I gave powder coating lead projectiles a try tonight. Result pics

[timthetoolman]

I'm a bit behind everyone else with giving this a shot.  But tonight I decided to pry PC with a gun, and with the brass tumbler method.  I coated some 300 BLK 230 grain, some 9mm, and some 44 mag that I cast up quickly for the test.

 

Pictures arent all the best but here the 300 blk dusted and going in the oven

 

And here they are after cooking for 20 min at 375

 

For the 9mm I tried the tumble coat.  I then stood some one end using gloved fingers, some on end using hemostats, and I just dumped a few to see if that might work.

 

Coverage from the tumbler

 

 

To the left are ones i touched, to the right are the ones i stood on end with hemostats, and the bottom has a few laying in there as poured onto the sheet

 

 

 

Here are results of the ones laying down...some flat spots, decent coverage.

 

 

Here are the ones stood up with surgical gloved fingers

 

 

And here are the ones stood up with hemostats, definitely the best looking of the tumbled boolits

 

 

I was impressed with the coverage of the tumbled bullets

 

Next i made a jig to hold some 44's, sprayed them with the gun, and baked.  Some foil stuck to this batch, but i am pretty sure this can be perfected faily easily

 

 

I may have had the oven a little hot, they seemed to flow too much, but cooled looking pretty good.

 

 

 

 

 

Tumbled 9mm vs PC gun 300 blk

 

 

 

 

I used Hot Coat High Gloss Black powder and a garage sale toaster oven set at 375 for 20 mins.  If it weren't for standing the rifle bullets up to prevent odd little flat areas I think the tumbling method is a winner.  The gun gave a thicker nicer coat naturally, but I havent mic'd any of the rounds yet.  I didnt have any hardware cloth laying around so perhaps cooking them n something like that may solve the efficiency issues of standing bullets on end and aerodynamic issues from flat spots cause by laying on foil.  I like the idea of a jig or tray setup for various calibers so that the PC gun can be used to produce really nice looking rounds, that hopefully function better as well.  If the 9mm will stop leading I will be happy, and I am really interested to see what can be done in the AR 300 Blackout without leading.  I have some 155 grain projectiles to try for that as well.

 

What do you all think compared to results you've been getting or seeing?

Edited February 2, 2014 by timthetoolman

[TNMTBik3r]

Look good from here. I have only PC 9mm so far and the dry tumble is great.
You mentioned hardware cloth, I got a roll of aluminum screen for a screen door and used it.

[RED333]

They look great Tim, no wait, they are junk, send them to me for testing. :up:

[Trekbike]

How much diameter increase are you seeing? Just wondering if it's thick enough to cause problems compared to the barrel diameter?

[timthetoolman]

Well I haven't checked yet but they also still have to be sized. I am actually trying to increase the bullet diameter to help w leading issues with my 9mm loads. As cast they are still a little too small


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[timthetoolman]

Just measured. As cast they were 0.3555. After tumble coat they are 0.3595. Pretty much perfect for sizing now and testing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Trekbike]

Sorry, I didn't know they weren't sized yet. Let us know how things work.

[jaysouth]

Have you slugged your gun yet?  the 'as cast-as coated' diameter will work very well in .38/.357s too.  You have some very good looking bullets there.  

Edited February 5, 2014 by jaysouth

[Luke E.]

Have you slugged your gun yet?  the 'as cast-as coated' diameter will work very well in .38/.357s too.  You have some very good looking bullets there.  

 

Yes his 9mm has been slugged. I know this because we both did ours at the same time. 9mm has been the biggest source of problem and once we slugged them and they both measured .356 we knew why since the bullets were dropping from the mold undersized. Another problem is when seating the bullet the case is actually swaging the base of the bullet to and even smaller diameter causing MASSIVE gas cutting so between that and the bullets starting life undersized it was a perfect recipe for failure. We've got another set of 9mm dies to try along with the PC adding some bullet diameter so hopefully this will cure what ails it.

