The rules and the game changed....

[rwsmith]

i don't care for cast lead bullets indoors because they are smoky, but seeing how scarce things were I stocked up on cast bullets. I've been toying with the idea of plated bullets. Now they are coming on strong with the powder coated bullets. I can't seem to keep up.

 

[venomballistics]

Could be worse. There could be dozens of late breaking means of chucking lead.
Thankfully, it's only one new method, with two basic subsets.
It's fairly straight forward till you get to the subsets of each subset of coating.
This is where you might want to adjust your budget a bit for extra aspirin, coffee and vodka.

 

[Moonman]

Venom's got it correct. Ya picks your poison and Ya' run with it.

He chose one and I the other, both types of COATED PROJECTILES work to our uses and satisfaction.

Thank You very much.

 

[Collo Rosso]

We had a Sharpshooters indoor range open last year. They have the angled plate bullet traps and a ventilation system that can suck out pocket lint. They don't care what type of bullet you shoot as long as it's not penetrator, steel core type. The smoke out of the barrel of my lead reloads disappears almost instantly.

 

[SMSgt]

I shoot cast outdoors and the smoke doesn't bother me. Everyone else maybe, but not me. Might try coated if the price comes down.

 

[rsrocket1]

Might try coated if the price comes down.

How much more does it have to come down?
$3.99 for a pound of Harbor Freight Red (you need less than a teaspoon for about 100 bullets)

Used Cool Whip container, Gallon Ziplock bag or Styrofoam box (free)

A handful of airsoft BB's ($15 at Walmart which is enough for 8-10 people to do this) Black is best, but I use white and it works fine for me

$4 Non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper

Thrift Store toaster oven (I paid $3, but usually can be found for <$10)

I already had the parchment paper and BB's so my cash outlay was $7

I coated about 25 pounds of 40 cal in 2 hours on Wednesday evening. Most of the time was waiting the 15 minutes between bakings.

 

[dickttx]

They are not really that much more expensive than lead. For the MBC 200gn RNFP (Cowboy #4) they are $14 per thousand more.

 

[venomballistics]

I shoot cast outdoors and the smoke doesn't bother me. Everyone else maybe, but not me. Might try coated if the price comes down.

To tell you the truth, I almost miss the smoke.
I could care less about the spent lube on the gun, we clean them anyway.

I don't miss cleaning lube out of dies, lead out of barrels, or buying gas checks.

I don't miss accuracy falling apart while the bore fills with lead.
And I just don't miss.
It's just more accurate from start to finish.

There are many other plus sides to coating, but if the above isn't enough, you'll discover it after traditional lube is gone and replaced with coatings.

 

[mikld]

Lead bullets don't smoke. It's the bullet lube and powder (much less so) that smoke. Some lubes and the methods of application smoke more than others but it didn't bother me enough to bother. I have recently been PCing my cast lead bullets (mebbe 7 months) even though I shoot exclusively outdoors, and I find it easy, bullets are clean to handle/reload, and I get no leading in the barrels. Cost? I don't count pennies with my hobby, but they are cheaper to cast, coat, load than buying Precision coated bullets (excellent bullets with a black coating. Very clean, very accurate in my guns, but I don't remember the prices).

 

[fredj338]

Buying bullets, plated are only a small amount more than pc bullets & zero smoke. The pc still smoke a bit, it is burning plastic after all. I shoot conventional lead bullets in all my calibers, all my handguns. I am going to give the Hi-tek coating a try, but seems a bit tedious for large volumes, unless you have a conventional size oven you want to dedicate for bullet baking.

 

[Maximumbob54]

It could be even worse than you think.

They could be dropping new pistol and rifle powders both on us to have to test when there is a ongoing pwoder shortage anyways.

Oh wait, that's what they are actually doing.

 

[fredj338]

It could be even worse than you think.

They could be dropping new pistol and rifle powders both on us to have to test when there is a ongoing pwoder shortage anyways.

Oh wait, that's what they are actually doing.

That is actually the part that I fail to get. I know it's $$ related, some older powders are harder, more exp to make than newer ones, but there is a hungry reloaders market out there for as much powder as they can make.

 

[venomballistics]

Buying bullets, plated are only a small amount more than pc bullets & zero smoke. The pc still smoke a bit, it is burning plastic after all. I shoot conventional lead bullets in all my calibers, all my handguns. I am going to give the Hi-tek coating a try, but seems a bit tedious for large volumes, unless you have a conventional size oven you want to dedicate for bullet baking.

