Powder Coating

[tmjohnson]

Anybody powder coat bullets?
I have been doing reseaarch on this and from what I have read it is comparible to copper plating.
I cast for every pistol I have and In the process of buying some molds for rifles. So this could be a real good deal if jacketed bullets keep being scarce.
I would really like to chat with someone who has experience with powder coating before I dive in an purchase the equipment and paint.

[spqrzilla]

Never heard of it, where did you see this?

[tmjohnson]

People shooting lead cast boolits use it to reduce barrel leading.
You coat bullets then heat treat them, resize and load. From what I have read you can push coated bullets to 3000 fps
I just want to talk to somebody who has powder coated before to see how hard it is.

[spqrzilla]

And you are thinking powder coat, not moly coat? I'm skeptical.

[tmjohnson]

Definately not moly coat, I tried that years ago and it didn't work and was messy. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?87768-lead-bullets-coated-with-polymer-paint/page31&highlight=powder+coating

Hope this link works. It is some really cool stuff

[clocker]

I cast some 230gn 45 and 225gn 308 earlier this week to test powdercoating. Unfortunately my first run had some issues with coverage on the bases. Gonna try some other ideas this weekend to see if I can improve. Powdercoating sure does seem like a great thing, but until I can get better consistency and production it won't replace the Star lube-sizer.

[Danimal]

There are a few things that concern me about this. First powder coat is baked on in an oven many times cooler than what happens in the barrel of your gun. Second it is formulated to stick to metal, specifically steel so to me its bonding properties to lead are questionable, but not its ability to bond to your barrel. The combination of those two things leads me to believe that you will swapping lead fouling for powder coat fouling. If you have a spare barrel that you don't mind trying it out on, I would say go for it. But make sure you keep checking the barrel for fouling or buildup, and watch your brass close for signs of pressure.

Also if there is powder coat deposited on the barrel, instinct tells me that pressure could be inversely related to barrel temperature also allowing your barrel to cool could cause a pressure spike if the coating sets up and bonds with the coating on the passing bullet. This is all just speculation but I would like to see your results.

[tmjohnson]

clocker
Did you put tin foil down on your baking surface before you cooked?
I plan on resizing after coating anyway
What problems are you having with consistancy?
I was thinking on using putting cookie sheet on a lazy susan type thing to turn while I coat.

[clocker]

For the 45, I put aluminum foil over the oven rack. The short length worked to keep them upright, but I think that my spacing was too close and a fair number of boolits had a ring around the base where PC would not deposit. For the 308 I had a baking sheet that got covered with foil. Here again I think that my spacing was too tight as I had the ring around the base for a fair number and some shadowing where the PC did not get uniform coverage on all sides.

I agree with the sizing after coating. From most accounts it is just as slick as lube and should work great. Interesting idea on the lazy susan. That might work nice!

Next steps for me will be to try an idea that someone else posted where they used a wire mesh to support the boolit by the nose. Either that, or it looks like you should be able to bake twice, so if I can make a jig slightly less than half the height of the boolit. PC the noses in one pass and bake. Flip the boolits upside down and coat the bases in the second pass.

I went with the Craftsman PC gun and although it works, I was getting inconsistent flow. At low rates it took forever to coat and at high rates it put out a lot of powder, but had a tendency to blow off powder that was already deposited. I'll have to play around some with the distance from the gun to the boolits next time also.

[Danimal]

I worked in a powder coating shop for a while and for certain metals we had to heat them to temp and apply the coat then re-heat in order to get a slick even coat. I never coated lead though.

[tmjohnson]

Yeah it is best to preheat and clean before coating

[tmjohnson]

I haave taken the plunge and bought the powder coating gun, powder and toaster oven to cook bullets.
If this thing works like how i have read i will not be buying jacketed bullets anymore.
I will cast tomorrow and hopefully coat some and will post results.

[ColoradoMike]

TM,


How did the powder coating go?


Mike :-)

[tmjohnson]

30747Powder Coating went great!!
I have a 45 acp that leads with everything I have tried. Powder Coated some 200 grain Hollow points and no more lead problem, and shoots great.
I bought a Lee 309-170 mold, I cast up several hundred and am letting them age. I shot 2 different loads in my 308. Bullet with WIn 760 was all over the place, load with IMR-4895 shot a 3 inch group.
As you can see in the photo my rifle bullets are lubed and gas checked, I plan on pushing them over 2000 fps.30745

[hurley842002]

Powder Coating went great!!
I have a 45 acp that leads with everything I have tried. Powder Coated some 200 grain Hollow points and no more lead problem, and shoots great.
I bought a Lee 309-170 mold, I cast up several hundred and am letting them age. I shot 2 different loads in my 308. Bullet with WIn 760 was all over the place, load with IMR-4895 shot a 3 inch group.
As you can see in the photo my rifle bullets are lubed and gas checked, I plan on pushing them over 2000 fps.30745

Those 308 bullets look like they'd be perfect out of my 30-30!

[tmjohnson]

Soon as I get my .311 expander, I'll let you know how my old Marlin 336 digests them.
Nice thing about making your own, I got a gallon of them out in the garage.
10 grains Unique, gas check and primer costs me about .12 a round

[hurley842002]

Soon as I get my .311 expander, I'll let you know how my old Marlin 336 digests them.
Nice thing about making your own, I got a gallon of them out in the garage.
10 grains Unique, gas check and primer costs me about .12 a round

Good Ol 336, that's what I own as well. Yes please keep us updated, my pops is getting back into casting, so hopefully he can get a mold.

[Great-Kazoo]

I have some 1lb lead ingots available if anyone is interested. Mix your tin, and antimony to get the desired hardness for your application.