Is anyone else using Hi Tek bullet coating?

38ExtraSpecial

38ExtraSpecial

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hi guys.
i recently started using this lead bullet coating (last night) and was wondering if anyone else on this forum is
seems like its getting a lot of use over on castboolits.
its the same coating that commercial casters like bayou bullets use to coat their projectiles.

so far its been easy to work with and a little bit goes a long way
guys are pushing the coating pretty damn fast in revolver rounds like full house 357 and near full house 223 and 308. they're not getting very good accuracy with the high velocity rifle rounds but sound like its good enough for blasting range ammo.

you can see how it works on these two videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VevKJgHseWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU7PbbtbAtE

donnie at bayou asked what color i wanted and i told him to send whatever. he sent gold. supposedly it has a higher "solids" content and offers a little better performance (if i remember correctly)

this is a batch of 38 wadcutters after 2 coats. i'll mic them and most likely end up sizing for consistency. seems this coat would work really well for a tumble lube bullet or something you shoot as cast without sizing.



wow that picture is terrible. the flash really reflected off the gold and looks pretty ugly. i won't be doing the gold again next time. i'll probably go with the black coating.

the finish is nice and even and smooth though. can't wait to load some and try them out.
 
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I have been shooting commercial coated lead bullets, and find them to be much cleaner than standard lead.
Are you coating your own cast heads?

I have several thousand lubed and sized bullet heads on hand that came from a big name supplier. I purchased these before I switched to coated heads. Could I coat these like you did? Or will the lube on these interfere ?
 
I'm coating my own right now.
You can put them in an oven and cook off the lube or boil it off I guess.
Then you can coat no prob. Where are you located? If you want to test out some coating let me know. We can coat a few hundred if you're interested in buy it. Try before you buy.
 
Thanks that's very generous. I'll have to try cooking off the lube on some, if that goes well I'd love to try some coating.

I watched the videos, are you following the same process?
What are you using to bake them in? (I'm guessing my kitchen oven is not the best option. ) How big of a batch can you do at a time?
 
let me know

i'm using the same method 5 parts color 1 part catalyst 5 parts acetone per the instructions.
yeah the kitchen oven is a no no. i'm using a small toaster oven that i have in my shop for kydex sheaths. i also have a big electric kitchen oven that i use for tempering knives and powder coating. that would work fine too.
i probably did about 10 pounds of 38 wadcutters in a batch. the commercial guys use cement mixers and bake off large amounts. the only limit is how big of a container you have to tumble in and how big of an oven you have.
i guess you can coat and then bake off a few days later if need be.
check out the castboolits forum for a huge thread with all kinds of experimentation going on
 
I'm strangely intrigued by this stuff. Ive been reading over the thread on castboolits.

Amazon is bringing me a toaster oven, so my first task will be to melt the lube off of a batch of 230g 45's.

Its a great excuse to shoot up my stash of loaded 45s

 
nice!
i find once i started casting i can't keep enough on hand to make a "stash" its too cheap to shoot now so i shoot way more.
let me know when you're ready to mess with it. i can meet up with you and drop off a jar of the mixed coating
 
295 views. i figured this would drum up some more questions and comments.
some more pics

bag o bullets


loaded 40 (sorry EC)


what i've coated so far. 360 RB for multi ball 38/357 loads. 124 RN 9MM. 358495 Lyman Wadcutter. 401638 Lyman 180TC. .451 round ball for 45 cap gallery loads in my 625-4
 
not yet. no chrono so i won't be doing that anytime soon.
i'm just dying to fire some. i have some waductters loading in 38 brass and the 180 TC in 40 brass. i want to load more but i guess i should shoot the test loads first.
i'm dying to cast some 358156 and coat them. guys are running the coated full bore in 357. i really hope it works well so i can karma my gas checks and be done with them
 
55_grain said:
@SJan - that's a nice full can o' .45's you've got there. [smile]
Click to expand...

I took a buddy to the range today, we shot a few handfuls of it!



Look Ma, No lube!

