Bullet Casting & Coating MegaThread

Artie said:
Give it away at the next casting seminar. Let someone else struggle, ah, learn, how fun 9mm casting is.
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I could never do that to @38ExtraSpecial and @pastera who have helped me so much…. But I did think about that and also the bullets that are done…. I must have had this thought before because I took the handles off. I try to buy handles for each mold. @Artie you can have first dibs on the mold…..
 

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Jay77 said:
I could never do that to @38ExtraSpecial and @pastera who have helped me so much…. But I did think about that and also the bullets that are done…. I must have had this thought before because I took the handles off. I try to buy handles for each mold. @Artie you can have first dibs on the mold…..
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Dont throw molds out. Always someone willing to take them. Good project for modification
 
FWIW - old guys that helped me along the way gave me these tips for bullet casting

Dont get hung up on alloy or hardness most of what your loading for will be fine with lead and tin alloy until you get into pushing high pressure and velocity.

Was put to me like this
Leading at the throat and early bore
Wrong size
Leading along the bore , pitting , lack of lube and obturation
Leading at the muzzle - to hard alloy lack of obturation.

Your not reaching any high pressures or velocities with 9mm

Lead is not going to get harder by quenching it if it does not have arsenic in it.
Even the classic hardball alloy is only 16 BHN
Any Pistol bullet alloy harder than that is just so they don’t get banged up during shipping. Commercial casters used hard alloy so they wouldn’t get banged up during shipping along with the hard lubes so the lube wouldn’t melt inder normal conditions.

I don’t know anything about the high-tech coatings. But I think when you have a deep lube groove, the coding just does not adhere to it well and without any lube in that groove I think the gas finds that weak spot and you just start getting gas checking.

Anyhow, whenever I find myself chasing my tail, I usually just shelf the project for a little while to come back to it go with what works and what makes you happy. I have a Lyman 30 cal mold, 170 grain that’s supposed to be the holy Grail of 30 cal bullets, and I can’t get that thing to shoot for shit doesn’t matter what I put it in what powder I use. I have a Lee 165 grain 309 tumble lube design bullet that I shoot legit gold scores with at CMP#. If didn’t suck at offhand I’m sure I’d have a lot better scores.
 
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240Geezer said:
Lee mold works ok for me I just would like a different ogive.
They a little thick up front so I need to shorten the COAL it seems.
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I’m perfectly happy with all the lee molds. I have they all do exactly what they’re supposed to do. I’ve never had a problem with them casting good bullets. Do the designs always work well,. What I have found out is once you get out of the so-called window of what they’re designed for you start to have problems and sometimes it’s not always a good solution for those problems. This is why you have modern mold makers, making bullets, more productive for coatings and eliminating the lube groove.
 
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@mac1911 … one good point you brought up…. The alloy behind the Lee I can’t say with 100% confidence contained arsenic for the water dropping comparison to the other mold… but like you pointed out… this is just going on the shelf for now. So many more better projects on deck… 220gr 300BO I think is next. I poured and coated a bunch a while back. I just have to clean the brass.
 
Jay77 said:
@mac1911 … one good point you brought up…. The alloy behind the Lee I can’t say with 100% confidence contained arsenic for the water dropping comparison to the other mold… but like you pointed out… this is just going on the shelf for now. So many more better projects on deck… 220gr 300BO I think is next. I poured and coated a bunch a while back. I just have to clean the brass.
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I played with 300 black for a short stint used scrap lead of un know alloy IIRC pencil test put it at 8bhn or so .
Plain base 200 grain 2500 lube at touch over 1000 fps. CFE BK

Ran well , so so accuracy put anout 250 rounds down the pipe , had a little lead build up just forward the throat. I ended up selling the upper. Just no real love for the platform.
 
mac1911 said:
I played with 300 black for a short stint used scrap lead of un know alloy IIRC pencil test put it at 8bhn or so .
Plain base 200 grain 2500 lube at touch over 1000 fps. CFE BK

Ran well , so so accuracy put anout 250 rounds down the pipe , had a little lead build up just forward the throat. I ended up selling the upper. Just no real love for the platform.
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IMG_9788.jpeg
Loading a few test cases with Enforcer.
 
No pics, but I water dropped 400 or so each of the MP and Lee 9mm mold. I'm going to wait a couple weeks and then give 3 coats of HiTech to all of them.

The plan will be to load all of them with Titegroup and HS-6 at different sizes (.356, .357 and .358) and then see if I get any leading in my 92FS. This will help me understand if it was a harder alloy versus a slower powder that was giving me issues. The .358 will only load in Blazer brass, so I picked through all my brass to get a bunch ready. I'm hoping to get a bullet and load that works with no leading for 9mm on a consistent basis.
 
ddeck said:
No pics, but I water dropped 400 or so each of the MP and Lee 9mm mold. I'm going to wait a couple weeks and then give 3 coats of HiTech to all of them.

