Thick bullet coating/plating, what could be done?

[Onty]

In a recent conversation, one of the topics was eventual rule that for indoor shooting, only the plated lead bullets could be permitted. I am aware of those copper plated bullets, but as far as I’ve heard, the copper plating is very thin; something like .001” per side or even less.

How about something thicker, like .010-.015” per side. The thicker coat will eliminate any contact between rifling and lead core and reduce airborne lead considerably. This will open a possibility of plating/coating 40/41 bullets on 44 cal, 44 bullets on 45 cal, 45 on 475, etc. Also, thicker coating/plating could open the door for the usage of other metals for the bullet core, not just lead. I am aware of those TMJ, but this is factory proposal only, and with cost that goes with it. Is anything out there that will be cost effective for casters and reloaders? How about affordable, toxic free, easy to use baths for zinc coating, or even some sort of plastic coating? I hope that that our shooting friends, familiar with such technologies, might have something in their sleeves.

Thanks, Onty.

 

[Bullet]

You might check out Speer Gold Dots -

http://www.speer-bullets.com/default.asp?s1=3&s2=6&s3=1

 

[Jim Watson]

as far as I’ve heard, the copper plating is very thin; something like .001” per side or even less.

You hear wrong.
Berry's says: "Depending upon the caliber, the thickness of the plating on our bullets ranges from 3.5 up to 8 thousandths of an inch of plating on each side. This is thicker than paper and ensures no lead in your bore."
Rainier is about the same.
This is adequate to prevent lead fouling of the bore and eliminate most airborne lead pollution indoors.
Speer TMJ and Gold Dots are also plated but about twice as thick, which you pay for.

What you have heard of and generalized from is the "copper washed" bullet which I doubt has much effect, though its appearance might get you into a range that requires plated bullets.

At one time there was a home size bullet plating outfit but it was not cheap and I never saw or heard reliably of one in use. Looking at the lumpy early Rainiers, it was probably hard to turn out good bullets on it.

Never heard of anybody shooting galvanized or other zinc coated bullet, although there has been some work with solid zinc bullets and a very specialty item from Federal with a stranded zinc cable core in a copper jacket.

There are several brands of bullets with a nonmetallic coating for lubrication and lead containment like Precision Bullets. This would be something you could DIY but they are not selling the coating material or releasing anything about its composition or application. Rather sell bullets than bullet paint, no doubt. I once coated some bullets with Kal-Guard but that seems to not be on the market any more.

 

[Onty]

Thank you Jim for this lead (http://www.precisionbullets.com/ ). Looks impressive. Too bad that such coating is not available on the market.

As a matter of fact, I was thinking of some kind of non-metallic coats. I am aware of some electrostatic powder coating that is baked later on, but as far as I know, it requires bit more than average person wants to handle. How about some kind of melted plastic, you dip the bullets and just let it cool down? I had seen something like that used to coat the tools. That would be ideal; fast, easy, easy on the barrel (could be less abrasive than lead). I wish if some of the folks familiar with such technology could give us more info…