Electrostatic powder coating bullets.

[Reefinmike]

quick question- How far does a pound of powder go when using a electrostatic gun to coat bullets? Im currently tumble coating using harbor freight red. about 4' of non stick foil and a pound of powder have coated 16,000 bullets. Just trying to decide if I should buy a gun and air compressor.

Picking bullets out with tweezers gets my hand pretty cramped up. I can tumble coat and bake ~500 158gr 38 bullets an hour.

 

[Rottweiler]

Not as far as you are getting with the dry tumble.

You will lose powder that sticks to the foil, the area around where you are spraying, a little up you nose and some just floats away in the air.

I made a "spray booth" out of a big cardboard box. It catches about 80% of the overspray. I still lose powder to the wind though.

I didn't really think about the amount up my nose until I put a dust mask on. It's more than I would have guessed.

Is it worth the price of the gun and air compressor? My air compressor does more than just spraying so I can't lump it into my cost. The gun DOES make for a more even and complete coating of the bullets. And my hand isn't cramped from tweezing bullets. How many bullets are you planning on coating in a year's time? I cast for me and a few friends, roughly 25-40 k bullets a year. If I only had to cast 1-5k a year I wouldn't bother with spraying, actually for that number I probably wouldn't bother with casting.

On the foil... I typically get 2-3 loads on each sheet before I tear it off the tray and start fresh. Stuff is cheap enough that I'm not worried about buying more.

 

[jmorris]

More of it is waisted that used on the bullets.

 

[rsrocket1]

Try transferring the coated bullets with a nitrile glove dusted with powder (the same way you dust a table top before rolling out dough). The powder doesn't rub off the bullets and actually allows you to spread it out evenly when you touch it.

You don't actually spend this much time per bullet, but you get the idea.
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[straight-shooter]

Same here, I spray mine and then transfer them to a clean tray with non stick foil. No powder wasted and easy clean up.