Powder Coating Boolits

[NavyVet1959]

I've been wondering how to make reloading 9mm for a glock cheap as possible, since you can't shoot lead out of them.

Well, there are quite a few people who do shoot plain lead out of Glock handguns. I do in 10mm. I'm pretty sure some people do in 9mm also. I don't have first hand experience on this because there are 9mm handguns that I like a lot better than a Glock. With 10mm though, I didn't have that many choices in that price range.

As far as the other questions that you asked ... Well, just keep reading...

[Beagle333]

If it's possible you could cast the wire directly into the bullet. It would give you a wire to hang the bullet from while coating and baking. A quick snip would leave you with a beautiful fully coated bullet, with only one little spot showing otherwise.

I believe Popper has experience with shooting pin nails into them after casting, and using that for a hanger and snipping it off after coating. I think I remember reading about some of his trials of that in one of the powdercoating stickies.

RP experimented with that too. See post 64.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...y-Ideals/page4

[RobsTV]

What do y'all think about this method of powder coating?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irF984ukYsI

Well my first PC attempt went close to that way, and worked GREAT!
While not perfect, the quick and easy with no mess, no fuss, works for me. No plucking out. No stuck foil. No special jigs. Just shake and dump.

Just did a test batch.
Saw a tip for hand tumbling to pre-warm the boolits at 150 for 10 minutes and the powder will jump right to it. Seemed to work. Hand shake warm boolits 2 to 3 minutes in plastic container (without any ASBB's even though I have some) until well coated, then dumped into fry basket then toaster oven at 400ish. 20 minutes later water dip to allow quick handling, then dumped onto towel. Yes they were stuck together, but easily separated. Results below with worst sides showing in picture. Most had no marks or scars at all! Also passed hammer test.

Powder was from Smoke. The hollow points as cast were .3585 and after PC were .361 - .362. Was surprised at how easy they slipped through Lee .356 sizing. Easier than the normal cast goes through sizer. This was enough to convince me PC is the right choice.

This was just a quick test to see how to get started. Will also try other methods to compare results especially related to accuracy. But for basic 10 yard handguns, this already looks like it's ready to go.

Boolits were Lee C501-440, C312-155-2R, TL309-230-5R, and MiHec 9mm 125 gr w/HP pins. Hollow point cavity was fully coating.

[Smoke4320]

Looking good there RobsTV ... it only gets better as you get more experience doing it ..

[RobsTV]

Looking good there RobsTV ... it only gets better as you get more experience doing it ..

Thanks for the great powder that was easy to work with.

If the couple spots where boolits touch and is worn thin of coating bothers me, I'll just stick with the High Gloss Clear as color, and never have to worry about it again.

EDIT a few hours later.
Just finished my first real batch. Did 250 of the .358 HP's. Used a little less powder this time, resulting in thinner coat, yet still fully coated with no bare or light spots. Also gave the wire basket a quick shake to wiggle the hot PC boolits loose before dunking the basket in water. The majority did not stick doing it this way, and still only a few tiny marks that should not matter when shooting. Faster than my Lyman 4500 with heater using Carnauba Red, and almost no labor involved. (maybe not, as I still need to run these through Lee sizer)

[RP]

If you do not own a lee sizer now you can remove the center of you lyman die along with the depth adjustment which is the push back rod and adjustment. Then you have a push threw set up that's what I have been doing since I do not own any lee sizeing dies.

[RobsTV]

Thanks for the great tip! I already have a bunch of Lee push through sizers, but not always the same as the Lyman, so this is a great simple solution to expand push through without having to get additional Lee sizers.

[robertbank]

If you do not own a lee sizer now you can remove the center of you lyman die along with the depth adjustment which is the push back rod and adjustment. Then you have a push threw set up that's what I have been doing since I do not own any lee sizeing dies.

One week to late ....I just ordere three custom push through dies. Ah well you win some you lose some.

Great tip BTW.

Take Care

Bob

[huntrick64]

These things size so easily, I just use my Lee hand press while setting on the couch to run them through. Hard to do that with a bench mounted sizer.

[62chevy]

My first batch of PC turned out OK as well as the second and third. But my 4th batch I believe got to much powder on them and when sizing they striped the PC off, one got stuck so bad I had to beat it out of the Lee die. The temp out side had been in the mid 40s and humidity was less than 40% . I'm thinking the temp had dropped as the sun set and the Black & Decker oven couldn't keep the temp up to 400 and along with the thick coat they didn't back fully. I could be wrong as this is my first attempt at DTASBB in a #5 Zip Lock bowl.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[fcvan]

This past weekend, it was raining a bunch so I decided to ASBBDT coat a bunch. Prismatic Powder (lime green, sparkle pink, copper) using a cool whip tub and two layers deep if the ASBBs. I got the best coating with green and pink, the copper was blotchy. The green and pink looked almost as good as ESPC coated boolits. Even with the high humidity outside, I was ASBBDT in the kitchen, dumping the boolits onto a cookie sheet, shaking from side to side a bit, and standing up on parchment paper. Oh ya, I use a Lee dipper to scoop 3ccs of powder, and a measured amount makes for a repeatable thickness of coating.

