Dolomite_supafly

    All in all an average batch takes less than 15 minutes. And the batch can be any size providing you have enough powder to evenly coat the bullets. You want just enough powder to completely coat the bullets without excess powder.   I pour the laquer thinner, about a 1/4" deep, in the plastic 2.5 quart bucket that I got at Walmart. I put the powder coating powder in the laquer thinner and I swirl it around for 15-30 seconds. I dump all the bullets in the mixture and swirl them around until the bullets are lightly, yet completely, coated. If I don't have to add more powder I pour the excess laquer thinner off after about 30 seconds and dump the bullets out onto a screen to dry. If I add more powder then it takes another 15-30 seconds to make sure the bullets are evenly coated. I shake the screen a few times to ensure they are not piled up onto each other. Then I let them set for 1-2 minutes until they are look dry. I will use a tool, like a dental pick but not my hand, to try to seperate the bullets from each other before baking. Then I put the screen and bullets into the oven for 10 minutes at 375-400 degrees. After 10 minutes I remove them and let them cool. After they have cooled I size them if they need to be sized.   The powder coating is adding about .002" so if the bullets start out at the size of the bore they will not need to be sized. If the bullets start out at .001" or more over the bore they will need to be sized to .001"-.002" above the bore size. Cast bullets MUST be larger than the bore otherwise leading will occur in 99% of the guns out there.   I start by adding a single .7cc dipper of powder for ~100 bullets 150 grain bullets. You might need more or less depending on the size of the bullets themselves or the amount of bullets in the batch. It is better to have to add a little more powder after you start than it is to have too much powder. Too much powder makes for a ugly, clumpy bullet but they are still 100% useable but will need to be sized because they add more than .002" to the diameter of the bullet. Using too much powder is also wasteful.   But as I have said before it is ALWAYS easier and better to add powder than it is to try to take it away.  

My cellphones aren't for making calls after any sort of collapse although it would be nice. What I do use it for is all my ballistics apps as well as a metric ton of survival documentation. On one of my Iphones I have a library of well over 150 books related to various things a person would need to reference if we were suddenly put into the stone age. Anyone would be hard pressed to carry that kind of documentation in their pocket or even a backpack.   Everyone likes ot have all their documentaion stored on their PC but how many have the ability to access it long term? I do as long as the sun shines once a week. It is a lot easier for me to charge my cell phone than it is for me to generate enough energy to run my computer. As a matter of fact I am already setup to charge my various phones if we loose power long term. I have duplicate phones with the same material on them as well.   So my cellphone is not so much for making calls. It is for storing information necessary for survival if I ever need it.

What length barrel you running? I have seen some have issues then the barrel gets below 7.5". I would try Lil'Gun, then H4227 and finally A1680. That doesn't even look like it is long enough to be a pistol length gas system. Looks more like about 1/2 the length of a pistol gas system. Who did you get it from? Almost any powder will work with a 16" barrel and a pistol length gas system. Personally I have tried a pound of A1680 and it was the most inconsistent and inaccurate powder so far. It is probably the best at getting a finicky gun to cycle but what is the point if you can't hit what you are shooting at. See my post above. If I had to pick one powder it would be Lil'Gun and next would be H4227. I have fired over 500 rounds across a chronograph now and my standard deviation, as well as my extreme spread, are single digits with Lil'Gun when shooting subsonics. When I first started using Lil'Gun this past winter I never had a single round that was above 1,040 fps or below 1,030 fps in the hundreds I tested. Now that temperatures are a little warmer the numbers are a bit higher but they are still as consistent. I am going to try H4227 to see how it performs. I tried it before and it works great but Lil'Gun seemed to be better. I have a friend that says it is about the quietest powder when shooting through a can. I will have my paperwork back before year's end so I may as well begin some testing now.

I undterstand it stops the signal but I wonder if it is EMP safe? It isn't that hard to stop or disrupt a cellphone signal but stopping a pulse is a whole different ball game. I can see this being used for privacy.

I will rewrite the list tomorrow sometime, too tired tonight.

