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Outback32
07-25-2018, 12:08 PM
has anyone tried removing powdercoat from bullets I have some I'd like to try it on.

ThomR
07-25-2018, 12:30 PM
The only way I know of to remove powder coat from boolits it to melt the boolits. That is, unless you want to buy a chemical stripper to remove it.

tazman
07-25-2018, 12:45 PM
I just melt them down and recast. The powder coat will smoke and char on the top of the lead and, when it stops smoking, actually makes a good flux and seals the top of the pot against air.

Grmps
07-25-2018, 01:07 PM
Why are you wanting to remove PC? Is the nose too big? if so you can get nose sizing dies.

mdi
07-25-2018, 02:52 PM
I think it would be pretty tough to remove a baked on coating. I also wonder why?

JonB_in_Glencoe
07-25-2018, 04:35 PM
Does the PC instructions list a removal method?

Grmps
07-25-2018, 06:08 PM
Sand it off and start over! not so good for boolits

Outback32
07-26-2018, 12:59 AM
I did a rush job and the bottoms of the bullets are not good. lots of extra powder coat on the bottoms of the bullets. so much I'm afraid it's going to affect accuracy. I had these bullets cast by a member on here. so I dont have the mold so I was hoping I could remove it without melting. oh well I guess I shouldn't get in a hurry powdercoating

Grmps
07-26-2018, 01:18 AM
You can sand it off. the bottom needs to be flat, having it PC'd isn't as critical, you just need lube/PC on the sides. Think about all the jacketed bullets that have hollow bases.

IF your not shooting long distances rough bases won't be so detrimental

Gohon
07-26-2018, 01:27 AM
I'm afraid it's going to affect accuracy

I guess that means you haven't even tried them...why not load a few and shoot them. Then you won't have to guess.

MyFlatline
07-26-2018, 05:51 AM
Lacquer thinner will do it but it is very messy.

Grmps
07-26-2018, 01:38 PM
Lets back up a little.
1) what boolits are they?
2) what are you going to shoot them in?
3) what distance are you planning on shooting
4) pictures would be helpful

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KVO
07-26-2018, 02:23 PM
You could try a base chamfering tool to remove the excess PC ( NOE sells a reasonably priced one) then apply some plain base gas checks from Sage's Outdoors. Or just tumble lube after chamfering. Would keep your boolit sample usable.

Smoke4320
07-26-2018, 03:32 PM
If PC has dried for a week or so you could try to lay some sand paper flat on a surface and drag the bullets across. Trick is keeping them straight up and not tilting
It should not take a lot of effort using say 100 to 180 grit paper..
If these are handgun bullets and you are shooting 10-25 yds and not overly concerned with complete accuracy I would just load up and shoot

mdi
07-26-2018, 04:18 PM
Don't try to correct a problem before it happens. Got too much PC on the base? Load and shoot them to see if they are less accurate. A base with a bit too much coating is still safe to shoot. Try it and know for sure...

BTW; I dropped some home PCed bullets in lacquer thinner, checked them a couple days later, still coated and looking good...

reddog81
07-26-2018, 04:47 PM
I had some bullets that I thought had been tumbled lubed and I wanted to wash that off and powder coated them. Turns out they must have been coated with a clear powder coat. I originally let them soak in some acetone and that had a small impact on the finish. At that point I realized my mistake and that I should have just left them alone. I figured I'd try and remove the PC and start over. I tried mineral spirits to no avail and also tried gasoline to no avail. Acetone was the only thing that had any effect and it didn't do much. The coating is pretty strong.

Gohon
07-26-2018, 06:44 PM
Posting pictures using IMGUR
1 Go to https://imgur.com/
Select sign up
Fill out information or register with: facebook, twitter, Google+ or Yahoo account
Log into your account
Select new post, upload image, browse, select your image from your computer and click open
Hover mouse over your chosen name (top right toolbar) and select images
Left click on the image you want to post
Then click on COPY next to [BBCode (message boards & forums)]
Go to the post you want to put the image in, either right click and select paste or hit [Ctrl + V]
Save your post and you're done.

Or...just click on the "insert image" icon in the reply section, select the photo from your computer, hit upload and be done with it.

Grmps
07-26-2018, 07:37 PM
Or...just click on the "insert image" icon in the reply section, select the photo from your computer, hit upload and be done with it.