Not hardly.
It's raw volume where coatings shine.
Think cement mixer and crematorium.
While the entry point is toaster oven and glad ware, it's really not a great representation of the full potential.
Yeah, take the hi tek for a spin, think about how to streamline things and convert already.
It solves so many of the nuanced voodoo of traditional lube where some guns have you buying plug gages, noodling with alloys, getting new powders that might work.
This stuff don't care. Coat, size and shoot.

I might miss that sweat mixed with spent lube guntan lotion from a good day at the range.
That liberal coat of sticky sun baked goodness really came to be a welcome part of shooting for me.
Then sit for a while having been comfort gooed in burnt grease.

I guess that might be a downside. Shooting in the rain will be done without the waterproofing offerd by traditional lubes.

 

[gwpercle]

Painted red bullets just ain't right.
Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood , The Lone Ranger, Jeff Cooper, Elmer Keith or Skeeter Skelton , none of them carried red painted bullets,
So I'm not going to do it either...it ain't natural.

 

[fredj338]

Not hardly.
It's raw volume where coatings shine.
Think cement mixer and crematorium.
While the entry point is toaster oven and glad ware, it's really not a great representation of the full potential.
Yeah, take the hi tek for a spin, think about how to streamline things and convert already.
.

Again, time vs convenience, unless you have a large oven to dedicate, I see a lot of time baking & handling at a couple 100 a pop. I can lube size 1500/hr, so for handgun, I am thinking no. For rifle loads, I would like to find a way to do lead in my M1 or maybe a 300BO, PC seems practical as I am not shooting 10,000 a year.

 

[venomballistics]

Again, time vs convenience, unless you have a large oven to dedicate, I see a lot of time baking & handling at a couple 100 a pop. I can lube size 1500/hr, so for handgun, I am thinking no. For rifle loads, I would like to find a way to do lead in my M1 or maybe a 300BO, PC seems practical as I am not shooting 10,000 a year.

A few months ago, I was looking at the same fence as you are right now.
You're not a dummy. You'll figure it out, and when you do, you will be right with me.
No need to argue, fight, or debate. I'll win the debate, but you're going to win a new technology.
I'll take that result any day.

 

[rwsmith]

I think our range....

We had a Sharpshooters indoor range open last year. They have the angled plate bullet traps and a ventilation system that can suck out pocket lint. They don't care what type of bullet you shoot as long as it's not penetrator, steel core type. The smoke out of the barrel of my lead reloads disappears almost instantly.

I think our range has a guy waving one of those funeral parlor fans at the end of it. Still, no restrictions on what we shoot. Lead poisoning? HAH!

Oh, and I don't care about smoke outdoors, it's indoors that fills up with it.

And everybody, I will adjust. If I have to spend a little more money/time it's just part of the total package.

 

[venomballistics]

Painted red bullets just ain't right.
Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood , The Lone Ranger, Jeff Cooper, Elmer Keith or Skeeter Skelton , none of them carried red painted bullets,
So I'm not going to do it either...it ain't natural.

Depends on the poison you pick.
Hi tek comes in a few colors, powder coat is in every color visible to the human eye.
I'm sure black would be dignified enough, gold, if you need something for sophisticated social events and chrome if you're riding with the local motorcycle club.
Glow in the dark can make a tracer if you can get a UV led into the mag.

 

[jmitch42]

Depends on the poison you pick.
Hi tek comes in a few colors, powder coat is in every color visible to the human eye.
I'm sure black would be dignified enough, gold, if you need something for sophisticated social events and chrome if you're riding with the local motorcycle club.
Glow in the dark can make a tracer if you can get a UV led into the mag.

i have red powder coated .45 acp bullets that i am loading. they end up looking like little deadly tubes of lipstick. love it. want to do different colors for different calibers.

 

[Engineer1911]

Conventional bullet lube

So what do I do with a quart of liquid Alox, 1# of Johnson's paste wax, 1 large tube of Lucas red grease, 3# coffee can filled with "home made" bullet lube, 7# of pure bees wax, and 10# of church candle stubs? I've been making lube off this stash of stuff for 18 years and bearly put a dent in current inventory.

I don't think I'll spend another $10 on bake on bullet coatings.