The plan will be to load all of them with Titegroup and HS-6 at different sizes (.356, .357 and .358) and then see if I get any leading in my 92FS. This will help me understand if it was a harder alloy versus a slower powder that was giving me issues. The .358 will only load in Blazer brass, so I picked through all my brass to get a bunch ready. I'm hoping to get a bullet and load that works with no leading for 9mm on a consistent basis.
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Couple things.
Lead works softens. Opposite of metals were used to.
Also when you heat it up it’s going to soften.

So you should do your 3 coats of hi-tek and water drop from the last coat.

Then size asap and allow to work harden over the couple weeks.
 
ddeck said:
Do you drop right from the oven on the last Hi-tek?
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Yes right into some cold water. Then roll them around on a towel to dry them. If it’s a hollow point I might bunch up the ends of the towel and give it little shimmy back and forth to make sure all of the water is out of the cavities. Sit them in the sun. Wait a day. Whichever fits my schedule that day.

I don’t want to leave water in my sizing due.
 
38ExtraSpecial said:
Yes right into some cold water. Then roll them around on a towel to dry them. If it’s a hollow point I might bunch up the ends of the towel and give it little shimmy back and forth to make sure all of the water is out of the cavities. Sit them in the sun. Wait a day. Whichever fits my schedule that day.

I don’t want to leave water in my sizing due.
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Any chance of recovering some bullets?
 
In my rookie days….. wait I’m still there… I had issues with Hi-Tek and leading… serious leading… I loaded a 200gr SWC with a 1/2gr of bullseye and on a slow Mo video you could see the projectile travel. I recovered the bullet in an old blanket. I put a pause on the 9mm because I have other projects in flight.

My 300BO subsonics chrono results were in alignment with the published Nolser data. I have to load and test more but the subsonics just don’t impress me yet.

IMG_0100.png
I used Enforcer for this test case.
 
ddeck said:
Still some leading using HS-6 with .358 bullets. (4.5 gn HS-6 had these 142 gn bullets going at around 850 fps. This is after 100 rounds

View attachment 864667 View attachment 864668
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Leading down the length of the bore is usually alloy to hard and it does not obturate, so the gases escape around the bullet, basically causing lube failure. If your coating these the coating is failing
. Slug your bore size up .001”
Use softer alloy , try traditional lube. What your seeing with the almost consistent layer of lead both groves and lands is vaporized lead.

Have you done at least the art pencil hardness test

6-10 BHN is as hard is they need to be

I run range scrap that art pencil tests at 8 on the hard side.
 
mac1911 said:
Leading down the length of the bore is usually alloy to hard and it does not obturate, so the gases escape around the bullet, basically causing lube failure. If your coating these the coating is failing
. Slug your bore size up .001”
Use softer alloy , try traditional lube. What your seeing with the almost consistent layer of lead both groves and lands is vaporized lead.

Have you done at least the art pencil hardness test

6-10 BHN is as hard is they need to be

I run range scrap that art pencil tests at 8 on the hard side.
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I have not done the pencil test on these. I bought these as COWW ingots, so I'll have to test them to see what the hardness is. I do have some pure lead to dial it back if need be.

I slugged the bore to .357 and the sizing of these at .358 should be OK. I can't go any larger than that or they won't chamber. As it is, I am only using Blazer brass for these ones since many others won't chamber if I load them with a .358 bullet.

This mold has no lube groove, so I'm going to try a couple more coats of the coating.

Some more experiments and testing to do, just sharing my progress.
 
ddeck said:
I have not done the pencil test on these. I bought these as COWW ingots, so I'll have to test them to see what the hardness is. I do have some pure lead to dial it back if need be.

I slugged the bore to .357 and the sizing of these at .358 should be OK. I can't go any larger than that or they won't chamber. As it is, I am only using Blazer brass for these ones since many others won't chamber if I load them with a .358 bullet.

This mold has no lube groove, so I'm going to try a couple more coats of the coating.

Some more experiments and testing to do, just sharing my progress.
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Did this batch get water dropped and age hardened?
 
Heres my beater 38spl 158gn cast loads, SWC out door range scrap

Probably 200 + rounds. Gets a oil swab when I put it back in the safe. Dry patch before shooting again.

Clays for about 800 fps

Only issue I had with serious leading was in a 1911 with a crusty barrel, frequent shooting and fritz polish here and there helped a great deal. . Sold the gun eventually . I generally dont keep a gun that irks me….lol

Which reminds me I have stuff coming up on the chopping block Some project guns and some older less popular platforms. IMG_4369.jpeg IMG_4371.jpeg IMG_4370.jpeg
 
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