A few more PC questions

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
This morning I purged my PC coating vessels from the old powders which I learned here are picking up moisture. I just kept adding to them but now that they are clean with fresh powder they work amazingly well! My question "one" is If I do 30 .....30 cal bullets at a time How much powder should I really be using?
Question "Two" is Now that the temps outside are getting colder my B&D Countertop convection oven doesn't seem to reach 400deg which I have etched into the dial! I use a rotometals Lead pot thermometer in the oven. If I go beyond it jumps to broil! (Melted a bunch of bullets in the past that way) When this "not exactly 400 deg" thing happens can I just bake for 40 min instead of 20 min? or is there a way to insulate the oven in the cold temps?
I bake in my cellars stair well to the outside with bilco doors above closed.
 

GRMPS

Active Member
1 teaspoon of powder should easily cover 30 30 cal bullets (if you are using fresh BB's it may take a little more)

Countertop ovens temperatures are affected by the surrounding temperature due to the thermostat type, location and lack of insulation.
It is highly recommended that test/reset/mark the oven for the setting that has the internal temperature @ 400°.
I bake and cast in my garage, I use a kitchen vent fan and duct the fumes outside.
I 1 thing I do to help improve coverage in the cold and damp seasons is pre-warm the bullets on top on the countertop oven. I set a heavy wire rack (like the oven shelf) on top of the oven then put my pan or ? of bullets up there. (if the bullets are too hot to handle bare handed you need a thicker rack)
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Treid a new way of standing long bullets up for cooking. Found 2 plastic ammo trays in the trash at the range (9mm?) - open box with pegs for separator. 145gr PB for the BO, Smoke's red shake & bake. Pick up with hemos, drop base down in the tray. Put an identical one on top flip and they are now base up. Place cooking tray on top of base up tray and flip again. Place tray in oven and remove tray. Proper spacing, base down - wahoo. Gonna glue some plastic strip for box alignment and handles on one tray so I can lift from the oven with disturbing bullets.
Have used the box for 170ge PB (cooked just to flow the PC,) on second cook, box lifted off fine without dominoes. Have not gotten good results picking out bullets with nitrile gloves, always removes some PC.
I do have (45 ACP) box I might drill the bottom holes out to see if I can just drop in.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Pinch some pc once you put the gloves on and they won't pull off so much from the bullets. I still use pliers.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I started using plastic cartridge trays recently after BHuij mentioned them.
I find them great for flat nose style bullets 30 cal and up.
I place them base down in the trays then place the oven tray on top and flip it over and carefully lift the plastic tray when I get it to the oven. Thy are lined up like little soldiers. I reverse the bullets in the trays for bullets that won't stand on their noses.
Both ways work great
 

popper

Well-Known Member
I do about 50 30 cal at a time, 1/2 teaspoon. My skin is very conductive so I pull my sleeves down over my hands to shake, extra elec. insulation. Put an old folded cotton towel over the oven, they don't have any insulation. The 2 tray trick lets me place them base down in the oven. I'm getting a little shaky.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Yes nothing like standing up 50 pieces on the oven tray and having a rough time sliding it in! They fall like dominos!
Those darn plastic bullet trays work! Still need to find a good method for .243 105 gr bullets as well as .22 cal
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Tapered reamer fixed the 45 tray. The others have fingers for separation so powder doesn't get knocked off. 45 has cylinders, we'll see how well they work.
 

BHuij

Active Member
Tray works great for all calibers. For 9mm and .380 they're easy enough to place base down on the baking sheet anyway, but I use empty ammo trays just because it helps me space them well and keep a good count. The 9mm trays also work for 30 cal bullets. Just put them nose down into the tray and flip over onto the baking sheet so they stand nose up to bake. Or I should say that they at least work well for my Lee .312" 185gr bullets, haven't tried any taller ones.

.22 cal is a bit harder because they're really small bases and relatively tall for their diameter, so I ended up 3D printing a flat tray with a bunch of cells that are roughly 1/4" x 1/4" (slightly larger, they're technically 6.5mm). Functions exactly like the 9mm ammo trays, I just pull the bullets out of the shake 'n bake container with tweezers, tap the tweezers on the edge once or twice to dislodge extra powder, and drop the bullet nose down into one of the cells. I can now easily stand up 150 .224" bullets at a time nose up on the baking sheet in neat little rows, not touching each other. I rarely have trouble with them falling over when I place the sheet in the oven, but theoretically you could put the sheet in the oven before removing the inverted tray if you were careful. I made each cell a little large so they wouldn't scrape off un-baked powder when .225" bullets are dropped in, they might be large enough for a .243" even, but I haven't tested it.

I just baked a few hundred sized and GC'd .225" projectiles last night. The tray makes it really easy.

If anyone wants such a rig for .22s I'm happy to print and mail them. I'm a little nervous about when I start shooting 300 BLK, because the Lee 230gr .309" is so dang tall and has a boat tail to boot, but I suspect the tray method will still work as long as I'm careful.

Edit: I should add, I started off with no stick foil but couldn't ever get it to work past 2 bakes, and then had to spend a bunch of time peeling slivers of foil off my bullet bases. Ended up picking up an Amazon Basics silicone baking mat and cutting it to size for my baking sheets and it works fantastic.

Tray.jpg
 
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JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I bought a real cheap macaroon cookie silicon baking mat on e-bay free shipping & everything, think it was under $5
It is big enough for me to cut it in half and make two to fit my oven. Haven't tried it yet but it is slick