HBN Coating in Bulk - Help Please

[Kimber.204]

I've been using HBN coated bullets this year using the Tubb kit with the little pill bottle to coat about 150 6mm bullets at a time.

Is there a way to coat about 500 - 1000 bullets at a clip? I have a lyman moly kit with the two small tumbler bins that someone gave me that has never been used. Could I just dump a bunch of bullets in the little tumbler bin and load it up with the HBN powder?

I don't have time to waste doing 150 bullets at a time. Please Help.

Thanks,
Ross

 

[Milo 2.0]

You could fill as many bottles as you like, ordinary vitamin bottles work as good as what you have. But you need stay under your tumblers weight limit and still get some efficiency out of it.

 

[JRS]

You need to add media to the bullets during the tumbling process.

 

[Kimber.204]

You need to add media to the bullets during the tumbling process.

I think the Lyman kit came with ceramic media, is that appropriate for what you're talking about?

 

[JRS]

I think the Lyman kit came with ceramic media, is that appropriate for what you're talking about?

Absolutely.

 

[johnmyers]

You could fill as many bottles as you like, ordinary vitamin bottles work as good as what you have. But you need stay under your tumblers weight limit and still get some efficiency out of it.

This is what I do too

 

[Milo 2.0]

I think the Lyman kit came with ceramic media, is that appropriate for what you're talking about?

I'd pull some steel bb's from a few shotgun shells and use those. That ceramic absorbs a lot, esp if you were using moly.

 

[normmatzen]

I have been using hBN for a few years and my process uses tin plated BB's. You can buy these in quite large quantities and don't break the bank.
I use 4 OZ canning jars (or what ever glass bottles fit) in a vibrator with hardware store sourced 1/2" foam cut to match the internal bottom of the vibrator bowl and allows the bottles to just touch the bottom and the top has a layer of foam to keep the bottles snug. I put a very small amount of hBN into each bottle (half full of BB's) and 50-100 bullets depending on caliber. I use a medium straight slot screw driver for a "chemical spoon" and put about 1/4" pile of hBN. Vibrate for 3 hr or so then separate the bullets from the BB's and then put media back in the vibrator and put in all the coated BB's and vibrate for 15 min or so. This way, you don't get a surplus of hBN on the surface of the bullet causing accuracy problems. All the hBN should be peened into the surface of the bullet. I also only touch the coated bullets with surgical gloves.

 

[cw308]

Haven't used HBN , I'm using Imperial dry neck lube ( graphite ) , come in a little jar with small ceramic beads that attract the graphite , I coat the base of the bullet when seating . Works well for me .

 

[Willie]

Haven't used HBN , I'm using Imperial dry neck lube ( graphite ) , come in a little jar with small ceramic beads that attract the graphite , I coat the base of the bullet when seating . Works well for me .

Two different things. You're seating bullets and the OP is coating bullets.

 

[Cuando]

I do large lots (400-500) in a dedicated bowl with my vibe tumbler with no bb's.

Works good.

 

[cw308]

Does coating your bullets make that much of a difference? What does it do to your barrel . I read somewhere not to use coated bullets , it builds up in the barrel and hard to remove .

 

[JRS]

Does coating your bullets make that much of a difference? What does it do to your barrel . I read somewhere not to use coated bullets , it builds up in the barrel and hard to remove .

Don't believe everything you read.

 

[cw308]

JRS
Then moly an HBN cleans as easy as the norm , carbon and copper . Never got into the need for speed , the ranges in my neck of the woods are max. 200 yards . A mild load gives me accurate an consistent groups at that range . Wouldn't think I could long with my load . You all must be shooting long or are you concerned with barrel wear ?

 

[GrocMax]

I do large lots (400-500) in a dedicated bowl with my vibe tumbler with no bb's.

Works good.

Same here, mix up a couple calibers, 1000 bullets at a time. Heat lamp helps.

 

[Cuando]

Same here, mix up a couple calibers, 1000 bullets at a time. Heat lamp helps.

Are you degreasing first?

I have been, but I'm kinda wondering if it's even necessary.

 

[Just Dave]

I use two OLD Metamucil jars, that are about 2"diameter, maybe 5"tall. They are made out of aluminum , with a nice tight sealing plastic lids. Filled about halfway with 1.5 and 3mm Ceramic beads. These two jars sit snugly inside my Rebel17 tumbler, then I use a chunk of cardboard wedged between the jars to hold them snug, . The two jars let's me do 25-50BMG at a time, 150-30 caliber, and about 250-6mm. .... .. When I'm doing large batches of my 770gr 50bmg bullets, I set the tumbler on a timer, right before I go to bed, change the batch when I wake up, set timer again, then one more time after work, and another batch before bed. Over a couple days, it adds up quickly, and you don't get burnt out hovering around your bench all day. .

 

[GrocMax]

Are you degreasing first?

I have been, but I'm kinda wondering if it's even necessary.

If they are cleaned and bagged, no.

Do have to be careful of your bowl, it can get contaminated, such as with soft points, gotta scrub and start over after a batch of exposed lead tip soft points. Std hollow point meplat or tipped the bowl stays clean. Doesn't take hours, 30-45 min. Heat (125F-150F) helps. Wet or dry.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

1000 6mm 80 grain bullets dry coated with ws2 with no media, just bullets, in a Lyman bowl on vibratory tumbler. Ran them for 1 hour and dumped them out on an old towel to polish. I do degrease first, in acetone then dry in hot sun or under a heat lamp. I put them in the tumbler still hot. It seems to dry the powder out and do a better job in shorter time. Been doing it this way for a while. It works well for me. Was rushed but they could have run a bit longer. Bases and bullet points look a tad thin but not bad at all. I use to use the Lyman ceramic pellets but dislike having to separate them and the bullets when done. I found this method to work equally well and eliminated the step of sifting out the media. Couldn't be much easier. In winter time or when it's not a hot, sunny day out, I run heat the bullets under a heat lamp and while tumbling. This was a difference maker for me.

 

[Longtrain]

I never used HBN, but coated many using WS2 (Danzac). I used empty mayonnaise jars that fit into my rotary tumbler perfectly. In each jar I placed several hundred regular BB's and maybe 10 grains of WS2, I was able to coat 200+ 30 caliber bullets in each jar. The tumbler held two jars at a time. For smaller calibers, more bullets could be coated at one time. BTW, bullets were cleaned with acetone and heated in an oven prior to tumbling.