That is great.   I am waiting for sunny weather to push the limits. Without the sun my chronograph is useless and without my chronograph my testing is useless.   I am amazed, like I haven't been in a very long time, at how well it works with laquer thinner. I cannot imagine an easier or quicker method of coating cast bullets. With laquer thinner is it idiot proof (a good thing for me).   I can honestly say that powder coating, maybe not my method, is the wave of the future. Imagine manufacturers being able to produce ammunition that doesn't use that expensive jacket but works just as well.

As if things are not bad enough for us Hornady has decided to suspend production on a bunch of their products. They announced that 150 bullet types and loaded ammunition are being suspended for the remainder of the year. The list of bullets is 7 pages and the list of loaded ammunition is 3 pages.   http://forum.snipershide.com/snipers-hide-reloading/199683-hornady-suspend-list.html Go to the link above to see the letter that Hornady sent to a dealer.   This is posted on a website that will oust BS very quickly so I consider this as legit as it gets. I hope it isn't true for those who use Hornady products.    

Hey Robert give me a call.

Worst case scenario you need at least 9 months of food stockpiled. You never know when something might happen so if it happens in October you have at least 9 months before most plated vegetables are ready to be picked.   Here is a great alternative to the hanging planters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBh1fjMqjmI

  That is what I have it on. I did it because I cannot get life insurance.

If you have a pistol length gas system it tends to be a bit more forgiving as far as powder choices, depending on how much barrel there is past the port. There are plenty of powders that work but are far from ideal. My gun is very, very forgiving and I have shot 150's at subsonic levels and they will cycle. They don't always lock back but they eject and feed fine. I can use a very wide variety of powders when shooting both supersonics and subsonics. I have used Lil'Gun, N110, H4227, A1680, H4198, A2015, SMP842 and A1680 to shoot both subs and supers in my gun. The gun cycles perfectly and the only variable is that some powders have lower velocities than others but they ALL cycle reliably. I can shoot 180's at subsonic velocities as well as 245 grain cast bullets at under 800 fps and have the bolt lock back on an empty magazine. And I do not need special buffers or springs, just what any 5.56 lower comes with.   I run a 16" with a pistol length gas system. I have a 3 way gas block to meter the supersonics but even so it will run both supers and subs in the unmetered position. I will say that in the unmetered position supers tend to leave more crude in the action, probably because the bolt is unlocking earlier while the pressures are still high in the barrel. In the unmetered position there is also more felt recoil from the bolt and buffer slamming into the rear of the buffer tube.   I won't sell any of my stuff because I shoot everything I cast. And as of late I haven't done a lot of casting so I am getting a little thin on supplies.   On your jig I would put some wingnuts on there so tightening them down is easy. I still prefer my mini chop saw method though. I have found that is you shoot subs mostly your brass lasts a very, very long time. I have the same 250-300 pieces of brass I originally made last year. I have loaded each one at least 8 times now and they are showing no signs of problems. I initially annealed them and do it again every 3-4 loadings. I haven't trimmed them in at least 3 loadings. And this is with the "All-In-One" die Lee sells. If I could find a body die the brass would probably last forever but no one is making one. I would do the body only then do the neck only using a collet die. I made my own collet die using a 7.62x39 die. The "All-In-One" dies work harden the neck excessively fast because is squeezes the neck down too far then pulls a mandrel through the neck. This excessive amount of work is what splits case necks.

My wife has used one of those hanging planters for years. They work extremely well and produce a lot given the amount of space they take up. I mentioned to her the other day about making a framework to hang 10 or so at once. They work so well because they retain the moisture. We recently bought one that has 15 openings around the sides and filled almost every one with a different plant and they all seem to be doing well. Be forwarned when everything is in full bloom those things weigh close to 100 pounds so you need a sturdy place to hang them. Right now it is hanging from a 1" metal pipe between two 4x4's.

I wonder if it only applies to credit cards? I have similar policies on debts I have but they are actual loans and not credit cards.

SIG engineers told me the life span of the Mosquito was 10K-15K. I have seen Walther P22's fall apart while being shot. I recently picked up a Ruger SR22 and it is a great gun. It will shoot anything and everything while doing it accurately. It will be getting a threaded barrel soon.

There is something about the GM heavy taper barrels that make them shoot. I have shot sub 1" groups using Federal Automatch with mine. It has had the full work up as wel.

