Got in some new orange/brown colored pc powder today. Put the bullets in an old cool whip tub with some Air Soft black BB's, & PC powder. Swirled around for about 45 sec's. They were well coated after this. Preheated my oven to 375dg. Set for "Air Fry", not bake. Placed bullets on non stick aluminum foil. Made sure no bullets were touching. Bullets were handled with needle nose pliers only. Bare fingers will cause the coating to come off. After 12 min. I could see the coating had melted & the bullets were bright/shinny. These are gas check bullets that were sized before coating to apply the GC. I resized after coating had dried completely to .430". Came out decent. 265gr. will be a day or two before I can get around to shooting.

I have found when cooking bullets with gas checks they don't need to cook as long as plain bullets.
Somewhere around 12 minutes or so.

They have been used in rifles and have passed the hammer test.

The coating stays put.

Did some more casting & coating today. 250gr PB 44 cal & 350gr GC 45cal ( 45-70 ) . Starting to get the hang of this procedure. Once you do it a time or two you see how easy it is. Shooting these coated bullets is great. Accurate & "NO" leading. The 44's are on the left & 45's on the right. These bullets are sized & ready to shoot.

Today would be a good day for “shake and bake” powder coating here at my house.... 94 degrees at 15% humidity!
Shouldn’t be difficult to get a good static charge for good powder adherence! memtb

They look great.

Did some more casting & PC work today. This is so easy. Why haven't I been doing this before. Today I cast 65gr 25 cal for my 25-20 rifle & 45 cal 330 HP for my 45-70. These bullets shoot great & no leading. The color used is John Deere Green. This green really gives great coverage in one coat. I am baking longer.400dg for 25 min. No color running . Solid out come. Works perfect.

Here is where to get quality powder & the Black air soft BB's. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?241259-Hi-quality-Powder-for-DT-or-Spraying-bullets

Smoke's powder is the best!

Bullets in plastic container with powder & Air Soft BB's.. Swirl around for about 3 min.
Bullets on tray ( non stick aluminum Foil ) some standing some laying . Really doesn't make a difference.
In oven at 400dg for 25 min.
When done take right out of oven & dump onto a cooling tray lined with non stick foil. Swirl around lightly for a few seconds so bullets don't stick together. You will feel when they don;t stick.
That's it. Let them cool & cure over night. Size & load. Easy.

Forgot to mention.Do not handle the freshly coated bullets with bare hands . This will cause the coating to come off. Wear the thin "blue" ( not white ) latex gloves. They work differently. The blue gloves will not allow powder to come off of the bullets before baking. You can also use needle nose pliers if you don;t have the blue latex gloves handy.

Got some bullets cast & coated today for my 38-55. These are cast from an LBT mold. Size is .380 dia , 260gr with Gas Check. Hoping to get a solid 1600 fps & accuracy. Color is clear with some OD Green thrown in for contrast. Tomorrow , hopefully will be inspiring..

I have a 20" Uberti 1894 in 38-55 arriving in a few weeks. I sent Verl an email days ago and knowing Verl, it will days.....or longer....before he replies. I LOVE LBT molds/bullets. How have your 260's w/ GC been for you? What metal mix? Accuracy? Which GC's?

Thanks,

Alan

If'n you powder coaters are gonna do it, please do it properly.




Best Wishes,

DD

That’s cool DD !

The LBT 260gr are cast from scrap WW at 10.5 BHN. I worked up a load using IMR 4198 for 1605 fps. This mold was made for my Marlin rifle. I sent in a lead cast of the chamber/throat area. Mold was cut to match. Using Dacron to hold the powder in place, accuracy is excellent. Holding the powder firmly in place provides great uniformity which contributes to good accuracy. GC are Hornady.

Question regarding the gas checks, Do you need them below 2000fps?
Thanks,
Jerod

I don’t think so but I can’t say when you do need them. I’ve been shooting un checked rifle bullets in 45-70, 450BM (bolt gun), 308 and 222 and have yet to see any leading at all. Also have shot a lot of them in pistols too, 38 special, 9mm (glock 17) 44 Magnum (pistol and rifle), 40 S&W, 10mm and 45 auto. Again, zero leading in any of them.

The only loads I’ve fired over 2000 fps were in the 450BM and those bullets were gas checked but just because that’s the bullet that’s been the most accurate. Same bullet for my “plinking” load too.

Mike Venturino says gas-checked cast bullets are usually if not always more accurate than plain based cast at any speeds. I prefer to use gas checks when possible even for the 38 special. No they may not be absolutely necessary but I've got better accuracy and a cleaner barrel with them installed. In the 45-70 I can get good accuracy with lyman # 457193 405gr to about 1600fps or so and then things start going south, but it's a microgroove marlin. Gas-checked cast bullets could no doubt be ran faster. In the 308 win I can run gas-checked bullets at 2750fps no problems.

This has been true in my testing. Shooting the same bullet checked and unchecked the checked bullets always shoot tighter groups. It’s especially obvious in the 450bm. The bullet it likes is the a Lee 452-230-TC bullet that is not designed for a gas check but it has a beveled base. Just for kicks one day I tried to see if a gas check would stay on it and it does, very nicely. So I loaded some up in the 450bm and ran some tests. The unchecked bullet shot better than 4 other bullets but the checked outshot the unchecked by a pretty good margin. It’s the only 45 bullet I cast that will accept a gc so it may not be the best but it’s the best I have.

Yeah, I just started "painting" bullets a couple of years ago. Every time I reload and shoot I think about the old days of sticky hands while loading and all the smoke shooting them. I shot 308, 350 legend and 44 mag today (all rifles). No smoke and no leading!

All depends. Let the gun tell you what it wants. IMHO, gas checks served me well above 1500 fps in handguns but remember that fit is paramount. Good gas seal is the key. More pressure, as in faster loads, = a better chance for blow by. .002 over bore diameter is a good thing in rifles that give that speed. Powder coating will let you run bullets a bit faster without leading but is AINT the cure all. Use a GC when the gun tells you. My 45/70 Marlin Cow Boy likes GC bullets in the 405 gr and I'm only running 13-1400 fps.