Powder coating cast bullets

[FMJBT]

Forget Harbor freight powder coat.

Buy from
Www.thepowdercoatstore.com

Worlds of difference between that and Harbor freight powder coat. It only requires one application, and 10 min baking time.

 

[GBExpat]

The Harbor Freight powder is a good, cheap place to start. I have used the Eastwood brand of powder and found it to be superior to the Harbor Freight product:

 

[Ccctennis]

I'm new to casting but will be trying both Hi-tek and powder coat methods. It will be interesting see as I would like to see how accurate they are vs standard lead.

 

[armoredman]

I have fun casting, loading, shooting, all parts of the same hobby. A buddy of mine decided to get me into powder coating, so he gave me all the startup materials, including this,



Nothing like a $5 toaster over to cook bullets in. Since i would otherwise waste that time surfing the 'net or playing games when I stay home, casting and powder coating is a way to concentrated on something that isn't work.

And sometimes it can be fun, too.



To the purists, I found the right combo of bullet size/metal hardness and lube to shoot out of a gas operated rifle, so this is just because. I rarely do rifle bullets, but almost all of my 9mm and 40SW are powder coated now. My buddy gave me so much of the stuff I will never run out.

 

[Reefinmike]

I pulled my last 1200 rounds of alox lubed lead 38 spl rounds yesterday. some of you will call me crazy, but it is really a very fast process when you take out your decapping pin and use the carbide sizer to swage the bullet down. it pulls out with your fingers. They all shot well and didn't lead up the bore bad. They are just so dang smokey and filthy. Before shooting a box of alox lubed bullets, I shot 150 rounds of PC 38spl and 50 rounds of 357 mag. The gun was very clean, just a very light tint of brown/gassy color on the cylinder.

Then I shot 50 rounds of alox lubed lead bullets. The gun and my hands were filthy. Im a lifetime convert to powder coating(well, besides 45's, alox works there for me). they are just so darn clean to load, handle and shoot.

picture is what my gun looks like after 50 rounds of alox lubed bullets

 

[Master Blaster]

The powder coated bullets look great. I have one concern; and that is anything you are coating the bullets with will end up in the air you are breathing at the range. Years ago I tried the black coated bullets and found that whatever was on them irritated my nose and throat. Long term breathing the vaporized coating may not be good for your lungs. I now shoot plated or jacketed bullets or I use powders that are appropriate for the properly sized and lubed cast bullets I shoot.

 

[blarby]

Welcome to the club

 

[Analogkid]

Are you guys having to resize the bullets after they are powder coated?

 

[Longhorn 76]

You don't HAVE to, but I do because my mold does not throw perfectly round bullets, and the paint thickness is not a uniform thickness.

But try it first. If you don't need to, don't. The barrel will do the sizing for you.

 

[GBExpat]

Are you guys having to resize the bullets after they are powder coated?

I do, yes.

 

[blarby]

I do as well.

 

[Master Blaster]

http://www.prismaticpowders.com/resources/files/msds/E-9103B.pdf

http://www.prismaticpowders.com/resources/files/msds/PMS-4515.pdf


25036-25-3 | 40-70% | Phenol, 4,4'-(1-methylethylidene)bis-, polymer with 2,2'-[(1-
methylethylidene)bis(4,1-phenyleneoxymethylene)]bis[oxirane]
1317-65-3 | 15-40% | Calcium carbonate
7440-50-8 | 5-10% | Copper
693-98-1 | <0.1% | 1H-Imidazole, 2-methyl-


Looks relatively harmless, but there is a caution about to PolyIsocyanurate product sensitive individuals having a reaction. That must be the epoxy component.

Please note I am in no way attempting to discourage or criticize folks who want to powder coat their bullets. At some point in the future I may take this up, but for now it just doesn't seem worth the effort of cleaning the 10,000 already lubed .45 acp bullets I have and I don't really load or shoot full power magnum rounds or rifle rounds using cast bullets.

 

[jmorris]

I size them as well but it is pretty easy to make an automatic sizing machine when you eliminate lubing.

These are two I have thrown together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eANEMBS_V_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zbImsdkbg

I just let one of them run while the casting machine is casting and I coat what come out of one and put it in the other.

 

[GBExpat]

I size them as well but it is pretty easy to make an automatic sizing machine when you eliminate lubing.

These are two I have thrown together. ...

Whoa! Your definition of "pretty easy" and mine are, apparently, much different.

Both of those machines are impressive.

I suppose if I were dealing with a zillion bullets that needed to be sized and/or if I really disliked that part of the process, I might consider fabricating such a machine ... but I have found the manual Lee Sizer to be very quick and easy, certainly adequate for the 100-200 that I may do at a time.

Also, my reloading operations are relaxing to me and I cannot think of any aspect that I find onerous ... so I just setup, start up the music and have at it.

 

[TimSr]

I've never had an issue in working up regular cast loads from powder puff to full magnum loads that did not shoot clean and accurate, so I never really understood this new trend of powder coating. I know some guys have had issues with cast in some semi-autos, but the idea of powder coating for a revolver blows my mind. If it works for you, then have at it, but for me its always been a solution for a problem that I never had.

As I do work with powder coated metals in my occupation, I can't help but have concerns about how hard powder coat is. Harder than some of the metals we put it on. Certainly harder than the cast bullets, which is its attraction, but seems to be a lot harder than copper jackets as well. I'd be very interested in long term barrel wear studies with powder coat.

 

[Schwing]

I've never had an issue in working up regular cast loads from powder puff to full magnum loads that did not shoot clean and accurate, so I never really understood this new trend of powder coating. I know some guys have had issues with cast in some semi-autos, but the idea of powder coating for a revolver blows my mind. If it works for you, then have at it, but for me its always been a solution for a problem that I never had.

