Powder Coating Boolits

[myg30]

I started out at about 4:30am and with coffee and a muffin, refill, IM DONE !! ALL 29 pages. I'll bite, harbor freight is not to far from work. I'll stop in monday and check out the gun and powder coats. I seem to spend more time casting and reloading and less time shooting so it justs makes plain sense to add another process into the mix and powder coat !!
Great thread here and thanks to all for the time, testing and info posted. It may take some time to post a PC update as my job keeps me away some.

Mike

[rcav8r]

Music wire would be ideal for hanging the bullets by the groove between 2 wires, BUT this is where you need something between the bullets to pull the wires together, hence my spring suggestion.
You could wrap safety or other soft, thin wire around the music wire between bullets, but that is extra work.
I was thinking if a spring could be used, then you could simply push the bullets in and out by slightly pulling the wires apart a little.

Thinking about this some more, how about soldering some wire between the 2 music wires at a longer distance apart, so that it looks like a ladder with long gaps between the rungs. To get the bullets in and out, you slightly expand the the wires in the middle between the 2 cross wires, insert a bullet, and slide it towards the ends until that row is full.
That way, you can rest the bare ends of the parallel wires on a block or something allowing unattached powder to fall in a tray for reuse. Then you can pick up the rack by the ends, put it in your oven for curing.

[dudits]

ahhh i get what ya intend with the springs now!

what if ya took a few thin plate of aluminum and cut slits with a hacksaw. it would take a little longer then springs but should get the job done.

i am currently out of town, but i think i am going to give this a try when i get home.
as soon as i find an oven i will be PC'ing but would love to have a jig setup before i am ready to run.

[popper]

The 2 hacksaw blades work like a really old coke machine, no need for tensioners or clips. 10" blade gives me 10 or more CBs.

[xyankeeworkshop]

Quickie range report:

Finally got in some testing of my "band only" PC 9mm 125gr Lee tumble lubers through my Glock 17 yesterday. After a bore inspection at 50 and 100, I stretched the session out to 200 rounds. Good accuracy outside the meathead jerking the trigger, no keyholes , no feed problems, and only some easily-removed powder fouling in the bore. Most importantly: No leading.

[Edubya]

xyankeeworkshop, any idea on velocity? If nothing else maybe you could share specifics of your load so that we can guesstimate the velocity. Curious minds want to know.

EW

[popper]

Did 10 with the blade jig. Have to work on technique more but they did pretty good the first try. Some of the bands didn't get covered very well, my bad. I coated with the blades vertical and the CBs horizontal. The underside didn't get much powder. They dropped out of the jig great after cooking. I used 2 cycle oil on the edge of the blade and then a box knife blade to clean off the PC from the edge. The blades themselves didn't collect much PC. I'll try CBs vertical after lunch. Vertical worked much better. Not complete coverage but real close. 3 more batches worked great. Didn't use the oil anymore, just cleaned the blades between batches. Preheated last batch which worked a little better but I'm not sure it is worth the extra time. Divits are in the base lube groove, no problem, they are really small. Got ~ 80 shootable PCd PB 30-30 CBs & another 70 or so 40 SWC (I alternated to keep the oven busy). The small wood dowels I used for stiffners worked but I think that caused some of the shading. I'll cut those off and go back to the coat hanger wire I was going to use but was too lazy. I can get 4 of these rigs in the toaster oven at a time so 40-50 in 1/2 hr isn't bad. These are sulfer toughened, same as I shot before. When I change to the Cu toughened, the oven AC won't soften them any so I should get higher velocity, even from PB. Accuracy with these was ~ same as GC PCd. I did find that using the wire stripper/crimper pliers when they were still hot made removing from the 9mm case rig I used easy. Doesn't damage the coating but they almost just pull right out. I've coated ~ 1000, wasted a lot of powder learning and still have 1/3 jug left.

[xyankeeworkshop]

Edubya,

My 9mm PC load is 125 Lee TL LRN sized to .357 and then powdercoated on the bands over 4.0 grains W231. I have not yet had a chance to run these over my buddy's chrony.

[Edubya]

Edubya,

My 9mm PC load is 125 Lee TL LRN sized to .357 and then powdercoated on the bands over 4.0 grains W231. I have not yet had a chance to run these over my buddy's chrony.

