that was cut down to polish deep dish wheels back when I had them, so all I need is a drum (5 gal bucket) and I'll be ready for wet powder coat application. There's a host of toaster ovens on CL for <$20, so I can take my pick there or I can see what the thrift stores have when I'm running errands.

The truly sad part of all of this is that I had purchased several hundred pounds of powder in an auction years back for the whole sum of $2, and had a Horrible Freight PC oven and gun, but sold all of it because it was a pain in the ass and messy. I made a few hundred on the sale, but I could've had a lifetime supply of powder for boolits had I kept one single color (not all of them were full 60# boxes). Oh well. :lol:
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Jim Timber
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

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So much for CL toaster ovens... Was at wally world and happened to cruise down their appliances isle - had options from $16 to 90 bucks. I grabbed a $20 model and just need to procure some powder to get things going.
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Rooter pig »

Enjoying the process . Thanks for posting.
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

Jim Timber wrote:So much for CL toaster ovens... Was at wally world and happened to cruise down their appliances isle - had options from $16 to 90 bucks. I grabbed a $20 model and just need to procure some powder to get things going.
Dry tumble using Powder Buy The Pound. You can buy it by the ounce. What is great about it is that it is impossible to add too much to the bullet. It goes on thin without being clumpy and works great. The one I use is the 400 degree TGIC polyester. I am using the RAL 6001 Emerald Green.
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yondering
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by yondering »

Jim Timber wrote:That's a valid concern, and point duly noted.

Looks like I need to find a toaster oven. :lol:

So if I'm powder coating them, does it make sense to reduce the depth of the lube grooves to get more volume in the boolits? I should be able to take them down considerably without increasing the bearing surface on the lands. I've seen where tumble lubed boolits have less groove area than wax based lubed ones.
You can certainly remove the lube grooves if you want a little more weight. The grooves are completely unnecessary with powder coating, and more bearing surface on the lands is a good thing.

Skip the wet tumble powder coating, unless you just enjoy a mess. Dry tumble in yogurt or sour cream plastic tubs, and bake in a powder oven on a piece of screen; it doesn't get much simpler than that. By "dry tumble", I mean shake it like there's a snake in there and you're trying to kill it, for 10-20 seconds, then dump them out on a baking pan with some screen in it. 20 minutes in the toaster oven, then bust them apart and size as needed, and you're ready to shoot.

Also, pick up a cheap $5 oven thermometer to figure out where to set your toaster oven to get a stable 400* F. Do not just go by the markings on the oven, they are usually wrong.
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Jim Timber
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by Jim Timber »

I've been doing some research and it looks like the wet coating was a short lived thing.

Picked up some Horrible Freight red powder today, so I have the bases covered in supplies. Just need to get a screen solution for sifting the loose powder off the boolits and I'll be ready to give it a go.

I've got an IR thermometer that worked well when I was doing coating before. You just need to add something non-reflective in the oven to bounce the beam off. I always had a chunk of steel I left in the bottom that'd come up to temp with the oven and that worked well.
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yondering
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Re: I've popped my boolit casting cherry

Post by yondering »

You really really want to use something other than Harbor Freight powder. Using that stuff is the best way to convince yourself that powdercoating doesn't work well, on your very first try. It really is junk. The powder Dolomite suggested above is great on the other hand; I use several different TGIC polyester colors in that RAL series with good results.

Also, you do not need to sift loose powder off the bullets with a screen. People like to add all sorts of extra steps to the shake & bake process; you don't need to get caught up in those, keep it simple. Put bullets and powder in a tub, seal it up, shake hard, dump them on a tray, and bake. Nothing else needed.

Some like to sift powder on a screen, some add airsoft bbs, some use a tumbler, etc, but you don't need any of that stuff unless you just want to spend more time on it. I believe I was the first to discover dry tumble powder coating, by the simple method described above, and while coating and firing tens of thousands of bullets in the years since I have never gotten better results by adding anything extra to the process.
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