Nothing if he is legally allowed to possess a firearm. The only thing you need to do is collect your money and hand him the gun.   If you want you can have him sign a bill of sale or transfer it through a FFL but that is not required.

I think I posted it already but the TGIC polyester 400 degree powder.

I have a relative that worked for GM for 37 years. He was/is a die hard union guy. We were talking about actual costs to manufacture cars. When we talked the average Suburban was right around $40K at the dealer. He said actual cost in parts and labor was under $6K. He said the higher selling costs were needed to keep the union benefits up. Unions are good if they are used to ensure workers are not abused but in most cases the unions are used to inflate salaries and benefits far beyond what they should be.   The workers salaries, even though they are pretty high, are not what adds cost to vehicles. It is the benefits and bonuses that are paid to every single worker. The union pays it members substantial bonuses which GM and us, the consumer, ultimately pays for. I was reading some of their union material and they guarantee each union worker a $5,000 if they vote to agree to the new contract for 2012-2015. There are all kinds of bonuses and benefits each union member gets.  For 2012 each member was estimated to $12,500 in bonuses on top of their inflated salaries. And with profitsharing for each billion in profits reported by GM each union worker is to receive $1,000. Doesn't sound like a lot except in 2012 GM had a profit of $4.9B so each union member is getting another bonus of $4,900. So for 2012 each union member is receiving $20,000 in bonuses alone. There are also tons of other benefits that we pay for as well. They are given up to $30,000 for relocation expenses if they CHOOSE to work at another plant. On top of regular unemployment benefits the union pays the worker up to $962 a week in additional money for up to 52 weeks. And the benefits do not stop there. Refusing to buy a GM vehicle isn't going to make a difference because the government, and our taxes, subsidize GM and the union's high cost.   This is why companies are going overseas. And when they go overseas it gives those foreign countries the designs and innovation we have worked so hard to develop. They get the designs after all our hard work have been done and we are giving it to them. Then they use our own designs to compete with us but the labor costs are much less because of the lack of unions.   This is what is going to kill our economy as more and more workers become unionized. I see or read about it all the time where it seems like every area of manufacturing is becoming unionized. And it is the AFL-CIO that is doing most of it. AFL-CIO which is the same union that runs the GM unions.   Imagine how much our cell phones, or service, are going to cost in a few years now that the communication industry workers have become unionized.

Baraboo here.

Jaysouth, you method works perfectly. It also uses about 1/3 the powder of acetone and works better. I will NEVER use acetone again. I will only use laquer thinner from now on.   Powder By The Pound is the best powder I have tried so far. It works great.   Thanks for posting about the laquer thinner.

The easiest eay is to use a set of pruning shears and cut the weights. If you can cut the weight it is some sort of lead or lead alloy. If not it is zinc or steel. Don't toss the zinc because there are people who will trade pound, for pound, zinc for lead.   I would make sure you have plenty of ventilation. I thought I did and poisoned myself earlier this year. I have cast a single bullet since February and will take significant measures to prevent exposure. I am even coating my cast bullets now to prefent problems from handling.

USE LAQUER THINNER, DO NOT USE ACETONE.   I decided to try the laquer thinner after Jaysouth did and it is fool proof. Add a little powder then swirl around to see if youy have enough to coat the bullets. Then pour off the excess laquer thinner and pour the bullets out. Wait for them to dry then bake.   It does not stick to the plastic bucket and for some reason ONLY sticks to the bullets.   I am absolutely amazed at the results.

I watched some of you videos.   PLEASE, I BEG YOU, DO NOT MELT OR PROCESS LEAD INSIDE THE HOME! If you can smell ANYTHING you are ingesting lead.   And wash your hands anytime you touch the stuff.   Also, be mindful zinc melts and acts just like lead except it will ruin your aluminum mold. You must remove the zinc.

One of the easiest ways to cut out any type of steel, especially hardened, is with a plasma cutter. While they are expensive they are a whole lot cheaper than any lathe or mill. And the time it takes to cut out a piece would be minutes and not a lot longer if using a mill. On a piece as thin as a saw blade you could probably cut it out in about 30 seconds because you can go FAST on material that thin.   I have seen plasma cutters for sale in the $300 range. They are not for constant, industrial use but for the home they would be perfect.

So where in Wisconsin are you from?