Emerald Tool Blue - pic added

kjohn said:
I cast a batch of 185 gr .312 LEE and coated them with TOOL BLUE. It does work nice. Will post a couple pics tomorrow.
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When it comes to percentage of coverage it's hard to beat Tool Blue. Near 100% is almost a guarantee. It's also one of the cheapest powders available plus it doesn't require long oven time or high temperature. i wish they were all like that.
 
I started with a clean #5 recycle ice cream bucket (Nestle's). I have another clean one that I put the cast bullets in, swill them around a bit in acetone, then let them dry.

When dry, I dump them in the #5 bucket, put in a good teaspoon of Tool Blue, shake it (lid on) and swirl until it looks covered.

Dump them out on to a small screen tray positioned over a clean Dollarama steel tray. Try to spread them a bit, them put them in a heated toaster oven at approx. 375 for 20 minutes and voila! Done.

It is important to separate them when they come out of the oven. There might be a speck here and there that doesn't seem to have a coating, but for my purposes, they are fine. Truth be known, this is the nicest batch I've done, so far.

It is actually a lot simpler than it sounds. Any extra powder that falls into the steel pan gets dumped into a "mixed colours" #5 bucket for future use.
 
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Was just looking to compare this Emerald powder with Eastwood powder available locally at a KMSTools store
All are Polyester TGIC chemistry, but the Tool Blue has a type 'C' designation
Type 'C' has a chem composition different than A, B, or D types
Maybe this is why this particular powder works for many bullet coaters
Eastwood doesn't say any type on their listings at KMS, they just read Polyester TGIC
emeraldcoatings.com/sds-sheets/

just stuff, I found it interesting, ymmv
 
quinnjoblow said:
Do you set the bullets on their bases on the tray to heat up? Is it ok to touch them after they have been coated before the heat?
Where do you get the powder?Princess Auto?
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No, I just dump them on the screen and try to keep them apart from each other before cooking. I just use a plastic letter opener to push them apart. I don't touch them with my fingers after coating, before cooking. The Emerald Tool Blue come from Emerald directly. My Eastwood powders come from KMS in BC/AB.
 
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after firing prob more than a thousand PC coated rifle slugs , I have never seen any evidence of P C bore fowling or residue color on a cleaning patch....and more than a few of them have been fired thru bores with BP corrosion/pitting, from light to fairly severe.
 
mephisto002 said:
I was always wondering if the coating leaves residues in the bore.
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Nope non at all. In fact, to test adhesion. Many guys will take a bullet and flatten it with a hammer to see if the coating flakes off .
In my Cast bullet rifles I found that lead and powder fouling was kept to a bare minimum,and I could shoot as many as 25 , 40/65 BP rounds with excellent 200 meter accuracy before cleaning .
Cat
 
You can mix in darker colors if the brightness of the blue bothers you, like it does me. Phantom gloss black and tool blue 50/50 make for a less gaudy bullet.
 
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