So, I have been using a few different powders now and seem to be on the right track as to how they work best for me - for coating. I have coated a couple hundred bullets at this point and those I have fired through a firearm seem to function OK so far. Of those that I have been able to recover I am finding very little color left on the bullet, but that could be due to "sandpapering" when it hits the dirt and cinders where I shoot. I need to set up a bullet recovery system - wet newspaper? - to see how much PC is left on the bullet after firing. I have done the squash test on several and most pass that fine ( see HF Black), but is that really conclusive at all as to whether it will survive the trip down a rifle barrel. or pistol for that matter. Or does it even matter that much as long as the gun is showing no leading? I'm thinking about balance - thus accuracy - at longer ranges if more PC is scraped off of one side of the bullet than the other particularly on faster twist barrels.
