Powder coating the easy way

[JWC]

Cast bullets MUST be larger than the bore otherwise leading will occur in 99% of the guns out there.

...I wonder how absolute this is with powder coated? (At least in handgun velocities)

[Dolomite_supafly]

Not sure. I don't have any undersized bullets to try.

[jaysouth]

I cast and powder coated a bunch of .357 and .309 bullets today. I hope to get to the range this week and report back.

I am not quite sure why I powder coated bullets to be shot in a .38, but it might bring on some interesting results. I have a new chrony that I need to learn to use, so the next range trip will be twofer for me.

[Caster]

Eat your heart out Hornady Z-max!  

 

My favorite plinking load is a 125g Lee TL RN over 3.0g of AA N100nf @ 1.115

 

I didn't change a thing, only replaced the tumble lube [45/45/10] for yellow powder coat.  I sized to .356 after P/C.  Going to load a few hundred and run them all non-stop.  I did notice a ring left by the seating plug.  Never saw that with bare cast.  Oh well.  Won't affect anything.  I may doctor up my seating plug though.  If I'm going to this much trouble, they may as well look good too!

 

 

Edited July 9, 2013 by Caster

[jaysouth]

Caster,

What color is that yellow and where did you get it? I have the harbor fright(not sp) yellow but it turns olive green on my bullets.

I have almost a full pound of it that I will give to a good home, ditto red if someone comes and gets it. I am thinking of shooting it when the wind is blowing downwind at the range. It is not good for anything else. Edited July 9, 2013 by jaysouth

[Caster]

Thats Harbor Freight yellow right there! Applied with a P/C gun.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Caster,

What color is that yellow and where did you get it? I have the harbor fright(not sp) yellow but it turns olive green on my bullets.

I have almost a full pound of it that I will give to a good home, ditto red if someone comes and gets it. I am thinking of shooting it when the wind is blowing downwind at the range. It is not good for anything else.

Place it on a pound of Tannerite. An explosion with red powder would be cool.

[Caster]

So, it may be the summer heat trying my patience but for PISTOL boolits, I don't see me continuing this. I just don't see any benefit over tumble lube which is faster, just as cheap and easier to use.

...this is definitely looking good for rifle boolits though.

[timthetoolman]

I keep getting leading my from 9mm, the rest of the pistol boolits fling just fine.  May be worth the time if it keeps me from scouring my 16" barrel in 9mm

[Caster]

I keep getting leading my from 9mm, the rest of the pistol boolits fling just fine.  May be worth the time if it keeps me from scouring my 16" barrel in 9mm

There's another solution to that. It's a little involved but once you get rolling, problem solved and its cheap.

Pat Marlin makes a gas check maker. He makes them for all calipers and even makes them for plain base boolits. To use the plain base style, you make them from thin aluminum. Like soda and beer cans. Slip them on the base and run through your sizer. Done.
You can tumble lube or run them through a lubrisizer either one.

I am not getting leading from my loads but I am thinking of using them anyway. I just need to actually order the tool.

Be prepared to wait though. He's a one man machine shop and turn around time is four to six weeks. I paid $75 for a .30 gas check maker and it rocks. I use roofing flashing.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Eat your heart out Hornady Z-max!  

 

My favorite plinking load is a 125g Lee TL RN over 3.0g of AA N100nf @ 1.115

 

I didn't change a thing, only replaced the tumble lube [45/45/10] for yellow powder coat.  I sized to .356 after P/C.  Going to load a few hundred and run them all non-stop.  I did notice a ring left by the seating plug.  Never saw that with bare cast.  Oh well.  Won't affect anything.  I may doctor up my seating plug though.  If I'm going to this much trouble, they may as well look good too!

 

 

 

Those are neat looking loaded rounds. It is funny sitting in front of the powder tin with the big red label, "DO NOT USE IN HANDGUN LOADS." :)

[Caster]

Yeah, that's some of the first Nitro 100 new formula released. They hadn't done the research for handgun data so they labeled it accordingly. I wrote Accurate and received my load data via email.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Using a gun to powder coat is A LOT more involved than the laquer thinner method. The laquer thinner method is both easier and quicker than Alox. I can go from uncoated bullets to ready to load in under 15 minutes. Alox takes a lot longer than that. And they actually look pretty good as well.