You can do this but you are allowed only a limited amt of space

Outback32
07-27-2018, 03:59 AM
these are hunting bullets out of 44 mag sbh. I'm just going to shoot them and see what happens.

KVO
07-27-2018, 07:54 PM
Theory that could be completely ridiculous: If shot through a revolver, the jet of propellant gases blowing off from cylinder blast might burn off any powder coat flashing on the boolit base, negating the problem. Crazy?

44Blam
07-28-2018, 01:00 AM
Simplest thing you can do is shoot them, they will likely shoot straight.

If you think they will not shoot straight, the next simple thing is to melt them and recast/recoat.

Sanding, cutting, etc - these will give you problems.

Lloyd Smale
07-28-2018, 07:05 AM
id just shoot them up. The time you spend fooling with them is time you could use to cast good ones. Beer cans and targets at 25 yards don't care much about how pefectly your bullets turn out

richhodg66
07-28-2018, 07:33 AM
id just shoot them up. The time you spend fooling with them is time you could use to cast good ones. Beer cans and targets at 25 yards don't care much about how pefectly your bullets turn out

Yep, that would be my exact solution and I wouldn't have spent much time thinking about it. One of the great things about cast bullets, if something doesn't go quite right, it's cheap to start over again.

Grmps
07-28-2018, 02:34 PM
↑↑↑ except he didn't cast them↑↑↑
funny/sad how we get into a thread and don't read everything the OP wrote in the first post (I'm guilty too [smilie=b::groner:[smilie=b:

drill a boolit size hole in a piece of 1/2" wood
place a 1/8" strip of wood on both sides of a strip of sandpaper
set the 1/2" piece of wood on the 1/8" strips straddling the sandpaper, insert a boolit and slide the boolit in the 1/2" wood across the 1/8 in strips sanding the bottom flat.

richhodg66
07-28-2018, 07:52 PM
What difference does it make if he cast them or not? Someone did and they represent a lot of work. Don't waste that work by melting and recasting if you can shoot them. You can always cast more.

By the way, the original post was only 16 words, believe me, I read it all.

Gohon
07-28-2018, 11:35 PM
↑↑↑ except he didn't cast them↑↑↑

No but he did powder coat them. I'm still trying to figure out just how you get too much powder on the bottoms. If using a spray gun there is no powder on the bottom. If using the shake and bake as I do, once I pick the bullet up with a set of tweezers, tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess powder, there is very little powder on the bottom of the bullet.

I once powder coated some 270 RCBS/SSA bullets for a New Vaquero and became worried they were right at the cylinder edge and could move forward and lockup the gun when loaded. Four or five strokes across some 120 grit sand paper on a flat surface removed the coating on the nose of the bullets. You can hold the bullet flat and straight enough with just your fingers. Don't need any jigs made up.

David2011
07-29-2018, 03:23 PM
The density of the powder coat is probably close to 1.00 (about the same as water). The density of the boolits is probably around 11.0 depending on the alloy. It would take a huge amount of PC to affect the balance of the boolits. They're probably not spinning more than 48-50,000 rpm which is relatively slow for bullets.

popper
07-29-2018, 04:20 PM
Life is short, just shoot them. More trigger time. In reality, it takes a lot of 'bad' base to cause a problem and that is usually at long range. SBH is NOT a 100 yd gun.

Alan in Vermont
07-31-2018, 11:30 AM
SBH is NOT a 100 yd gun.

You might have a hard time selling that to the many thousands of of shooters who use/used them very successfully for Handgun Metallic Silhouette events.

Traffer
07-31-2018, 01:52 PM
I do a lot of experimentation with PC and sizing lead boolits. So I remelt the vast majority of my powder coated boolits. No problem at all. The PC just turns to ash and floats up to the top like almost everything else in the lead.

GregLaROCHE
08-02-2018, 06:29 AM
Have these boolits been sized? I had a problem with a little too much at the bases, but after I sized them, some had irregular bases. I just touched up the bases with 150 grit sandpaper on a flat surface.

GregLaROCHE
08-02-2018, 06:39 AM
I just had another thought. Can these boolits be stranded on end. A piece of wood with some shallow holes might help. Try reheating them upside down and maybe the excess will even out.

Maybe someone will say you can’t remelt the coating. I don’t know if it will or not.

Geezer in NH
08-09-2018, 08:56 PM
I'd just toss them in the smelt pot and try, try, try again

Same as any other casting boo boo.