Question for casters and pc coating gurus

[owejia]

Thinking of having  custom molds made without lube grooves to use with powder coating. Do I need a crimp groove cut or can I crimp over the pc? Studying the tumble coating method, looks to be the easiest. Do away with the messy lubing. Lube always a messy proposition with long term storage of cast bullets.

[Ray Z]

If you are loading a magnum pistol with the bullets you need a groove to roll crimp into. I'd love to hear how this goes. I've been tossing this no grease groove thing around in my mind since the first I heard of it. Is that too much bearing surface on the riflings? How much will that raise the chamber pressures? Do you need that groove for a better flow of the metal/lube? How will no groove effect the accuracy from shot to shot?

[owejia]

Would be like a jacketed bullet, long bearing surface, adjust powder charge to compensate for pressure increase. Smooth cast bullets are used in bp paper patching already for some really long range shooting. Pc does nothing to keep bp from fouling the bore that is why it's not used in black powder shooting. Accuracy would be something to experment with using the pc bullets.  Will the pc paint degrade over a long period of time? Using lube, grease etc bullets seem to collect dust over time. A lot of questions about this whole process. I'm also thinking the molds should be cheaper without the extra machine time for the grooves.

[gregintenn]

What would you be gaining from doing away with the grease grooves?

Edited December 24, 2013 by gregintenn

[owejia]

Should be easier to cast.  Also gain a little more weight.

Edited December 24, 2013 by owejia

[Dolomite_supafly]

I use PC, not the various paints. After baking I cannot see it degrading. I can also see the powder coating preventing the cast bullet from hardening over time.

Not having a lube groove will affect accuracy in the same way jacketed bullets are affected by not having lube grooves. I look at PC bullets as if they are plated bullets.

Removing the lube grooves will add weight. But it will also prevent the bullet from being shot as cast. Having lube grooves will not affect performance and honestly not having them will not either as long as the bullet is powder coated.

[Ray Z]

Would be like a jacketed bullet, long bearing surface, adjust powder charge to compensate for pressure increase. Smooth cast bullets are used in bp paper patching already for some really long range shooting. Pc does nothing to keep bp from fouling the bore that is why it's not used in black powder shooting. Accuracy would be something to experment with using the pc bullets.  Will the pc paint degrade over a long period of time? Using lube, grease etc bullets seem to collect dust over time. A lot of questions about this whole process. I'm also thinking the molds should be cheaper without the extra machine time for the grooves.

What you're saying makes since. I'll be interested to hear how this turns out.