According to Hodgdon, that should give us a little over 1,000 fps. Thanks.

EW

[Joe Thanks]

Hello Boolit Casters. Ive been lurking fora while now, especially this tread, and after finally making my way through all previous 30 pages, i still have on question that i'm unclear about. So why not make it my first post on this great forum

I have a few dies but for the purpose of this conversation ill be asking about my LEE 401-145-swc. It molds to a diameter of .401. my lee push through sizer and luber sizes to that diameter as well. My question is this, surely the very thin layer added in the PC process changes its thickness by at least .001". I read that most of your that resize do it after you PC the CB. You also mention that many of you rarely tend to lose noticeable amounts of PC after the sizing. I gather by your "hammer tests" that the PC spreads and bends and contorts WITH the lead its coating, so when you resize after PCing, what is being shaved off? where does the lead go? I ask this because some people report the slick slippery finish after sizing. Are you molding undersized or something? Maybe someone working with 40S&W can chime in, as I dont see any molds close in diameter to .401.
(i obviously wouldnt want to mold to .401, then resize and negate the PC i just gave the boolit lol)
Thanks in advance,
Joe

[ricklaut]

My wife doesn't like you guys! She says you're a bad influence...

We were at Harbor Freight over the weekend getting some stuff she needs for a woodworking project. While we were there, I "happened upon" their PC system & bought it (blaming it on you, of course). I just so happened to print two 20% off any single item coupons, so she got her stuff & I got mine. I've now done three small test batches with Lee 230gr TL RN. They're my first interest - want to test them out in my G21.

My first test was nose down through a piece of (way too thin) aluminum foil and down through holes I drilled in an old baking sheet. I drilled the holes just large enough to fit the nose, but not the bearing surface. No bueno... the thin foil stuck and tore off, leaving me with sharp PC coated aluminum flashing just ahead of the grooves.

The second test was through the same holes, minus the foil - worked pretty well and got the bearing surface & the base. To cover the parts that matter, this works, and I like that it's hard to tip the boolits over.

The third test was on the Reynolds non-stick heavy duty foil, sitting on the base. As reported by others in this thread, it worked fine, except I didn't get good coverage on a few that were near the sides of the pan.

I'll post up some pictures later - haven't shot them yet, but hope to this weekend.

I'm using a 4 slice toaster oven that I picked up at the Goodwill store. With either method, and with my .45 boolits, it looks like I can comfortably get 70 boolits at once. I'd like to get a larger oven - someday.

One safety lesson... I made my little spray booth out of a cardboard box, and the cloud of powder hung in the air pretty well. BUT - I got the nozzle a little close and created an arc - which lit the cloud of powder on fire for a couple of seconds. It flashed pretty good - not enough to light the cardboard box on fire, but enough to melt over-sprayed powder to the box! As with anything, be prepared! My instincts are still good - I had an escape path and before I'd given it much thought, I was well out of the way.

I haven't really told her what I learned in the swaging forum (or that I've got money out to BT for a set of his .224 dies). I may need a place to stay soon... but I'll be swimming in PC covered boolits and swaged .224 bullets!

[ricklaut]

Hello Boolit Casters. Ive been lurking fora while now, especially this tread, and after finally making my way through all previous 30 pages, i still have on question that i'm unclear about. So why not make it my first post on this great forum

I have a few dies but for the purpose of this conversation ill be asking about my LEE 401-145-swc. It molds to a diameter of .401. my lee push through sizer and luber sizes to that diameter as well. My question is this, surely the very thin layer added in the PC process changes its thickness by at least .001". I read that most of your that resize do it after you PC the CB. You also mention that many of you rarely tend to lose noticeable amounts of PC after the sizing. I gather by your "hammer tests" that the PC spreads and bends and contorts WITH the lead its coating, so when you resize after PCing, what is being shaved off? where does the lead go? I ask this because some people report the slick slippery finish after sizing. Are you molding undersized or something? Maybe someone working with 40S&W can chime in, as I dont see any molds close in diameter to .401.
(i obviously wouldnt want to mold to .401, then resize and negate the PC i just gave the boolit lol)
Thanks in advance,
Joe

Joe - Here's what I can tell you from my test a couple of moments ago. Before PC, my boolits drop at .454". After PC, they're running about .456". After PC, I ran then through the Lee sizer to get them down to .452. Before resizing (and with PC), the boolits measure .657" long. After resizing, they measure .659" long - so sizing is elongating them slightly, and as reported, the PC moves along with the lead, without cracking.