[Dolomite_supafly]

LAQUER THINNER IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE USED RATHER THAN ACETONE.

In case anyone missed it the first few times.

[Caster]

I am going to try lacquer thinner soon. I tried acetone this morning. That blows.


As for tumble lubing,it depends on your methods.
It takes me a full 24 hours to get rolling but then, I'm ready to go and knockout a good bit in a weeks time.
I loading the mornings before work. I get an hour and half in easy. I can load 250-300 rounds in that time. I could do more but I like going slow and I am anal about everything.
My method beings the first day, I tumble tomorrow's boolits, set my dies and powder measure, and go to work. While at work,I cast e next days boolits. The next morning I tumble the boolits I cast yesterday and load the boolits I lubed yesterday. So, after the first 24 hours I am producing 250-300 loaded rounds a day. Do that for a couple of weeks and you get sick of it. Lol!



Back on the powder coating, I think I would enjoy the labors of it if it were say......JANUARY!! It's hot as balls out here and I am miserable. My wife could give me a peep show while feeding ice cold Strohs through a straw and I'd still be mad about this summer heat.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Eat your heart out Hornady Z-max!  

 

My favorite plinking load is a 125g Lee TL RN over 3.0g of AA N100nf @ 1.115

 

I didn't change a thing, only replaced the tumble lube [45/45/10] for yellow powder coat.  I sized to .356 after P/C.  Going to load a few hundred and run them all non-stop.  I did notice a ring left by the seating plug.  Never saw that with bare cast.  Oh well.  Won't affect anything.  I may doctor up my seating plug though.  If I'm going to this much trouble, they may as well look good too!

 

 

So. .why are yours so much prettier color than his?

[Caster]

Cuz I'm sweating and cussin' while using a powder coat gun as opposed to tumbling them.
His may have a bit more texture to the finish but he is working smart, not hard. Edited July 9, 2013 by Caster

[Troutburger]

I powder coated a few 9mm.  Ended up pretty ugly. Spray N Bake would definitely be prettier. 

 

My concern is I started off with a .356 bullet which after powder coat was over .360

Now I will need to size these bullets, so that's another stage on the press. 

 

Sizing Powder Coats vs waiting on Alox to dry.  Therein lies the dilemma for 9mm plinking ammo. 

 

Plus, its dang hot out there...

[Dolomite_supafly]

You are probably using too much powder. Mine grow .001"-.002" and I think I am still using too much powder. And that is no big deal with the bullet size you are starting with.

[GlockSpock]

I've been going through all of this stuff, and other than aesthetics, what is the point of doing this? Does it create a jacketed effect on lead/cast ammo?

[Guest Bonedaddy]

I wondered if the powdercoat would leave anything in the barrel after a while and how hard that would be to clean out. I hate havin' to scrub a barrel which is why I Zmax all my guns. Makes cleanin' a little easier.

[JWC]

In case no one has heard: Lacquer Thinner is the thing to use. Haha

Seriously i just used it for the 1st time. It is mo betta fo sho! Edited July 11, 2013 by JWC

[TNMTBik3r]

Finally got around to testing this powder coat. I used laquer thinner and Powder Buy the Pound brown red powder (also have olive drab but not used it yet). Baked at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. The wire is aluminum screening like for a door/window. Bullets are Flacon Bullets 115 grain, sized at .356. After the powder coat sizes are from .357 to .358.

 

Here is the first batch of 50. Used an even 1/2 teaspoon of powder and approx. 1 cup of thinner.

 

 

 

2nd batch - used a heaping 1/2 teaspoon and almost 2 cups of thinner. Seems to have worked better, neither of these pictures are all that great but this 2nd picture looks much closer to the actual bullets whereas the first batch are a bit spotty.

 

Edited July 19, 2013 by jonathon1289

[jaysouth]

Jonathon,

RE: Falcon Bullets

Did you remove the factory lube before you coated, or did you depend on the agitation of thinner and bullets to remove it?

I have a pile of factory cast bullets with lube in the grooves and can't figure out how to remove the lube short of boiling.

thanks Edited July 19, 2013 by jaysouth

[Dolomite_supafly]

If you place your lubed bullets on the screen and bake them at 200 degrees the lube will melt right off.

 

BTW, I have shot the powder coated bullets past 3,200 fps without any leading.