HBN Coating. What is the bullets to steel shot ratio?

[Steve Wilson]

I have the HBN kit from BulletCoatings.com. It comes with 2 pounds of steel shot and a 500 ml bottle. I ordered a second 500 ml bottle because it seemed one wouldn't hold all the shot and leave much room for bullets.

The steel shot has been washed, dried and pre-treated with the HBN. Each bottle is about 1/4 filled with shot. How many bullets do you think I can add to each? I'm thinking to try 50 in each one.

So, my question is, is there a ratio by volume that I can use for a guideline?

Many thanks,

 

[hedditch]

I have a second bowl for my Lyman Turbo. I put in the bullets, (up to 500), put in a quarter teaspoon of hbn and viabrate for 1 1/2 hrs and they are good to go. No steel shot. You don't need it. I pour the bullets into a coffee can filled full of corncob media and shake by hand for 1 minute. Cleans off the excess hbn. Separate the media from the bullets and save for next time. I am sure you will get lots of advice. Try all and pick the method you like best. Dave

 

[JRS]

I have the HBN kit from BulletCoatings.com. It comes with 2 pounds of steel shot and a 500 ml bottle. I ordered a second 500 ml bottle because it seemed one wouldn't hold all the shot and leave much room for bullets.

The steel shot has been washed, dried and pre-treated with the HBN. Each bottle is about 1/4 filled with shot. How many bullets do you think I can add to each? I'm thinking to try 50 in each one.

So, my question is, is there a ratio by volume that I can use for a guideline?

Many thanks,

Keep in mind, coating with hBN is accomplished via "impact" plating. Your best results will occur by using a tumbler and a media to impact the bullets. Bullet against bullet won't cut it. I always used a ceramic media. You will need no more hBN than you can place on the tip of a medium size flat screwdriver.

 

[ar15topgun]

I have the HBN kit from BulletCoatings.com. It comes with 2 pounds of steel shot and a 500 ml bottle. I ordered a second 500 ml bottle because it seemed one wouldn't hold all the shot and leave much room for bullets.

The steel shot has been washed, dried and pre-treated with the HBN. Each bottle is about 1/4 filled with shot. How many bullets do you think I can add to each? I'm thinking to try 50 in each one.

So, my question is, is there a ratio by volume that I can use for a guideline?

Many thanks,

Steve, the # of bullets will depend on the caliber. If .243 or smaller I would coat 100. If larger I would only coat 50 at a time.

 

[Steve Wilson]

Well, somehow I edited out what bullets I am treating. They are 105 Hybrids. I think I will try 50 in each bottle and see how they come out.

Sound reasonable?

Thanks,

 

[Steve Wilson]

I put fifty of the 105 hybrids and one pound of treated shot in each of the two bottles, along with a little scoop of HBN. Man, are those some slippery little dudes now.

Thanks for all of the help guys.

 

[Nomad47]

I coat 100 105 Hybrids at a time in a vitamin bottle that is about 1/5 full of BBs. The vitamin bottle is wedged in an empty small tumbler bowl and tumbled for 2 hours. Since the bottle and BBs are already coated, I use enough hBN that sticks to the end of a popsicle stick.

 

[Steve Wilson]

Bill,

I thought I might have been conservative in only going with 50 bullets but I didn't want to risk ruining them this first time. One great thing about retirement is that there isn't much I have to get in a big hurry about anymore and if it meant I had to do smaller batches, that was OK.

I wrapped the bottles in rags and put them in my big, empty, Dillon vibrator and let them buzz around the bowl for 2 hours while I was loading ammunition. It was noisy enough to be annoying with the vibrator only 3 feet from my loading bench. From now on, bullet treating and reloading will be done at different times. Retirement is a great thing.

Next go around I'll do 100 in each bottle.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Immike]

Hey Steve, I just found your thread and congratulations on your retirement. That tumbler will get more annoying every time you use it so you may want to get it as far away as possible. The reason I am posting is that you may have to change your loads for the new (slippery) bullets. They generally have less pressure due to less resistance when they enter the rifling. When you make such a change in reloading it will require a complete restart with your testing. Good luck and good shooting.

 

[Steve Wilson]

Hey Mike,

Yea, this is certainly a "stay far away operation." The treated bullets are for my new BAT 600/1000 yard gun. I'm supposed to pick up the stock from Ryan Hunt tomorrow, at our weekend 600 yard match at Big Piney. The barreled action is in my gunsafe already.

I will start a new thread on how to go about breaking in a barrel that you plan on using coated bullets in.

Good to hear from you buddy and looking forward to catching up with you at the range.

