Stupid Easy Powder Coating Projectiles

[tyeo098]

Airsoft BBs - I'm guessing Wal-Mart? Just never have looked for them at all.

Yup. Try to find the black or white ones.

So, sizing does not crack the paint? Do the bullets seem to go through the sizer smoother than with Lee's liquid alox?
Or should I size them before coating?

You can hammer them flat without cracking the paint. Its pretty tough.
My 9mm ones I sized very easily but the 312-155's I was sizing to 309 required a bit of case lube touched with my fingers to keep things going smooth.

 

[horseman1]

This business of getting cast bullets with no lube was a question I had as well. Thanks GBExpat for letting us know how you pulled it off with RMR. I may do that as well when things settle down here and I'm not so busy.

 

[rondog]

I tried the dry tumbling method described, and yes, it worked, but they weren't exactly pretty. So yesterday I fired up my new HF powdercoating gun, and man - talk about night vs. day difference! I whipped up a large cookie sheet full of BEAUTIFUL red bullets! Wasn't hard at all, just covered the cookie sheet with the non-stick foil, and lined the bullets up in little rows, then sprayed as directed.

I should mention that I have a full-sized kitchen oven/range in my garage dedicated to just such silly pursuits as this. I'm going to use it to PC a bunch of small Jeep and Harley parts too. The red bullets are pretty, but I think I'll look for some gray powder next.

 

[tyeo098]

Pics?

 

[Schwing]

I tried the dry tumbling method described, and yes, it worked, but they weren't exactly pretty.

Who needs pretty I kind of like the cast iron look.

 

[guncheese]

these were dry tumbled with green BBs
they turned out just fine with not spec of wasted powder
or the need for fancy foil

 

[Schwing]

Ok, those look awesome!

Was this HF red or some other brand? I am also curious if this is one coat or more.

 

[Pelo801]

Does the coating add size to the bullet, as in diameter?

I've always shot my tumble lube bullets as cast. Never sized them, tumble lubed of course.

So I'm asking, if I coated some TL bullets could I load and shoot them without sizing?

 

[LiveLife]

From what I read, thickness of coating varies from .001" - .0015" adding .002" to .003" to the diameter of the bullet. So you would need to resize the bullets after coating.

If the bullets come out of the molds too large, you may need to size them before coating and after.

 

[rondog]

Pics?

Sorry, I didn't take any pics. I'll try to remember next time.

 

[280shooter]

http://www.eastwood.com/paints/hotcoat-powder-coating/powders.html
Try this company for your Powder coating colors, and other related products.

 

[rondog]

Ya, Eastwood's GTG for all kinds of cool automotive stuff, tools, paints, supplies, etc. Kinda pricey, but top quality hard to find stuff.

 

[guncheese]

Schwing
thats HF red
1 coat
tumbled in some green bbs for a minute or 2

 

[Schwing]

Very cool! I have some BBs on the way. I have done some red just by themselves in a container but had to do 2 coats and they still don't look that good.

 

[guncheese]

mixed up some green powder coat

mixed some green and orange green for the 145gr .40 cal zombie thumpers


im finding i get better coverage with BBs that are not black!!
i have a big jug of the crossman black BBs but it seems like the neon green ones work better
but they all work

 

[GBExpat]

FWIW, I have found the Eastwood brand of powder to be MUCH better than the Harbor Freight.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Are those tumbled?

 

[GBExpat]

I used tyeo098's un-patented Stupid Easy Powder Coating Method with Eastwood products.

 

[tyeo098]

Those look awesome!

 

[GBExpat]

Thanks!

Both the blue & green are darker than they appear in that pic, btw.

RE: Processing pre-lubed bullets

I have installed a piece of ¼" hardware cloth over the top of an old cake pan and I use that to melt/smoke most of the lube off of pre-lubed bullets. I use the warm-up time on the oven for this process.

I setup the oven outside, turn it on (rotary dial set to 350°) and slide in the loaded pan of lubed bullets ... and then go inside to, 25 at a time, PowderUp a pan-full of bullets for baking ... takes 30-45 minutes.

After taking the now-unlubed bullets out (and sliding the pan of PC bullets in to bake) and letting them cool, I put them in a small-mesh plastic net bag (polypropylene, I suspect ... I tested it in MS beforehand) and soak them in a large-mouth container (container marked #1 and in the garage) of mineral spirits.

So far, I leave these things soaking overnight. Next day, after some dipping, I move them to container #2 that holds the second mineral spirits bath.

I dipped them several times, let most of it drain off over the container and then empty them onto an old hand towel. I roll them in the hand towel for a minute, or so, prior to spreading them out on the towel on the garage floor in front of a fan to dry.

Once dry, they are ready to PC.

 

[243winxb]

Powder Coatings Safe?? TGIC ?

http://www.pcimag.com/articles/the-effect-of-crosslinking-chemistry-on-superdurable-powder-coatings " Due to concerns with the toxicity of TGIC, powder coatings that contain more than 0.1% of the compound would have to carry a warning label that included the European Toxic label, which includes a skull and crossbones logo. The performance of TGIC in weathering is quite good, so this has significantly affected the use of the crosslinker in superdurable architectural coatings. If suitable replacements are found that can perform as well or better, they could be used to replace this compound. Clearly a need has developed in the European marketplace.

The United States does not yet have the same labeling requirement and there are no indications that a similar labeling requirement is imminent. However, most of the major powder coating producers operate globally and wish to have formulations that are universal. These requirements have encouraged North American producers to also look at alternatives to TGIC. " https://www.osha.gov/dts/chemicalsampling/data/CH_273775.html

 

[Coffeeguy]

Been experimenting for a year now with several methods..ES gun, 'Piglet' and other solvent methods, and this one here is probably my favorite. Nitrile gloves work great for handling the coated bullets...Latex might work too, I just happened to have nitrile ones. Get a little powder on the fingertips, and you can pick up the boolits without disturbing the coating.

 

[Longhorn 76]

The problem some are having may be with the quality (as in particle size) of the paint. I do the same dry procedure with black bb's on both rainy and dry days, and get full coverage with all the colors I have tried. Blue, black, red, and green. I am not a sales rep, but I order mine from All Powder Paints. I think the Harbor Freight ones are the problem.

 

[WestKentucky]

Removed...saw and read page 2 which answered me question.

 

[clearcut]

use some nitrile gloves dipped in the powder in place of the pliers it helps to fill in the dry spots for better coverage.
CC