[Jamie Jackson]

Yes his 9mm has been slugged. I know this because we both did ours at the same time. 9mm has been the biggest source of problem and once we slugged them and they both measured .356 we knew why since the bullets were dropping from the mold undersized. Another problem is when seating the bullet the case is actually swaging the base of the bullet to and even smaller diameter causing MASSIVE gas cutting so between that and the bullets starting life undersized it was a perfect recipe for failure. We've got another set of 9mm dies to try along with the PC adding some bullet diameter so hopefully this will cure what ails it.

 

 

Luke;

 

My buds and I are just starting both casting and powder coating.

 

So I'm gonna ask some dumb questions for both Luke and Tim...

 

Luke mentioned: "Another problem is when seating the bullet the case is actually swaging the base of the bullet to and even smaller diameter".

 

Was this even when belling the case mouth more than you normally would, or was this traceable to your die set?

 

If the die set, which make of dies?

 

Did you guys cast your own?

 

When resizing the bullets (I assume you do)...did you use a .356 resizing die?

 

What bullet weight of 9mm?

 

 

 

And last but not least...Where did the photos go? :ugh:

 

 

Thanks in advance and Thanks for starting this thread guys.

Edited February 6, 2014 by prag

[Luke E.]

Luke;

 

My buds and I are just starting both casting and powder coating.

 

So I'm gonna ask some dumb questions for both Luke and Tim...

 

Luke mentioned: "Another problem is when seating the bullet the case is actually swaging the base of the bullet to and even smaller diameter".

 

Was this even when belling the case mouth more than you normally would, or was this traceable to your die set?

 

If the die set, which make of dies?

 

Did you guys cast your own?

 

When resizing the bullets (I assume you do)...did you use a .356 resizing die?

 

What bullet weight of 9mm?

 

 

 

And last but not least...Where did the photos go? :ugh:

 

 

Thanks in advance and Thanks for starting this thread guys.

 

 

 Yes, we are having the swaging issue even with the maximum amount of bell. The issue it below the belled area and really only effects the last 1/8" of the bullet but it is plenty to allow the gas to cut around it rather than pushing against the base causing it to seal up.

 

 I'm not willing to throw the die set under the bus yet because we've not switched up the dies to compare them. No matter what the findings are I wouldn't fault the die manufacturer because the dies have seen a lot of use which could play a role.

 

 Yes they are bullets that we cast using Lee molds.

 

 There is no need to size the bullets because they are undersized as cast but even if they were dropping oversize we'd still not use a .356 sizing die because cast bullets need to be oversized by a couple thousandths so a .358 bullet sizing die would be used.

 

 I believe the advertised bullet weight is 124gr but I can't remember what they actual weight is. I believe it is off by a grain or so towards the heavy side.

 

 I reckon we've done a poor job with taking pictures but the issues I've mentioned have been quite small so being able to get them to show up in a photo might be tough. I've got a few of the bullets that we pulled that show that the bullet is being swaged by the case but i'd have to dig a little to find them.

 

 I was out of town when Tim was trying out the PC so any questions about that you might should direct to him. I hope to have some time this weekend to work with the PC some.

[Jamie Jackson]

Thank you Luke.

 

This is all very helpful.

 

I hope you can solve your mystery quickly and easily.

 

I've loaded a number of varying charged rounds to chrono and test for accuracy. Again, this is a first endeavor for us.

 

I did resize upon recommendation, or perhaps my mis-interpretation of the recommendation, but I'll load some not resized to check as well.

 

It'll be next week before I can try them out because of work, unfortunately.

 

 

For some reason, probably some setting on my computer, I can no longer view the photos and the links don't download for me. But as I recall, the photos were of very good quality.

 

 

I appreciate what you're saying regards the dies.

 

Thanks for your assist and the info.

 

Good Luck to you guys.

[kcevans]

127 Grain 9mm (Wheel Weight) / 4.1 Grains of HP-38 / Wolf Small Pistol Primers.

Double Tumble Powder Coated in Blue.

No smoke, barrel leading at all, and very easy.

Attempting to get a photo up

Edited March 10, 2014 by kcevans

[Luke E.]

