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OFFICIAL: NES BULLET CASTING SEMINAR

I have used the liquid only.
They say the powder is the same exact thing. Cheaper to ship. You don't need to do as much work. Add acetone only. The epoxy and catalyst are all in the powder.

Either way you will be very happy with it.


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Michael J. Spangler said:
I have used the liquid only.
They say the powder is the same exact thing. Cheaper to ship. You don't need to do as much work. Add acetone only. The epoxy and catalyst are all in the powder.

Either way you will be very happy with it.


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Click to expand...

How fast have you guys been pushing this bullets....does it really eliminate the need for lube?
 
Bill! We haven't forgotten about you. Are you around today?

mac1911 said:
How fast have you guys been pushing this bullets....does it really eliminate the need for lube?
Click to expand...

Sorry I missed this... Mike and I have comfortably pushed them above 1600 fps without any traditional lube or gas checks in 35 remington and 45-70. I think we went faster than that with 35 rem, too... Others online have published their success up to 2500fps in other calibers. With magnum pistol, we've done 1300fps without a worry. Keeping the coating working at speed means 3 thin coats rather than 2 generous ones, same idea as most types of paint- more thin coats are better than fewer thick ones
 
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So I'm setting up my Dillon 650 to load 38sp using LEE TL358-158-2R (round nose with micro bands) bullets coated with HiTek Bayou coating. And not sure about the OAL. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook doesn't list this bullet, and I don't see much correlation between bullet weight and OAL. How do I figure that out? Am I seating to one of the grooves to crimp?

Thanks for the advice.
 
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Seat to whatever fits in the gun. Use a similar OAL as a listed similar profile lead bullet and crimp gently in one of the tumble grooves.
I wouldn't worry about the seating depth as long as it fits in the cylinder, and you're not working at top loads. Deep seating causes higher pressures. I doubt your'e planning on running these at max 357 loads and working up from there so I wouldn't worry about it.

Make sure you don't over crimp damaging the coating and also make a dummy round and pull the bullet. Make sure that your expander is big enough (and alloy hard enough) that the case tension on the bullet doesn't squeeze it under sized. This is one of the biggest issues with cast and can cause issues with tumbling/leading and all that jazz. I doubt it's going to be an issue with the 38 but i did notice it with my 9mm.
I needed to water drop WW bullets to get them to stay hard enough not to get squeezed down. A larger powder funnel expander would solve the issue too.
 
Thanks for the tips Mike. I ended up seating to the top mini-band, with an OAL of 1.490 +/- 0.003, and with 4.0gn W231. I kept dialing in the crimp slowly just until the cartridges dropped into the cylinder freely but snug. A few pulled bullets show no shaving or deformation at crimp. I try these out in my S&W R8 this week and report back.

These were the bullets I made using the 2-bullet Lee TL358-158-2R mold I got in the lotto at the casting seminar. I weeded out the ugly ones, coated 3x with Hi-Tek Supercoat, then sized on a Lee 358 die. I tossed a few more as I was sizing - think I'll set up a magnifying lamp for the old eyes, that can't see near or far these days. But touch and feel seems a good cue to examine a bullet as I'm sizing. Some bullets slipped through with little effort, while others took a harder stroke. No doubt my inconsistent casting technique.

It seems decidedly harder to cast with a 6-bullet Lee TL358-158-SWC mold. I probably could have stuck with a 2-bullet mold.
 
Hey Maverick.

That sounds like exactly the way to do it. I've shot a bunch of no lube groove coated bullets that were 9mm 147 grain but sized .358 for use in a S&W 627 USPSA gun.
My buddy gave me a bunch and they worked perfect in 38s. Just a light crimp to remove the bell and it was perfect. I never had any jump the crimp either.

I doubt your technique is bad with the Lee 6 cavity. I would venture to guess the cavities are all off by a little bit. Or your alloy when you refilled the pot was a little more or less rich.