As I do work with powder coated metals in my occupation, I can't help but have concerns about how hard powder coat is. Harder than some of the metals we put it on. Certainly harder than the cast bullets, which is its attraction, but seems to be a lot harder than copper jackets as well. I'd be very interested in long term barrel wear studies with powder coat.

I had some concerns early on about powder coating and barrel wear also. Frankly, there isn't a lot of real data out there about the subject and most of what is available is anecdotal at best.... So I will pile on

Here on THR there are a few members from Australia where they have been doing this for several years. They are not allowed to use uncoated lead anymore there so started doing this as an alternative. None of them have reported any issues.

In spite of that, I had reservations so I used an older 92fs as my test barrel and stuck to it exclusively for about a year with the PC bullets. I regularly inspected it for wear and got well over 5,000 rounds of PC bullets through it before I stopped looking. The only thing I ever noticed was a nice, clean barrel. While my experience is far from proof, I am comfortable enough with it that I PC almost all of my bullets now.

I've never had an issue in working up regular cast loads from powder puff to full magnum loads that did not shoot clean and accurate, so I never really understood this new trend of powder coating

I sincerely envy this. I am fully aware of slugging my bores, sizing at least .001 over that and lubing prior to and after sizing but it still just doesn't always cut it for me. While I have worked up many 45/45/10 lubed loads in .38, .357, .380, and .45acp that were clean shooting and non-leading, I have never been able to push any of them very hard at all without leading. In 9mm, I can prevent leading by keeping them under about 900FPS but anything higher and I run into problems. In .44 magnum, I see leading regardless of bullet diameter, load, bhn, etc so I don't shoot anything but PC bullets for .44. After realizing how clean my guns, hands and dies were after giving up the lube, I was sold. As GBExpat stated, I do see it as a choice rather than a solution.

I do think that there is some negative sentiment out there from experienced reloaders about powder coating. It is often seen as a cheep way out or shortcut. I understand the point of view but disagree with it. To me, if both methods achieve the same results and one is preferred by the reloader, why not?

As a side note, I just enjoy doing it. The bullets look cool

 

[jcwit]

As I do work with powder coated metals in my occupation, I can't help but have concerns about how hard powder coat is. Harder than some of the metals we put it on. Certainly harder than the cast bullets, which is its attraction, but seems to be a lot harder than copper jackets as well. I'd be very interested in long term barrel wear studies with powder coat.

Did you do a test using a Rockwell Hardness tester?

 

[blarby]

Its actually not hard at all. Smooth, yes. Hard, no.

I couldn't keep a sample dimpled at impact size long enough to get a reliable reading from my lee kit. Given the depth at first "ping", im not sure the term "hardness" really applies.

As Jmorris' pic shows of the melted bullet, its actually quite ductile.

Well at 71 I doubt barrel life is of much concern, but then that's just me. LOL

May you live long enough to wear out a few from PC bullets

 

[Schwing]

I think a hardness test is not really applicable. The fear is more that there might be some kind of abrasive materials in the powder. For me, I have used it long enough with so many thousands of bullets that I am 100% sure that I would have seen a problem by now if there was one.

 

[orionengnr]

I have not tried it yet, but I plan on doing so.
Think I'll start out by buying some that are pre-PCed.
Both Missouri Bullet and Lucky 13 sell PCed projectiles for .300BK.

And I have to admit, they look pretty cool too. The red/white/blue ones are bound to generate some interest at the range.

 

[jmorris]

Did you do a test using a Rockwell Hardness tester?

Would be pretty hard to test actually. Maybe coat tool steel or something else hard and test Rockwell E or F scale, thickness of the coating would be the hard part.

In the end it really doesn't mean much. It should be pretty easy to tell it is not "hard" enough to do damage by the fact that it will move with deformed lead it is coating without cracking.

Of more concern would be if it is abrasive, you can have soft abrasives, tooth paste comes to mind.

 

[HankC]

Does the powder coat stick to the cookie sheet when baked in the oven? How do you separate the cookie sheet if sticks or don't need to? If not standing up the bullets but just dump and bake, would it mess up the finish or does not really matter?

 

[Longhorn 76]

Some people put non-stick aluminum foil on the pan to prevent sticking. I stand up the bullets for pistols.

 

[Walkalong]

All of (I think) the personal stuff is gone. Let's stick to our opinions of the subject and not each other, as well as not taking jabs at others choices.

 

[jcwit]

Will try it again, to bad my whole post was wiped out.

Last night I tried powder coating for the first time.

1. I placed 50 cast bullets in a plastic container with maybe 1/2 teaspoon of red powder coat I purchased from an Amish shop that does welding & coating. Did not use any plastic BB's or anything else.

2. I dumped them out on a screen on a cookie sheet, they sat as they landed. Screen was the alu. expanded metal used to prevent leaves from getting into eves trough. I shook the screen lightly so as the bullets were not piled upon one another.

3. Baked them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes as the Amish guy recommended.

4. Removed them from the oven and shook them so they didn't stick together.

5. Let them cool and loaded them, did not size them as I have used bullets from this mold as cast.

They shot very well, as well as 71 year old eyes are able to in my case.

Clean up? One oiled patch thru barrel, one clean patch to soak up access, Done.

No leading whatsoever, no need to stand bullets up, granted this may give a bare spot here or there, but it makes little to no difference.


win, win all the way. Wish I'd have known about this years and years ago.

I think this covered my whole process.

This is what worked for me! YMMV

Remember this WILL leave some small unpainted spots, which again does little to no harm.