Casting here I come

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  • rushthezeppelin

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    You're right, I just don't see a need for another fad, like MoS2, that will fade with time. There's only so much money I'm willing to cough up for dubious benefits.

    They've been using and perfecting this in Aus for over 2 decades now. It's not at all like moly with it's drawbacks. Its hardly any money to cough up anywho, 15 bucks for lb of PC a coolwhip tub and a 40 dollar WM convection toaster oven.
    DK Firearms
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    No, I meant the coating - is it easy to do?

    Not yet but it seems pretty darn simple with the shake and bake method. From what I gather the cool whip tub is rather important though (not kidding). People theorize the type of plastic used for it imparts enough static in the bullets to allow the dry powder to coat evenly and thick enough to get the bullets done in one coat. After that it's as simple as throwing them on either a hardware mesh screen tray or a regular baking tray with foil dull side up (they can even be stacked up a bit, some people cook 200+ in their little convection toasters) and baking for usually 10 minutes at 400 (temp and cook time vary a bit depending on brand of PC). They will blemish a bit compared to doing the electrostatic gun method but they will usually clean up once you size them (pretty important) and even if they don't look perfect they still function exactly the same as the pretty electrostatic gun ones.
     
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    Paul5388

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    They've been using and perfecting this in Aus for over 2 decades now. It's not at all like moly with it's drawbacks. Its hardly any money to cough up anywho, 15 bucks for lb of PC a coolwhip tub and a 40 dollar WM convection toaster oven.
    The point I was making was whether or not there is enough benefit over what we've used for 100+ years to make more equipment a good investment.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    Whelp....just ordered most of my stuff for casting. Got the Lee 20# bottom pour, 309 sizing die and the Lee C312-155-2R. Also got a pound of green powder coating from Powder by the Pound OTW. Gonna stop by Wally World in a bit and pick up a fish fry set for making ingots and a convection toaster oven for curing the powder coating.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    Please post some pics of your gear you use, I'd like to see how you actually cast the bullets.

    Here's the first piece of my setup

    ury9u7aj.jpg


    $40 outdoor fish fryer for making ingots. Couldn't find the convection toaster oven yet.

    Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III
     

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    rushthezeppelin

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    I Did some more shopping today. Tried Goodwill first and managed to find a convection toaster oven for $15, a cheap steel spoon and two solid aluminum cupcake pans (not the silly ones with the inserts for each cupcake, all one stamped piece). Picked up a SS pasta spoon and a laddle from Wally World and found a cast iron pan at Big Lots. Went by harbor freight and and got some welding clothing and a face mask for protection in case of a splatter.

    Just got done on my first batch of making ingots and taking a shower. Managed to make about 8 1/2 cupcake ingots (not sure on weight yet) with little trouble (I made sure to sort out the zinc especially beforehand). Came out to 11 1/2#

    Sorting blue pail for steel/zinc had about 4% non lead on this first time; grey stick ons
    agazymeh.jpg


    Firing up the melt
    avydavyp.jpg


    Pail is filed with water for dross skimming
    ugene4y4.jpg


    Fluxed and about to dross
    ezyvu3y4.jpg


    Casting ingots.
    ju7avu6a.jpg


    Success
    a4y5y2ad.jpg


    u2ebyju7.jpg
     
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    popper

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    rushthezeppelin just use the HF red PC @ $5/#. Be sure to run our smelt at low temp and skim off the zinc WW. Try to sort the SOWW, they don't have much antimony, near pure.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    Well I've managed 2 casting sessions so far. First batch I was still fiddling with temp so they all went back in (most didn't get a good sharp fill, melt too cold) on the next try. Managed to get find the sweet spot for my Lee pot and mold with temp and casting pace next try. Did about 40+ on the second go around. PCed with a coolwhip tub and goodwill curing oven. They don't look super pretty but they have plenty of coverage on the driving bands where it counts and I have yet to see anyone report decreased accuracy with a rough dry tumble powder coating compared to smooth electrostatic powder coating.

    Loaded 20 of them tonight in 300blk. 161+-.5gr bullets loaded over 15gr of lil gun and CCI 41s in Remington brass.

    uhydyva3.jpg

    Next casting session/coating session I'll make sure to get plenty of pics of the process....maybe even do a video.

    rushthezeppelin just use the HF red PC @ $5/#. Be sure to run our smelt at low temp and skim off the zinc WW. Try to sort the SOWW, they don't have much antimony, near pure.

    I actually looked at the HF in N Austin and they didn't even carry any of the PC stuff. I'm pretty happy with the PBTP results and this stuff will last ages, probably longer than my current lead supply. Will definitely get my technique perfected though so I get prettier results :D
     
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    rushthezeppelin

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    Well I've gotten the powder coating application nailed down a bit better now. Also managed to get my roommate into at least the powder coating process so far by grabbing a pound of pink powder for her. Also she agreed to let me teach her to load with some supervision so she can shoot her own pink bullets.

    te8u6y5a.jpg


    The green almost looks like it was done in a PC gun now with how glossy and smooth it is, just a few lights spots here and there from picking them up with hemostats, but functionally they should be fine since they have a good coating on the driving bands. I found I'm getting much better coat using a flat baking pan and standing them up 1 at a time. It's a little more time consuming but the results looks great and hopefully will shoot better in my 300blk than my first batch/load.
     

    popper

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    Good job Rush. Using HF red, I got my LR308 doing 1" 100 ~1500 (DT) & 2400 (ESPC) fps. No messy lube, no gooey dies, store forever, no smoke, no washing hands after loading, no lead in barrel, etc. HiTek works good in pistol also.
    most didn't get a good sharp fill, melt too cold
    Probably the mould was too cold.
     
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