Take care and good shooting. Also, I LOVE my new 21st Century Hydro Press.

 

[jonbearman]

I put the bottle in my media and it seemed to work.The bottle was dirty on the outside but it held it in pretty good without all the excessive vibrations.

 

[Nomad47]

I will start a new thread on how to go about breaking in a barrel that you plan on using coated bullets in.

Steve, you might want to check out this thread. Three of the four barrels currently in my possession had the hBN 'down the bore' treatment before the first shot was ever fired.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3829512.msg36309440#msg36309440

We'll be passing thru St Louis a week from Saturday (4/5). IF you have a borescope and IF I can talk my wife into stopping for a few minutes, you are welcome to inspect the hBN coated bores.

 

[jo191145]

With hbn I use no media. Works just fine for me bullet to bullet.

 

[jonbearman]

Just to be clear,I use a peanut butter jar with bb's and I set it in the tumbling media(walnut) to kinda hold it from vibrating around in the bowl. Is this ok or would it be better to take the media out and just let the jar rattle around in the bowl?

 

[Immike]

Just to be clear,I use a peanut butter jar with bb's and I set it in the tumbling media(walnut) to kinda hold it from vibrating around in the bowl. Is this ok or would it be better to take the media out and just let the jar rattle around in the bowl?

That's the way I used to put moly on and it worked great. I went to $30 rock tumblers and don't have walnut all over the place now. They will drive you crazy equally as well without the mess. Lol.

 

[tonysnoo]

Certainly no expert.

Been using the Tubb kit for about two years. No shot, just bullets. I found that I need to load the plastic jar up pretty full...say about 3/4 full. I can fit about 300 105s in the jar that came with the Tubb kit. I use a vibrator style tumbler and just lay the jar down in the bowl. It just rolls around slowly while it travels in circles around the center of the bowl. I found if I did too few (25ish) it beat up the bullets. I run about 2 hours and then empty them out on a towel and roll them around. I get some discoloring of the towel but not much when conditions are right.

Oh one other thing I do clean and warm the bullets pretty warm before putting them in the jar. I also keep the tumbler close to the heater while vibrating...just a suggestion that I followed from a swede barrel site that recommends HBN..

 

[JRS]

Some are using entirely too much hBN : If you aren't using some type of media, you're missing the boat.

 

[hedditch]

Some are using entirely too much hBN : If you aren't using some type of media, you're missing the boat.

JRS, I am curious as to why you say that? I have been coating bullets with HBN for years with out media. I started out with steel shot as a media then eliminated the step with no negative aspects. What have you discovered that I have missed? I'm open to new ideas.
Dave

 

[Syncrowave]

I'm new to hBN coating but came up with something that I think works pretty well.

I have a $50 HFT rock tumbler. Instead of using the rubber drums that come wiith it for bullet coating, I got an old 5" diameter by 6" tall, straight-sided glass sauerkraut jar, then I got some 3/8" diameter PEX tubing and cut 3 pieces of it to the same length of the sides of the jar, and hot-glued them inside the jar 120° apart. These act as "lifters" or "agitators."

Then I put a handful of washed approx. .25" diameter steel shot into the jar, along with about half a handful of washed steel BBs, and 100 6.5mm bullets (also washed).

Seal up the jar and put it into the tumbler.

As the jar rotates, the pieces of PEX tubing inside the jar lift the shot/bullets mixture, then drop it when it gets about 2/3 of the way to TDC. It makes a heck of a racket, but with the bullets impacting against the steel shot, against each other and against the hard sides of the glass jar, it seems to coat the bullets really well in less than an hour, with no apparent damage to the bullets themselves.

After I'm done, I let the jar sit for a while to allow all the particulate hBN to settle (to avoid breathing it when I open the jar), then gently pour the contents out onto a tray, and then wear cotton gloves when I pick the bullets out of the mixture and put them back into their boxes.

One kludge I had to work out was that the glass jar didn't seem to get reliable "traction" on the plastic-tubing-covered driveshaft of the tumbler – it kept slipping without rotating – so I put 6 rubber bands around the jar to give it some grip, and that seems to work well.

 

[tonysnoo]

Some are using entirely too much hBN : If you aren't using some type of media, you're missing the boat.

I am very curious about trying media too, but this worked as advertised, so I didn't try any other process yet. I only use a level measure as Tubb directed.

Man, you're 100% correct about using too much...I found that out too. It seems as if none of it sticks when you use too much...weird huh.

I really feel I started to get really consistent results with very warm bullets (not in the kit directions) and a fuller jar.