I have some wire mesh to 'cook' the bullets in, and a drip pan (crumb tray) to collect the mess. I am only fitting about 150-200 at a time this way. After only 10 minutes in the oven at 250 it looked like all the lube was gone. After that batch cooled off, the bullets were still greasy. The second batch stayed in for 20 minutes to ensure all the lube was melted off.
 
looking good. you might try boiling if they're not totally degreased.
let me know when you want to meet up so i can drop off some coating
 
Shot some 38 wadcutters, some 38 double round ball loads and some 40 s&w 180 grain TC last night all with superb results.
Accurate, and clean as a whistle when I was done.
I'm sold for sure. Ease of use and results were as advertised.
 
Updated.
I've shot a bunch more now with various powder and loads in a handful of cartridges.
All worked out great. Any other casters out there using this yet?
A friend used some 158 grain plain base in full house 357 mag with great results and zero leading.
 
I'm going to try PC or Hi tech coating shortly. Does anyone know the hardness of the coatings vs copper ? A bit concerned about a few barrels I do not want to damage or wear out prematurely.
 
I can't say exactly, but I do remember someone saying 22 brinnell.
The members on cast boolits use a ton of this stuff and the high volume guys have reported no more barrel wear than with regular lead bullet alloy.
I've tried PC it's a mess and not worth it really. I would like to try the dry tumble method but after using hi tek it seems like a waste of time.
 
about 10 years ago I read about the benefits of coating bullets with molybdenum, so I ordered a kit. Yes I got about 50 fps faster out of my loads with the same settings, but that crap got everywhere. Here is a hint, if you spill it on your clothes DON'T put them in the washing machine. That crap stayed in the machine and coated everything, everywhere.

I hope your solution is cleaner.
 
I wonder if there is a sample pack for the coating ? I cast already and have hundreds ready for lubesizing or coating.
 
Rep308. This stuff is totally different. 5 parts color 1 part catalyst and 5-10 parts acetone depending on your technique. Drizzle, swirl, dry in about a minute then bake. Super thin coating that does not come off. No mess at all.

FWest they do sell a half liter kit but that's still enough for 15000 bullets. I wouldn't hesitate to suggest this to anyone who is casting. Maybe ASP will chime in here. He used some for the first time last night.
Did you watch the videos I linked to? It's super simple just as easy as it looks.
 
I do not cast, but I have been on the lookout for some coated bullets to try out as I am a reloader. Do any local places sell coate dbullets? If not I'll probably pick some up on my summer trip out west as I have ran into a couple shops in MO that sell them (I think). Maybe when I get a place with a garage or a basement I'll get into casting, but I just can't manage it at this point.
 
Coated and shot my first batch of bullets with this coating. Bullets were 175 gr tc .401. Traditional lubing and every other remedy to leading failed for this particular gun. Powder coated bullets worked, but that process is a pain and they are hard to size due to material build up. This process has a almost no learning curve and sizes easily and cures hard and dry. They don't stick together and make a huge mess of your reloading area or your gun. I think in 10 years this will be the stuff everyone is using and people will look back and laugh at the old ways.

Edit: forgot to mention, a little goes a very long way. I took two half-spoon fulls of the mixture to do one coat of about 100 bullets, and that was almost too much.
 
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Mike or Anthony - Do you know of anyone that's tried this on gas checked 500 bullets? I'm running low and need to cast some more. I run them at about 1800 fps.
 
I don't know anyone who has run them in a 500. I know they have been run on gc bullets w/o a check with success. I also know they have been run up to ~2300 fps with success. I'll be happy to coat a batch for you to try.

Mike swears at gas checks. I don't mind them so much other than the price of a check maker or checks themselves. I'm expecting good accuracy out of coated rifle boolits but I haven't personally made/shot them yet. When I do, it will be 30-30, 45-70, 30-06, and possibly 308. I'll be sure to report back with my findings.
 
EC
I haven't run them in 500 but I would imagine they would be fine gas checked or not.
This coating is amazing.
You do size after the coating process. The coating does add .001" or .002" so the sizing is a little harder than normal, but a little spray of Dillon paste lube on the bullets makes it super easy.
PM inbound.
 

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