Lee Loader

Lesson learned is when the powder clumps stop coating your bullets. I didn't do that so the first coat was to thin so when they came out of the 400 deg oven stuck them back to be dry tumbled, mistake some stuck together as the bullets were to hot and the powder stuck in spotty way that now the it's so thick in spots there is no way to size them.

1. When the powder doesn't stick stop and try again another day.

2. Let the bullets cool off before re coating.

Are you using the Air Soft BB's? I found they do indeed help. I tried the whole warming up the bullets and found it doesn't do much. Humidity does impede the process by making the powder seem to want to clump up on itself rather than the bullets. This may sound slightly nuts but I've been thinking of adding a small handful of rice to the BB/powder mix. I don't know if that will draw in the moisture or just make a mess. The idea sounds good but the reality sometimes doesn't play out well. Either way, just let this one go back into the pot. That's the one nice part about lead, at least it's not a complete loss.

And believe me, you aren't alone. I have a steel bowl full to the rim of rejects in need of remelting.

I just learn last week on this forum about using silicone baking mat instead of non stick aluminium foil. WOW not only do the PCed boolits not stick but they don't slide but stay put when setting them up and then moving them into the toaster oven.

Thank to the person who posted this fantastic improvement.

Weather dot com said when I started humidity was 40% and the first four batches worked just fine. After having the clumping problem I checked again and they said 35% humidity. Don't know how accurate that report is or if its all guess work on their part. I have to believe the report was wrong and was close to double that. The powder wouldn't even stick to the black ASBB like they normally do.

daboone I would like to try silicon mat but haven't found one yet, not that I've looked all that hard, lol.

62chevy, I had a couple in my kitchen. I did a quick check on Amazon and of course the offer about 200 difference choices. I had to cut the one I'm using down to fit the toaster oven. For me it was very nice but then I have klutzy fingers.

I need to check that out and get one on order. Haven't been in a big hurry cause the Wife doesn't seem to care if I use no stick foil. If she does then I'll have to get serious.

OK so I was wondering what cased the problem in the first place and no one seems to be able to put a finger on it. I had removed some of the ASBB to make it easier to get the bullets out so added a few back in and gave the tube a shake and the small bit of powder left stuck to the ASBB. Now I wondering if the static was used up and they needed a recharge. Added a small amount of powder put the last 50 bullets in and shook for 30 seconds, coated to perfection. checked the weather repost and it said humidity was 35% same as the other day. Next time this happens I'll run the tube across my hair like a balloon, lol.

I no longer believe static has a thing to do with it. I've had some bullets that didn't want to take to a shaking and keep finding that if I just shake the heck out of them a little harder and poof they get a good coating. Here is an example from earlier today:



The first shake they hardly had any powder stuck to them. I shook the heck out of them for about ten more seconds and that coating was the result. Static cling had nothing to do with it. An ounce of extra muscle did.

Maximumbob54 wrote:I no longer believe static has a thing to do with it. I've had some bullets that didn't want to take to a shaking and keep finding that if I just shake the heck out of them a little harder and poof they get a good coating. Here is an example from earlier today:



The first shake they hardly had any powder stuck to them. I shook the heck out of them for about ten more seconds and that coating was the result. Static cling had nothing to do with it. An ounce of extra muscle did.

You may be right Maximumbob54 had to do the same in the past. People think that because of the gizmos you buy to apply PC to stuff. But that stuff give you a path to ground through the wiring and static has no direct path to ground the way we dry tumble, so I think you are on to something.