Coated lead bullets

[swampratt]

I did some measuring of the same batch of bullets the 357 measures .359" with NO coating.
The 45 bullet measures .4515"- .452" with no coating.

Looks like the Powder coat is adding .002" of thickness.

The 45 bullets weighed at 205 gr with that batch and the 357 bullet weighed in at 165gr. That Lee mold throws heavy fat ones in the 357.
Gas checked and lubed i had some batches running at 170gr.
Shot superb though so I like it.

Nice pictures DRC458

BTW my 45acp both of them slug at .4535"
So it is happiest with a softer bullet that bumps up quickly and Bullseye powder.
I feel the faster powder bumps it up quicker.

Those Bayou bullets are pretty hard.
I say similar to clamp on water quenched wheel weights. which is too hard for my 45acp.

 

[beastep]

Man you guys are doing fun stuff and live all the way up there in the city.

 

[swampratt]

You do more fun stuff than we do.

 

[beastep]

Maybe. But yours is new fun stuff.

 

[DRC458]

Man you guys are doing fun stuff and live all the way up there in the city.

You do more fun stuff than we do.

Maybe. But yours is new fun stuff.

I'll trade you some castin' and coatin' and smashin' for some hog shootin' any day!

 

[beastep]

Ha. I wish it was that easy. I go weeks without seeing any. They are like redheaded women. You never know what they are going to do.

 

[HiredHand]

This thread is great! Thanks for all the replies.

I purchased some Missouri bullet company 115gr 9mm from Jerry's in Tulsa to try out. I gave one a smash with a hammer and the coating didn't flake off. I'll try to post pictures later.

 

[beastep]

Now I got to hammer a boyou bullet.

 

[chazroh]

More smash tests. 5 hard hits with a hammer on concrete. Left one a precision bullet, right is a blue bullet.

 

[DRC458]

Sized and seated gas checks on the .357 bullets today. As you can see, all was not "perfect." Some of the powder coating was scraped off on some of the bullets, but it did not want to continue to flake off.

In most cases, the gas check 'snapped on' to the base of the bullet and seated as it should. However, on some of the bullets, the powder coating was thick enough on the base that the gas check could not be fully seated by hand before running it through the sizer. A few of those didn't work out so well ...

The coating was also scraped off that side of the bullet, probably due to the fact that the bullet and gas check did not enter the sizing die squarely. I pulled those gas checks back off, scraped a little more coating off the base of the bullet for insurance, and seated a new gas check. Now, I may re-coat those and size them again to see what happens. With the gas check seated, they average 170 grains (~169 to 171 grains). I'll use the data I have for 168-grain cast bullets, which is pretty limited. If anybody has the cast bullet handbook or more cast bullet data of some sort that covers 168/170 grainers, I'm all ears! (TIA)
AND, I discovered today that my .451 sizer is MIA! Guess I'm gonna' have to buy a new one. Tomorrow, I may load up some of those .357's and start the search for a toaster oven.