127 Grain 9mm (Wheel Weight) / 4.1 Grains of HP-38 / Wolf Small Pistol Primers.

Double Tumble Powder Coated in Blue.

No smoke, barrel leading at all, and very easy.

Attempting to get a photo up

 

When you say "double tumble" do you mean that you tumbled and baked then tumbled and baked again or did you tumble them and then add more and tumble them again then only bake them once?

[kcevans]

Tumbled and baked twice Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T217A using Tapatalk

[TNMTBik3r]

Tumbled and baked twice

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T217A using Tapatalk

I would like to see a pic, I assume the bullets just look better after this?
BTW, has anyone tried All Powder Paints? Their prices are much better than Powder Buy the Pound, looks like they only sell by the pound (the one color I have been using is $12 for a pound vs $10 for 2oz at PBtP). I coated some bullets today for the first time in a few weeks and realized I am basically out of powder. I plan to try a couple of new colors too.

[TNMTBik3r]

I would like to see a pic, I assume the bullets just look better after this?
BTW, has anyone tried All Powder Paints? Their prices are much better than Powder Buy the Pound, looks like they only sell by the pound (the one color I have been using is $12 for a pound vs $10 for 2oz at PBtP). I coated some bullets today for the first time in a few weeks and realized I am basically out of powder. I plan to try a couple of new colors too.

 

I just ordered a couple of colors from them, average of $12/pound plus $7 flat rate shipping is not bad at all. Here is a link if anyone is interested http://www.shop.allpowderpaints.com/

[Luke E.]

Tumbled and baked twice Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T217A using Tapatalk

 

 Thanks. We tried some .308 bullets for Blackout and ended up tumbling and baking twice. Once just didn't cut it and we did a couple batches which tumbled for varying lengths of time which didn't seem to make any difference in the end result. Tumbling and baking them the 2nd time really helped.

[Luke E.]

I would like to see a pic, I assume the bullets just look better after this?
BTW, has anyone tried All Powder Paints? Their prices are much better than Powder Buy the Pound, looks like they only sell by the pound (the one color I have been using is $12 for a pound vs $10 for 2oz at PBtP). I coated some bullets today for the first time in a few weeks and realized I am basically out of powder. I plan to try a couple of new colors too.

 

 I don't have a pic but they mine were much better. I've got a guy that does powder coating that said he'd hook me up with powder so i'll be trying that next. 

[TNMTBik3r]

I received my powder from All Powder Paints today and tested 2 of the colors. I also tried the double tumble/bake.
 
Yamaha Blue. 1st tumble and bake

 
 
2nd tumble and bake

 
 
KTM Orange. 1st tumble and bake.

 
2nd tumble and bake.

 
 
These are Speer 9mm cast that have a "hard multi-layer lube" that is very very slick and dry. Not waxy, sticky or even visible. These were .355 before and exactly .356 after coating.
I do not think the 2nd tumble and bake is worth it for the blue. The orange definitely needs 2 coats and maybe even a 3rd tumble bake cycle.

[kcevans]

[URL=http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/kempevans/media/1975275_637534969615773_1587267139_n_zpsb1edb293.jpg.html][/URL]

Edited March 16, 2014 by kcevans

[kcevans]

I can't get the system to let me upload pictures.

Thanks Prag, it worked

Edited March 16, 2014 by kcevans

[Jamie Jackson]

I can't get the system to let me upload pictures

 

 

I use photobucket as well.

 

Locate the photo you want to link.

Move your cursor over that photo and it should show a "wheel" at the top righthand corner.

Move the cursor over the wheel and a dropdown list should appear.

Click on "get links".

You should see "IMG Codes".

Click on it and it should read "copied".

Go back to your post, right click and hit "paste".

 

That outta do it. :pleased:

 

[kcevans]

[URL=http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/kempevans/media/GhostGray_zpsc0103231.jpg.html][/URL]

[kcevans]

[URL=http://s1352.photobucket.com/user/kempevans/media/BressonBlue_zps214042cc.jpg.html][/URL]