I find I have trouble if I don't cast fast with the small bullets in the 6 cavity.

Now show some pics!!


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Well Anthony picked up the Tappers. I hope Anthony and Mike like them, it is a well deserved Thank you for hosting the bullet casting seminar. I hope to see all of you in the future.
 
BillNed said:
Well Anthony picked up the Tappers. I hope Anthony and Mike like them, it is a well deserved Thank you for hosting the bullet casting seminar. I hope to see all of you in the future.
Click to expand...

Hey Bill.

I'm sure I will love the. I haven't cast a boolit in months though. Moving into the new house is taking up every last minute. I'm hoping to cast some this weekend maybe.
Can't wait to use the tapper. Thank you again.


I'm sure there will be another seminar. Maybe spring or fall.


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Nice job. The coating looks perfect.
Damn now I want to reload.
I've only moved some rock chucker and my 45-70 components so far.
Should scratch the reloading itch for now.




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I've been thinking of a scrap lead group buy.

I "might" have a source for lead in bulk
The source usually sells to scrap yards. We could get it for whatever the scrap yard would pay.
Might be a nice way to get a decent stash of lead for everyone interested.

What do you guys think?


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I just received an email from NOE bullet moulds.
20% off for the next 7 days. This is an awesome deal. His moulds are great.
He offers the largest selection of in stock designs out of all of the custom mould guys.
Lots of cool bullets that are designed properly. check them out

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php

my mouth is watering for a 432-265 (H&G 503 clone)
 
On the way back from The Cape. I stopped at the Christmas Tree Shop in Bourne with the wife. I have been looking for a low cost cast iron pot to melt wheel weights I saw this pot for $19.99, there was rust on the cover. I asked the manager if something could be taken off. He said "50%". I said "Thank you!!!" $9.99 not a bad price!!
20151207_113710.jpg
 
Tire Warehouse wanted $30 per bucket for wheel weights, saying that's what they got from the recycler. That seems a little steep, eh?
 
If the lead ratio is ok then that's not bad.
If you can get 100 pound of ingot from it then go for it.
Even 75 wouldn't be bad.
Unless you have a scrap yard that will sell cleaner scrap cheaper than that.


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0f06dfae1167bd2f566da7ebec02bd91.jpg


Two full buckets for $60 cash. I'll have a nice sorting project week after next while off work. Maybe some smelting before XMAS. Lead Tinsel for the tree!
 
I think that's a good deal. Like I said maybe there's a lot of zinc but if you don't mind sorting it shadygrady on castboolits will actually trade you pound for pound for wheel weight alloy.
I usually keep all of my zinc and once in a while make some ingots.
I did make a bunch of Lee 1oz slug mould zinc slugs for a buddy and he loves shooting them in his 12 gauge.


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That's a deal.
If you only get 60 pounds per bucket it might be worth buying the stuff already ingotized for $1/lb
Unless you're like me and get some sick excitement from smelting your own.


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Local scrap yard wants $1 per lb for lead but will only pay $1 a lb for my brass.. it not hard to know that would be a bad deal... .50 per lb is the going rate for relitivly clean Iead....

Needless to say i pay more than $60 for 2 5gal pails.... a 5 gallon pail of ww weight like 140-160 lbs in my experience.

Im hoping to score 1k lbs of ww tommarow.. this is the time of year up north to get them..... people getting new tires before winter.
 
MGnoob said:
Im hoping to score 1k lbs of ww tomorrow.. this is the time of year up north to get them..... people getting new tires before winter.
Click to expand...

Yeah - if I bought all six buckets they had, the manager said he could go $150 for the lot, but I'm slim on $$$ until Santa comes [wink]
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
So who wants to split up a sail boat keel or two?


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Id prefer WW to keel but if you have a line one some keel lead, ill bring my chainsaw and lift gate.pm me... if its heavy enough we can travel to get it.but if we have to take the ehole boat..its a different situation.
 

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