dry tumble powder coating?

[JessFV]

I have found different colors behave very differently with the wet and dry tumble methods. I don't know what causes this but some colors seem to be easier to work with. Both the grey and white worked much better then red for me.
Those long skinny Lee 230 g bullets have not shot well yet, the front driving band and bore riding area are undersize even with the powder coating buildup.

[prickett]

Here are my pictures from a similar thread in this forum: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2509259

[prickett]

I have found different colors behave very differently with the wet and dry tumble methods. I don't know what causes this but some colors seem to be easier to work with. Both the grey and white worked much better then red for me.
Those long skinny Lee 230 g bullets have not shot well yet, the front driving band and bore riding area are undersize even with the powder coating buildup.

Agreed. Red HF paint works for dry coating. Black HF paint works for wet coating.

Using black HF paint was a complete failure for dry coating.

[RP]

well if the red is the gun coated it sure looks a lot better then the white one. The white is more of what I am getting. The thing is if I use smaller bullets like 30 cals my coat is better then it is with 45 cal 405 gr. I guess I should say the lighter ones 250 and lower. I did run some today they just did not seem to coat well today with red so I tried some yellow those seemed to coat better. I would like to fine a more repeatable process. I am going to keep at it changing up things to see if I can work it out for my standards. The main ? is how much of a coat is needed and will it really matter if the coating is not even like the white one in the pic above.

[Ajax]

Ricky,
PM freightman (Frank) he has had great success with the dry method and has shot alot of it.

Andy

[blueeyephil]

I've been doing the wet method for awhile with good result but looking forward to trying the dry method. I cleaned out my vibrator and put a some powder and bullets. Turned it on and waited ten minutes. Didn't work at all. My powder is PBtP hot candy blue a polyester TGIG. I have some Lava Black 15-25% gloss a Urethane Polyester on order from Rosey's Powder Coating. I'll give that a try when it comes in.

[freebullet]

I'd be real interested in how the urethane pc works. Anything I've used with urethane is tough & just plain works. Anyone tried it already?

I hope to try this dry tumble method soon.

[prickett]

I've been doing the wet method for awhile with good result but looking forward to trying the dry method. I cleaned out my vibrator and put a some powder and bullets. Turned it on and waited ten minutes. Didn't work at all. My powder is PBtP hot candy blue a polyester TGIG. I have some Lava Black 15-25% gloss a Urethane Polyester on order from Rosey's Powder Coating. I'll give that a try when it comes in.

Don't get discouraged. Its simply a matter of finding the right paint.

Someone previously mentioned we should start a thread listing what does and doesn't work. I think we should. It'd save a bunch of time, money, aggravation.

[nighthunter]

These are all done with the dry shake N bake method. Someone is going to tell me I have too much time on my hands but I am having a ball playing with this stuff.

Nighthunter

[Gunslinger]

Nighthunter, how much thickness does the dry shake method apply? I assume you only apply one coat? When I acquire an oven I will start powder coating my boolits, mainly my 120gr TC Lee. They cast at .356-ish and I hope they only gain 0.002" which means i won't have to size them for use in my 0.357 9mm barrel.

[popper]

Shot the dry (no GC) & Es (GC & no GC) coated as in post #20. Sized 0.311 for the 30/30, seated just shy of 2.50. 15 gr 2400 with the rest of the case puppy toy filler.
Really windy day but I think the dry did just as well as the ES coated, even without checks. Dry unchecked was better than 180 RD flat base.
Attachment 91034
My shooting wasn't the greatest, 308 did poor @ 100 as well, 3" groups. The dry PC 30/30 did ~ 6" vertical string @ 100, mostly me.

[SDGarrick]

Just baked my first batch. Red HF, lee 200 gr .309

a few observations -
If you touch the boolit after the powder has been applied, it will come right off, like a butterfly's wings.


My boolits stuck to the tinfoil. maybe it's the tinfoil i used.

I didn't bake them standing up, rather i just poured them onto the tray. next I will try standing them up. I might need to make a special tool for grabbing them, something like tweezers.

the coating seemed really light at first, but when the finished product came out they were totally covered, smooth and even.

400 degrees for 20 minutes.
This method seems best, because it requires the least investment and makes little mess.

[SDGarrick]

double tap.

edited to add: alot of my boolits were ruined by either sticking to the tinfoil, which generally left patches without PC or too much PC was on the tray and it hardened around the boolit.

I've learned that Less is more and that I will have to be more deliberate with the arrangement of the PC'd boolit prior to baking. This is fun though and still quite simple. excited to see how they shoot.

[popper]

Use the non-stick foil or cooking parchment paper. I have a steel/foil coated plate in the oven so I just picked them out of the container and set them on the plate. My tweezers are medical grade I think, really long slender fingers (general @ 40-AA). Actually, I had maybe 2 teaspoons of powder in the container for ~ 12 boolits, worked pretty good for the first try. Some didn't look very well covered but shot well anyway. Typically I have trouble if the coating is too thick, they won't chamber in the levergun, nose is too large. These all shot fine, so tumble coating doesn't get too thick. I stood them up for cooking, the bases didn't stick, no excess. It will still be hard for me to set 50 or so in the oven without the domino problem. And only one rack at a time. May be easier for the younger casters/coaters.

[nighthunter]

Gunslinger ... measured some today. My coating is adding about .0025 to the diameter of my bullets. My thoughts on sizing are that sizing eliminates out of roundness and gives us a known value for the bullet if trying to figure things that need attention. I've never been a fan of shooting as cast bullets. You might be able to do it that way. Let us know what your results are.

Nighthunter

[Liberty'sSon]

These are all done with the dry shake N bake method. Someone is going to tell me I have too much time on my hands but I am having a ball playing with this stuff.

Nighthunter

Nighthunter, seeing those makes me crave my favorite Jelly Belly jelly beans. Dang you now I have to go buy some.

[nighthunter]

Liberty'sson ... I've been playing with color mixing to get the bullets like that. I have found that if I get a decent coat on the bullets with one color then add just a tiny bit of another color and only shake the container 2 or 3 times the added color gives a mottled effect when baked. Sometimes I use whatever is left in the container from the previous batch for the first coat then again add a bit of another color I get a very wide variation of colors after baking. Most of the time the final result is far different than what you expect it to be. I've also taken a soda bottle cap and drilled very small holes in it then added a wire handle. I put a bit of PC in the cap and use it to sprinkle the added color over the base coat. The colors mix themselves when baking. Its a lot of fun. I'll find more ways to amuse myself with this stuff.

Nighthunter

[birdadly]

I visited a Harbor Freight near me and wanted to mention to anyone reading this thread that their Flat Black, White and Red paints were on sale for only $4!!! For some reason the Yellow wasn't on sale. Sale good 'til the end of January.

My experience has only been with this Dry Tumbling method so far, putting a tablespoon or so of powder in a Tupperware along with 50 bullets (45's or 9's), and shaking it by hand for only a couple minutes, 2 at most. Then I wear a Latex Glove, get a little powder on the fingertips and pluck them out and onto the Non-Stick foil.

So far Red has worked great, but I tried white and yellow today and neither seemed to cover as well as the red But, I'll keep trying. Actually, maybe the red is just a darker color so it disguises the lead beneath it... Hmm. When I have a nice spot in the garage, and summer hits, I may try out the HF spray gun for more even coats. - Brad

[Beagle333]

Those look pretty good, Brad. Actually, right up there among the best of the dry tumbled ones I've seen. You got it going on! If the driving bands are coated, you are good, and they look coated!

[.429]

mine look like **** and shoot even worse! i'm not sold on this tumble method