[Joe Thanks]

Joe - Here's what I can tell you from my test a couple of moments ago. Before PC, my boolits drop at .454". After PC, they're running about .456". After PC, I ran then through the Lee sizer to get them down to .452. Before resizing (and with PC), the boolits measure .657" long. After resizing, they measure .659" long - so sizing is elongating them slightly, and as reported, the PC moves along with the lead, without cracking.

Perfect! Thanks

[xyankeeworkshop]

ricklaut,

Glad you were able to outrun your little Fuel/Air Explosion.

That bring to light something that I need to ammend from my previous posts on powdercoating pre-heated boolits without needing to ground your holding jig/tray - I stand corrected! Ground that sucker! You may not need it for good coverage on a small tray of boolits, but it seems you definitely need it to lessen the possibility of creating an arc that will ignite your spray booth and also the meatware holding the PC gun.

Looks like we also need to, as a precaution, think about venting and filtering our diy booths to keep the powder/air ratio down just in case you do manage to throw an arc.

[popper]

Cast 8# of 165401 50/50 WW & Pb with the Cu added this morning. Only had a couple culls. PC'd I should be able to max load these close to 1K fps. Got to go to the HW store and get more HS blades(~$10) . Gonna glue the blades at proper spacing to wood stringers (for .401) double up on the blades, but alternating the clean edge so I use fewer blades. Hang it vertical for coating but flat for cooking. Should be able to do 50 at a time in the oven. One of our machinists with a CNC should be able to make this out of a single sheet of steel.

[dudits]

jothanks- welcome to the forum!!!

popper please post pics of the new design.
i will be attempting a few ideas when i get home "currently on a work/vacation"

[Joe Thanks]

thanks dudits.

[bstone5]

I have cast 44 Mag bullets and powder coated them.
The powder coated bullets shoot fine out of the revolver without any lead.
To push the bullets faster I have added the cola can gas check.
Theses bullets shoot very well and can be shot at higher velocity then the coated bullets without the gas check.

The base of the bullet when exposed to higher pressure without the gas check seem to shoot less accurate.
The base with just plain lead seems not to handle the increased pressure.

The cola can gas check addition to the powder coated bullet seems to work much better in the revolver.

Attachment 64722

The gas check used is the same gas check I make for the 45 ACP, the 44 is .430 as apposed to the 45 at 452.

The extra metal in the gas check is reformed to fit the 44 as the bullet is pushed thru the Lee push thru sizing die to install the gas checks.

Simple process using an already made gas check.

I still need to clean the lube off of the bullets before loading in a case, using a little Imperial lube helps in installing the gas checks.

The bullets are sized once and again as the gas check is installed, the Imperial lube is used both times the bullets are pushed through the Lee sizing die.

[popper]

bstone5 - what is your alloy that needs checks? I shoot 40SW, ~ same pressure PB without trouble. Maybe the cleaner base is giving the increase in accuracy? Is it a GC mould w/o GC that is inaccurate? Curious about results if you GC then PC. I did a test in 30-30 PB & GC, not sure I could tell the difference. As far as I can tell it is the alloy that limits, not the PC, up to ~2500 fps.

[bstone5]

popper

The allow is 92% lead, 6 % anatomy, 2% tin, the lead came from Lead Products.

The bullet has a bevel base but not a gas check base.

The gas checks only help when I load up to the jacket pressures, at cast lead pressures I have in the past loaded without gas checks all worked fine.

I tried the gas checks to see if the accuracy would improve at higher pressures and it did improve.

The gas may be getting around the base at higher pressures, maybe ?

The cola can gas checks are easy to make and I always have some left over.

I also put the cola can gas checks on 40 S&W just to insure no lead at higher pressures.

I have always installed the gas checks after powder coating and sizing, just the way I do it.