Painting bullet tips

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myFRAGisFUBAR

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Just wondering if there would be any bad effects to painting the tips of my .223/5.56 bullets. I buy various weights in various amounts when I find a sale or deal, and rather than have 20 different boxes of ammo laying around, I would prefer to just paint the tips and leave a color key in the safe.

I was thinking of drilling out a piece of wood or plastic, putting the bullets in a tray, laying the drilled piece on the bullets, and spraying the tips. Would it damage my barrel or AR in any way? I was thinking just enough to show up, but not on areas that would contact the rifling.

Would maybe spraying a sponge and just hitting the tip work better? I know this may sound really dumb to some, but it is just personal preference. :rolleyes:
Thanks for the input.
 
Not sure, but cool idea!
what kind of paint are you going to use, and will you be degreasing the bullets?
will you be doing this to loaded cartridges or the bullets?

Im imagining it wouldn't be to difficult to keep some kind of sponge soaked with paint of choice, and touch the tips of a handfuls of loaded rounds to the sponge.

idk if painting them before reloading might leave some paint chips in your seating die.
 
What about a few inkpads (the kind you use with a rubber stamp) and different colors of ink? You could ink the tips while they sit in a holder, and the ink wouldn't dribble off the pad. You would need a soft pad in order to transfer enough ink to see, but it could work.
 
I use to paint the tips of my bullets to identify different loads in the same caliber that were loaded for a Specific Rifle.
Every rifle had it's own color.
I just used Testors Model Paint, and painted the last 1/4" with a brush after wiping the bullet off with Acetone.
If the Paint doesnt touch the rifling, No Harm can be done.
 
Military rifle, machine gun and small cannon ammo with various bullet types has been color coded to tell them apart longer then I have been alive.

http://cartridgecollectors.org/images/introduction-to-30-06-cartridges/30-0he29.jpg

You do it with thin fast drying lacquer.

You can get any color lacquer you want at any model airplane hobby shop.

Thin it to the consistency of water with the proper thinner.
Then dip the tips in it, dab the excess on the tip off on a paper towel.
And blow on it a few seconds until it sets up enough not to run or drip off when you set them in a loading block to dry.

Ink won't work because there is nothing on a bullet for it to soak into & change the color permanently.

Lacquer will stay on indefinitely.

PS: Colored Magic-Markers work well for temporary load ID going to the range in an ammo box.
But it will not stay on long with repeated handling over any length of time.

rc
 
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It's never hurt the millions of rounds of military ammunition with painted tips to designate Armor Piercing, Tracer, Incendiary, et. al.

I would just dip the tip of the loaded bullet in some thinned hobby paint, or something similar. It works best if they can hang with the bullet tip down for a few minutes so the paint can start to dry and not run down on the brass.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I've just used a green magic marker to mark some 62 fmj SS109 bullets. Not ideal but you know it's a green tip.
 
Below are some I just did using a small brush and some black Testers paintI had from a past project. Not bad considering it took about two minutes. I know it looks like there are huge "globs" there, but there arent really that big.
20140707_204043.jpg
 
When working up loads I write load info on the case with a sharpie to be sure of which loads I'm shooting. 165/4350/58, or 165/4350/58.5 etc. for bullet weight, powder type and charge weight. It seems to stay on pretty well.
 
I mark the head stamp with either a single line, X or fully color it in when doing workups or just to I'd my reloads from range pickups. I have 5 different color sharpies, each box of workups gets its own key and that data is put into excel. My developed loads get a single color, usually black on the head stamp.
Its not paint and it comes off easily, but I find it works for load development.
 
I do the same as z7 mentions above. A magic marker swipe across the base. Generally do this for load development. It helps that the mark is still there when I'm inspecting the brass after shooting.

I find the marks go away too fast when I put them on the bullet. :)
 
Marking primers/case heads is a lot faster.

Permanent markers come in LOTS of colors.
 
I prefer by far coloring the bottom of the case. I use a colored marker and put a line. It is very fast. I use a simple 9mm 50 round tray, put them bullet first and do a line on the whole row. I can do 50 rounds in less than 5 secs if in tray or 30 secs if I have to put the rounds in the tray.
 
myFRAGisFUBAR said:
Just wondering if there would be any bad effects to painting the tips of my .223/5.56 bullets. I buy various weights in various amounts when I find a sale or deal, and rather than have 20 different boxes of ammo laying around, I would prefer to just paint the tips and leave a color key in the safe.

I was thinking of drilling out a piece of wood or plastic, putting the bullets in a tray, laying the drilled piece on the bullets, and spraying the tips. Would it damage my barrel or AR in any way? I was thinking just enough to show up, but not on areas that would contact the rifling.

Would maybe spraying a sponge and just hitting the tip work better? I know this may sound really dumb to some, but it is just personal preference. :rolleyes:
Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...
Some people find it more convenient to paint or stain the primers. Performs the same function with no worries about your barrel and there is less likelihood of the color wearing off from handling.

Thanks for asking our advice.

edit: Aw, shucks. Several others have posted the same advice. I saw this thread yesterday, but only thought of the primer marking today and did not read the recent posts.
 
I also use Sharpie to write load data on rifle case. Pistol bullets are maked on the primer, it disappears on reprimng. TX, catpop
 
You know, you could just fill out the little load info stickers and stick them onto the box that holds the ammo. Works for me.:D
 
Potatohead said:
Those look really cool.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there is no shortage of ways to do it as can be seen. The trick, if there is one is only to make sure any thick paint is thinned a little using any common thinner. Even Acetone will work fine. The beauty of marking the bullet verse the case is once the bullet is gone, it's gone. The same can be said of primers. You want simple, easy and the ability to do a thousand bullets in a nano-second. :)

Ron
 
TfflHndn said:
What about a few inkpads (the kind you use with a rubber stamp) and different colors of ink? You could ink the tips while they sit in a holder, and the ink wouldn't dribble off the pad. You would need a soft pad in order to transfer enough ink to see, but it could work.
Click to expand...

I use these to color the brass head so I can identify my brass at the range. It should work just fine for bullet tips. But, BEWARE, do not use the GEL pads. The gel ink does not dry on the metal! Learned that the hard way.
Alternately, a permanent marker works, too.
 
I used to do something like that some years back. I kept color codes in my log book and would bring it to the range with me. But after a while it got rather cumbersome, so now I just write the load specs on a small piece of paper and stick it in with the ammo.

GS
 
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