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Powder coat vs. Hi-Tek

mac1911 said:
Below velocity expectations, inconsistency in velocity. Ect ect. i also dont see alot of "coated" bullet shooters slugging thier barrels. They just buy bullets and run them.

Thing is I think 90% of pistol shooters these days are shooting for hits on torso size targets vs trying to hit the X ring so "accuracy" is really not a issue.
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Bingo. Nailed it.
I don't think too many of em are.
Reason being- A lot of em run the same thing, so theres no real need to slug it out when it works across 12 barrels of the same manufacture. All the Glock guys with a wolf barrel have recipe A, all the CZ guys with the short chambers have recipe B, all the 1911 guys have recipe C, so on and so on.
And then those weird ass revolver guys (Like myself, I'm forever stuck in I.S.R. C class) go with the "Eff it, if it fits it ships"

The mindset is this-"

If I can pull a decent group on the draw, like an 8"/10"/ 12" plate at 20 or 30 feet with jacketed, then caliber X +.001" will work (assuming gun is new or low round count)
The farthest shot out I have is 105 ft on a 18"x24" stop plate for Speed Option.

I haven't seen the bullseye guys use em. 185 or 200 gr cast and waxed .452's and Clays seem to be their favorite.

Rifle- I've heard different things. Powder coat peeling off when pushed, or its not cured and slimes up the rifling. Hi-tek wearing off the lead before it exits the barrel. Key holes. Jacketed's probably better for that application.
 
4.0 grains clays runs clean and the best so far for me.

I think the coated could work in rifle at higher velocity/Alloy needs. I have not looked down my 1903a3 that sees the most cast out of all my rifles but Im running at 1600fps which is not fast for wheel weights or lyman #2 I think unless your using a powder that generates high pressure and low velocity ?

I like the idea of coated vs lubed if it can hold up to higher pressure and give alloy a little edge. Old timer told me if your going past 1700 fps you need 15-18 bhn good fit and a good lube.

I asked him about PC and Hiteck last fall when I seen him last and he laughed and said. Im to Fn old to play with it. Cast/lubed bullets have been working fine for 150 plus years.

As for coatings coming off thats got to be a host of issues from application, under/over sized bullets. Rough leads ect ect
 
Couple of quick questions which hopefully are hopefully easy to answer. Casting session two went really well and I ended up with 365 good bullets. I attempted to coat them yesterday and came up with a couple of questions. One since you are coating them do you have to worry as much about the hardness. I’m using lead that should have a hardness around 12. Second how do you know when to stop baking the bullets? I tried several different combinations and they didn’t end up candy apple red and they passed the smash test but failed the acetone test. I was trying to bake them for about 10 minutes at as close to 400 as I could maintain it. I was using my 3 dollar toaster oven. I’m going to throw them back into the pot and start all over. Here is a photo after the first bake.
 

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Final photos and test photos. Little bit of color from the acetone test.
 

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BFDX7 said:
Couple of quick questions which hopefully are hopefully easy to answer. Casting session two went really well and I ended up with 365 good bullets. I attempted to coat them yesterday and came up with a couple of questions. One since you are coating them do you have to worry as much about the hardness. I’m using lead that should have a hardness around 12. Second how do you know when to stop baking the bullets? I tried several different combinations and they didn’t end up candy apple red and they passed the smash test but failed the acetone test. I was trying to bake them for about 10 minutes at as close to 400 as I could maintain it. I was using my 3 dollar toaster oven. I’m going to throw them back into the pot and start all over. Here is a photo after the first bake.
Click to expand...
temperature is key!! You need to have a thermometer that is properly calibrated to check your temps. Too hot and your color will be dark and look weird. Too cold and it won’t pass the wipe test.
Start with 9 minute bake at 400 and pull one bullet out. Test it by wiping with acetone to see if the coating wipes off. If not then you can smash it.
If the bullet passes both tests remove the whole tray. If not then wait another minute and try again. Lather rinse repeat until you find the magic amount of time for your toaster oven.

BFDX7 said:
Final photos and test photos. Little bit of color from the acetone test.
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It doesn’t appear like much color wiped off at all. For comparison take a coated and not baked bullet and wipe it on a paper towel. You will see what I mean.
They actually look pretty good albeit a little over baked, which only affects the color.
Don’t go re melting them yet. I would load a half dozen or so and see how they do.
Then stop at the store on the way home and get a proper thermometer to double check your oven temps.
 
BFDX7 said:
Couple of quick questions which hopefully are hopefully easy to answer. Casting session two went really well and I ended up with 365 good bullets. I attempted to coat them yesterday and came up with a couple of questions. One since you are coating them do you have to worry as much about the hardness. I’m using lead that should have a hardness around 12. Second how do you know when to stop baking the bullets? I tried several different combinations and they didn’t end up candy apple red and they passed the smash test but failed the acetone test. I was trying to bake them for about 10 minutes at as close to 400 as I could maintain it. I was using my 3 dollar toaster oven. I’m going to throw them back into the pot and start all over. Here is a photo after the first bake.
Click to expand...

