Goodbye bullet lube, goodbye leading

[Yondering]

Well I ordered 500rds of 180 gr TCFN from Byou Bullets  and should have them in about 5 days, Than I;m going to give than h^ll in the G29 and maybe the G20 -just to see for myself how well they hold in the Glock barrels and the LW barrels - by the way - does anyone know of anyone who sells hard cast hollow point bullets in 180 and 200 gr?? maybe I could set up a jig and drill some of my 220 gr hard cast into hollow points- Hmmmmmm

I can't comment on Bayou Bullets, but my home cast powder coated bullets run great through Glock barrels. The main thing is to have them sized larger than the bore (you do need to slug your bore; just drive a cast bullet through it and measure).

BTW, you don't want "hard cast" bullets for hollow points. They need to be softer; standard commercial casting alloys are generally way too hard for most hollow points to function correctly.

I saw a website the other day that sells cast hollow points from what appear to be Mihec molds. It looked like he had most of Miha's best designs, which I can vouch for as I have them too; my Mihec 9, .40, and .45 hollow point molds are the best shooters I have in each caliber. Problem is, I can't find the website now. It may have been a link from here, but who knows. Keep searching, it's out there.

Edit - Doh! schooltee posted the link on the previous page, and said he bought them unsized and unlubed. Here: http://www.gtbullets.com/index.php?main_page=index

[sqlbullet]

BTW, you don't want "hard cast" bullets for hollow points. They need to be softer; standard commercial casting alloys are generally way too hard for most hollow points to function correctly.

This.

When I cast any bullet I want to expand, I mix wheel weight or isotope alloy 50/50 with pure lead, then add tin to reach 2% tin.  In my 20lb pot that is 9lbs isotope lead, 9lbs pure and 5 oz of pure tin or 7 oz of 63/37 bar solder.

That alloy works about to a BHN of about 9-10, and if sized correctly works fine even my M1 Garands at 2000 fps.

[ShadeTreeVTX]

Well - I picked up the oven from WallyWorld Black and Decker 40$ one- it pretty big but if I decide to hog wild on the bullet it's big enough to handle it, picked up the spaghetti strainer ( stainless) and  I have and porcelain 30 qt ? pan that the strainer sets on just right( drill some holes in the bottom to let the water drain out- I ruined it -burned the bottom badly) - now to order the powder and I set to make a mess - I hope not but who knows - I'm looking at a pressure washer from WallyWorld for 85$ that just might be just right(electric) - my sons can blow the paint off a tank, don't know how far we can turn it down?
This is going to be fun or a big bust - hahaha

Doug

[ShadeTreeVTX]

Bump -

[Tomcat 10]

 Can you use a softer lead alloy , when you powder coat the bullets ?

[Yondering]

Can you use a softer lead alloy , when you powder coat the bullets ?

Yes, you can get away with a softer alloy, although you don't need to, for terminal performance. Baking the powder coating also anneals the bullets, making them as soft as that alloy can get.

BTW, since starting this thread, I've completely given up any conventional lubing methods. My two luber-sizer presses just sit there, other than using one as a gas check seater. I've been powder coating for 9mm, 10mm, 45 Auto, 300 Blackout, and 308 so far, with great results in all of them. The full power (with gas checks) 308 loads are giving impressive results, with about 2 MOA groups from my PTR91, which doesn't shoot much better than that with jacketed bullets. The 35 Whelen AI will get powder coated bullets too, when I get around to casting some more for it.

[BT8850]

Okay so count me in for this method. Bought myself a toaster oven last night, actually the same on caneman is using (19$ walmart special). Lined the tray in it with some foil and window screen. My process was the same as described in caneman and yonderings' posts, dry tumble bullets in small container with about teaspoon of powder, dump on tray lined with screen, bake, cool, repeat. I used a toothpick to stand the bullets up as not to touch them. First coat didn't cover very well, second coat got probably 99% coverage, 3 coat sealed the deal.

I was baking for 15mins at about 425* for each coat. The powder is Sherwin williams brand, a small amount was given to me to mess with. Heres the MSDS, it is TGIC.

http://www.paintdocs.com/webmsds/webPDF.jsp?SITEID=STORECAT&lang=E&doctype=MSDS&prodno=PLS8-C0020

Bullets are from my Lee 401-175 TC mold, they drop .401-.4015. With 2 coats of powder they measured .405, with three coats they were roughly .409. Is this about the thickness others are finding the powder adds? Also, since I now have a scale, I've weighed a few of my uncoated as cast bullets and they are typically between 176.9-177.3 grains. I only had time to weigh one With 3 coats of powdercoat and it was 178.6.

I pushed them through the Lee sizer die with a little bit of saeco gold lube on them and they pushed through pretty smooth with a light effort recquired, and sized to .401 on the money with out losing any of the coating. I also took one out on the porch and did the proverbial smash test by beating it with hammer and it didn't lose a single speck, i'm impressed. 



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[BT8850]

This post is to add more pic attachments. See below

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[BT8850]

Now I just need to coat the rest of what I have and get to loading so I can hopefully shoot some this weekend and see how they really work! Here's a pic of the smashed one

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[The_Shadow]

Someone's got "Blue Bullets"!   
Looking good!

[BT8850]

Someone's got "Blue Bullets"!   
Looking good!

I suppose it's better than having blue in other areas  LOL

Thanks! Im impressed with how they look, I think they'll look pretty neat stuff in a nickel 10mm case    now I'm just itching to see how they shoot.

[ShadeTreeVTX]

WWEEELLLL - Im one of the ones that don't cast my own bullets and I have a couple of thousand bullets I need to delube and start powder coating - I mentioned using a pressure sprayer to delube them, it didn't work (2500psi and it didn't touch the lube )--so we move to plan B, put them in the oven and heat to 250? and melt the lube off. Than pressure spray them clean - I'ed almost bet you could fire these bullets and retrieve them and the lube would still be in the grove - that stuff is hard as h*ll.

Doug

[The_Shadow]

Doug, the ones I sent, were ready to go sized and lubed! 

[Yondering]

Okay so count me in for this method...

Looking good. One comment on your pics of the bullets in the tub - up to a point, it works better with more bullets than that. I'm using about the same size tub, and usually do 50-100 bullets at a time. Having them packed together seems to pack the powder onto them better.

I don't worry much about the after-sizing diameter, although you may be applying a bit more powder than me, I only do 2 coats. Your particular powder may act different than mine though.

[Yondering]

WWEEELLLL - Im one of the ones that don't cast my own bullets and I have a couple of thousand bullets I need to delube and start powder coating - I mentioned using a pressure sprayer to delube them, it didn't work (2500psi and it didn't touch the lube )--so we move to plan B, put them in the oven and heat to 250? and melt the lube off. Than pressure spray them clean - I'ed almost bet you could fire these bullets and retrieve them and the lube would still be in the grove - that stuff is hard as h*ll.

Doug

I think you'll need to bake them in the oven, then use solvent to get the remaining lube off. Unless your pressure washer is a $$$ steam cleaner, and uses degreasing solvent too, it won't work well enough for the final step; even a light film of lube will cause the powder to not stick. I'd put them in a tub of mineral spirits, laquer thinner, or something like that, and do a few soak/rinse cycles.