As as far as shooting lead through Glocks, I shot over 2000 cast boolits through my Glock before I ever heard it would cause a shift in the polar ice, a rift in the space-tome continuum, and other such maladies. Nary a bit of leading. PCd boolits are cleaner and less smoke. I haven't lubed a boolit in 2 years, and have coated/shot thousands of rounds since. That includes 5.56, 300 AAC Blackout, .308, and 30-06, not just low velocity handgun. PCd boolits are the way to go form me, whether ASBBDT or ESPC coating.

[RobsTV]

.......Oh ya, I use a Lee dipper to scoop 3ccs of powder, and a measured amount makes for a repeatable thickness of coating.

...

3cc's? That's like 1/2 a teaspoon. How many did you coat with 1/2 teaspoon of powder?

[bangerjim]

3cc's? That's like 1/2 a teaspoon. How many did you coat with 1/2 teaspoon of powder?

As the mob says............"Forget about it!"

Like many, I just dump in about 1/2 tsp of power, swirl & shake until all are coated, and pick them out.........not worrying about "how many" I can coat with each measure of powder. If the coat get too splotchy, I just add more powder. It is not a "boolit/unit of powder thing". Just do it!

This BBDT method is so powder-conservative, it should be almost illegal!

banger-j

[RobsTV]

"I use a Lee dipper to scoop 3ccs of powder, and a measured amount makes for a repeatable thickness of coating"

Some actually do like to measure and have consistency.
Thanks, I see your point, but if you swirled & shook a batch of 250 like I try to do, or a small batch of 50 each time, it does matter how much powder to boolits. But also size of boolits I guess as well. 250 9mm 128gr is not the same as 250 500S&W 440gr.

[bangerjim]

"I use a Lee dipper to scoop 3ccs of powder, and a measured amount makes for a repeatable thickness of coating"

Some actually do like to measure and have consistency.
Thanks, I see your point, but if you swirled & shook a batch of 250 like I try to do, or a small batch of 50 each time, it does matter how much powder to boolits. But also size of boolits I guess as well. 250 9mm 128gr is not the same as 250 500S&W 440gr.

Just watch the boolits while tumbling/swirling/shaking. If you need more powder, just add it. You will know when. Too much is much more detrimental than not enough. Just like in metal and wood working.......easy to take a little more off......really hard to add it back on!

If you are really concerned about consisitency, swtich to ESPC for perfectly even smooth coats every time. I do. No lumps. No bumps. No uneven coats. Beautiful consistent coats on all.

Works for my needs.

With BBDT and pick-n-put, I do 50-75 at a time in the tub and get ~225 on a tray.

With ESPC and 3/4" spacing, I get ~125/tray.

Planty of thru-put for my reloading needs. I end up with tubs of 600-900 boolits when spraying/tumbling.

No matter how you do it.......GO FOR IT!!!!!!!

banger-j

[coffeeguy]

62chevy...Even with a thick-ish coat they shouldn't take much effort to size, you probably were right in guessing they didn't cure completely. Anytime I buy powdercoat I look at the datasheet, cure times can range from 10 to 20 minutes, 325 to 400-plus degrees. Most have overbake protection built in, and I usually run at a straight 400 degrees, and go around 20 percent over the listed cure time. Oh, the curing schedule is based on boolit temperature, not oven temperature, so allow time for that. Sizing die stays clean, boolits size very easily, and barrels stay clean.
This is after 250 rounds and 1 pass with the bore brush. One wet patch, two dry patches and I could see the text from the newspaper reflected clearly inside the barrel.

[62chevy]

62chevy...Even with a thick-ish coat they shouldn't take much effort to size, you probably were right in guessing they didn't cure completely. Anytime I buy powdercoat I look at the datasheet, cure times can range from 10 to 20 minutes, 325 to 400-plus degrees. Most have overbake protection built in, and I usually run at a straight 400 degrees, and go around 20 percent over the listed cure time. Oh, the curing schedule is based on boolit temperature, not oven temperature, so allow time for that. Sizing die stays clean, boolits size very easily, and barrels stay clean.
This is after 250 rounds and 1 pass with the bore brush. One wet patch, two dry patches and I could see the text from the newspaper reflected clearly inside the barrel.

Thanks coffeeguy, I have to bake 'em out side and the nice low humidity day are very cold and the warm days are raining with high humidity. Hoping to catch a break and get a nice day to bake in, lol, sounds funny.

[josper]

Ken, the colors look interesting. Use military standards? Black for HARD, red for SOFT boolits. ... felix

Black was armor piercing and red was tracer.

[bangerjim]

Black was armor piercing and red was tracer.

I, like many others, use colors as fun. I do use different colors for the same boolit when load testing so I can tell them apart. Much easier than trying to read the scrawling on the side of the cases.

But I have many tubs of coated boolits of each style and weight and just grab them at random color when loading up a box or two.

banger-j

[robertbank]

Me too!



Bob