Never used it. Or I have used it but never applied it myself, so as far as the process I'm not familiar with it at all.
I did find this link, and it looks like multiple coats aren't all that uncommon. Maybe its overdoing it, but the thread is pretty long. I'm sure somewhere in there may be an answer to what you're looking for.
Hope it helps-

simple Hi-Tek coating

First coat, ready for oven. Now a boolit is a bullet. Yes! http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k511/putt2012/5ED6CC8B-6E48-4F93-A11D-0A0BBD5D743C-13419-00001140DEEDF35F_zpsceca6680.jpg Mixing stuff...
castboolits.gunloads.com
 
TrashcanDan said:
Never used it. Or I have used it but never applied it myself, so as far as the process I'm not familiar with it at all.
I did find this link, and it looks like multiple coats aren't all that uncommon. Maybe its overdoing it, but the thread is pretty long. I'm sure somewhere in there may be an answer to what you're looking for.
Hope it helps-

simple Hi-Tek coating

First coat, ready for oven. Now a boolit is a bullet. Yes! http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k511/putt2012/5ED6CC8B-6E48-4F93-A11D-0A0BBD5D743C-13419-00001140DEEDF35F_zpsceca6680.jpg Mixing stuff...
castboolits.gunloads.com
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You will find plenty of info on there and sometimes multiple times in a page someone asks the same questions. They are great with walking people through it.
2 coats is SOP 3 thin coats is very popular too.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
You will find plenty of info on there and sometimes multiple times in a page someone asks the same questions. They are great with walking people through it.
2 coats is SOP 3 thin coats is very popular too.
Click to expand...

Yea. Good place for info, but you'll need 5 or 6 days ( which everyone seems to have lately) to read through some of the threads.
 
Thank you for the directions I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I have about a pound of clean bullets left. I’m going to scrap the 3 dollar oven and try the larger model I picked up over the weekend. I was using a standard oven thermometer to monitor the temp and not the oven dial. Is there a color that is easier to start with. I think I bought black, blue, kryponite green, zombie green, and candy apple red. I’ll check out the site in a bit.
 
BFDX7 said:
Thank you for the directions I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I have about a pound of clean bullets left. I’m going to scrap the 3 dollar oven and try the larger model I picked up over the weekend. I was using a standard oven thermometer to monitor the temp and not the oven dial. Is there a color that is easier to start with. I think I bought black, blue, kryponite green, zombie green, and candy apple red. I’ll check out the site in a bit.
Click to expand...

i got the gold, and i knew i overcooked em because they came out maroon. My toaster oven sweet spot is ~390 degrees for 7 minutes on smaller projos and 7.5 minutes on the 458-500 projos. YMMV
 
Get a $10 thermocouple thermometer from Amazon - the dials are never correct.

I drill a hole in a bullet, insert the thermocouple, then crush the bullet just enough to hold. That bullet gets tossed into the tray and timer starts (3 minutes) when the thermometer reaches 180°C
 
BFDX7 said:
Thank you for the directions I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I have about a pound of clean bullets left. I’m going to scrap the 3 dollar oven and try the larger model I picked up over the weekend. I was using a standard oven thermometer to monitor the temp and not the oven dial. Is there a color that is easier to start with. I think I bought black, blue, kryponite green, zombie green, and candy apple red. I’ll check out the site in a bit.
Click to expand...
Well if you start with black you won’t have to worry about over baking.
Other than that they all pretty much behave the same.
 
Micheal and all thanks for the tips and round two went much better. I went with the bigger oven, took the bullets out starting around 9 mins. I think I was going a little thin on the coating but here is the outcome with day one and day two results. Now I have to size them for a 1911.
 

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BFDX7 said:
Micheal and all thanks for the tips and round two went much better. I went with the bigger oven, took the bullets out starting around 9 mins. I think I was going a little thin on the coating but here is the outcome with day one and day two results. Now I have to size them for a 1911.
Click to expand...
Nice! Looks like you nailed it.
Thin coating is ok. You’re better off with 3 thin coats than 2 thick ones.
The thin coats dry better which means they will cure better. Thick coats might develop a dried skin on the outside and trap wet coating underneath. No amount of baking will cure this and they will not pass the smash test. This is what I was told from the owner of Hi-Tek.
So I always do 3 thin coats.
 
the tip to pull out a bullet every min really helped. The first round with cold bullets took about 12 minutes, then I let them cool a bit and repeated. Second and third coat took about 9 minutes. I appreciate the help. Hi tek coated bullets are okay to shoot through a stock Glock g17 barrel? I’m going to work on casting some of them next.
 
BFDX7 said:
the tip to pull out a bullet every min really helped. The first round with cold bullets took about 12 minutes, then I let them cool a bit and repeated. Second and third coat took about 9 minutes. I appreciate the help. Hi tek coated bullets are okay to shoot through a stock Glock g17 barrel? I’m going to work on casting some of them next.
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You’re welcome.
I have not shot them myself but all reports show it’s totally fine.
Lead is fine to shoot too. You just need to do it properly and make sure you don’t have leading. If you build up too much leading in any firearms you can kaboom it. Those shitty plastic glocks just blow up sooner than a well built 1911.
There is a thread on castboolits about lead in glocks and the polygonal rifling. If you do it right there aren’t any issues.
 
What Hi-Tek colors worked best/consistent? I am putting in an order and like Candy Apple Red, black and bronze. I used bronze, I think, at the 2019 Casting Seminar and it worked well. Thanks
 
Artie said:
What Hi-Tek colors worked best/consistent? I am putting in an order and like Candy Apple Red, black and bronze. I used bronze, I think, at the 2019 Casting Seminar and it worked well. Thanks
Click to expand...
I've worked with a handful of colors and they all seem to work almost the same. I do feel that the metallics give a little better coverage and therefore a better looking bullet.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
I've worked with a handful of colors and they all seem to work almost the same. I do feel that the metallics give a little better coverage and therefore a better looking bullet.
Click to expand...
Placed and order for red, black and bronze. In the comments I mentioned NES and @Michael J. Spangler for pimping the product.
 
Last edited:
pastera said:
The tools are there - it's a bad craftsman who blames his tools...
My issue is 9-12 minutes is too long to sit and wait but not long enough to get a lot done.
Click to expand...
This is why I cast while I’m coating. If I walk away for a second it turns into 16 minutes and “oh no”
I have an electric kitchen range in my shop. I have a cover on the top so I can do all my casting while the bullets bake below.
 

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