Three Cheers for Clear (Updated)

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CGN Regular
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Location
Sudbury, Ont.
Many of you have read (and ignored) my moaning and dripping about my problems with powder coated bullets in rifles with tight throats, especially my Sharps .30/30. I found that John Deere Green gave an uneven, washed out coating that looked wretched. However, it still put 10 shots into 2 & 1/8 inches at 100 yards at 2050 f/s.

A member mentioned that the pigments add to the thickness, so I ordered some Phantom High Gloss Clear from Emerald and that was a big step forward. It coats exactly the same as the other powders and cures invisibly so you don't know it's there. My M1 build has a new barrel so it just wouldn't work with Tool Blue coated bullets, unless they were seated very deeply. I coated some of my RCBS 30-165-SIL bullets and seated them the same depth as when I lubed them. Eight rounds went down range without a hiccup. Since it was snowing, I didn't play any further.

When it gets warmer, I'll cast up some more .30/30's, and I can bore you further at a later date.
 
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I found some elderly .30/30 flat nose bullets that I had squirrelled away and tried them, powdered coated in my Sharps. It was less worse than before when I used the clear. Since the rifle is a single shot, I'll just use pointed bullets in it and save the flat noses for my Marlins.

One plus to clear, is that it gives a uniform coat very easily, and coating by the shake'n'bake method is very quick.

On the downside, if the coating is too thick, the powder will flow down to the base of the bullet, and form a clear and not very noticeable ring at the bullet's base, that is hard to remove.
But, if it were easy, it wouldn't be any fun.
 
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Thanks for the report. I run my coated bullets thru a sizing die anyways so if there is a skirt on the bottom it comes off. I love the idea of having no color for the bullet. What did it run you as far as cost goes?
 
Thanks for the report. I run my coated bullets thru a sizing die anyways so if there is a skirt on the bottom it comes off. I love the idea of having no color for the bullet. What did it run you as far as cost goes?

I bought a five pound bag with a total of 12 pounds for some friends as well, and the clear worked out to $15 per pound.
 
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