Powder coating ain't worth it.

[Bullshop Junior]

I don't know what you guys were using before powder coating I thinks thats it better, but it totally flopped for me.

I ordered up a batch of HF black and dry tumbled them as every one says to adding just a little until they take no more. And then, baked them at 400 degrees for 25 mins. Looked good. Passed the smash test. Couldn't scrape it off with my fingers, and trying to scrape it off with a knife I shaved lead before I was able to remove The coating.

Loaded up a few in 45 colt cases (the boolit was the .452"-300 Lee RF cast out of WW)over 22.5gn of H110. Shot one and pellets the rest. The intire inside of my barrel is coated with leading from muzzle to breach.

[jmort]

Bro you did not read the threads. HF black is the worst choice for dry tumble PC. Get the Red. With all the good results, don't give up based on the worst powder per many user reports.

[xacex]

H/F black= good for E/S powder coat only.

[mdi]

The fellers are right, red rules! I experienced much the same as you did using HF black, plus fair at best coverage, and spotty curing...

[Beagle333]

Sorry you had to find out the hard way.... it is listed (in capital letters) at the end of post #2 of the main suggested thread for beginners, and in many many other threads.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-powders-don-t

It's a little harsh to say a procedure proven thousands of times "Ain't worth it", when you just randomly selected a method and product. Try again with HF red and it should make you feel better about it.


If you just want to tumble, but want to do black, search for All Powder Paints, Eastwood Paints and Powder Buy The Pound. I have seen posts where they sell gloss blacks that will tumble (but I have not tried it). If interested, you might just start a thread on which blacks will tumble, and get some feedback.

[bangerjim]

READ the darned threads!!!!

We have covered the subject 'till the cows come home........that HF black WILL NOT DT. You now either need to go out and buy an ESPC gun, air hose, and compressor to spray the black on............or go back to the store and buy some red.


Red will DT.

Don't knock the process until you have done it right.

bangerjim

[Bullshop Junior]

What are the problems you guys had with black? Mine coated just fine, just left horrible leading.

[Bullshop Junior]

[Bullshop Junior]

For some reason my photo failed.

[bangerjim]

Those are NOT HF matte black like everybody else has bought. You somehow have a gloss black. HF may have mixed up a batch and you just plain lucked out. Matte has no gloss whatsoever and Matte will not stick at all! Bare lead only left after DT. Your pictures show gloss.

Sounds like coating is just fine. What is the fit in your barrel? I shoot that same 300gn boolit (100's of them!) with black (ESPC) and red (DT) with absolutely ZERO leading! I use 4.5gn TightGoup and 4.2gn TrailBoss per the published load data for the powders. They shoot great!

You may have other gun/barrel/powder problems than the PC.

Still.....no one on here has EVER reported getting the black HF to stick with DT. You may be the 1st because the powder is different. I would still recommend going to the store and getting some red.....if you can find it! The guys on here have almost depleted HF's red stock nation-wide!

good luck!

banger

[Beagle333]

Do you have a picture of the original paint jar? Something is fishy.
HF black falls off the boolits and stays in the bottom of the butter or CoolWhip tub.

[prickett]

Do you have a picture of the original paint jar? Something is fishy.
HF black falls off the boolits and stays in the bottom of the butter or CoolWhip tub.

Yeah, I'm surprised it stuck at all, let alone failed when shot.

[ipijohn]

ESPC with any powder (well maybe not HF black since I haven't tryed it) is fool proof!!!

[Nikolaus]

You might try again with red if you want to dry tumble. I've done yellow also. Yellow works, no lead, just not as even as red. With that said if you buy the gun, it works fast and pretty with any of their powders. I have only powder coated since it started and have never had leading. Accuracy is real good too.

[Bullshop Junior]

I cant really afford a gun. Some one have me a tulle plactic bag of the PC so i tried t. Probably wont mess with it again, I was pretty happy with my boolit lube, just wanted to try something new.

[bangerjim]

So................... you do not know the brand of powder, the type of powder, or the baking and time requirements of the powder you were "given"?????????????????????????

Why did you say in your opening post it was Harbor Freight powder?????????????

You are stabbing in the dark. Do NOT blame the technique or the process or that freebee powder you have. "Everything FREE........may not really be FREE!"

There are several types of polyester resin thermoset powders out there....ALL are designed to be applies with an electrostatic coronal discharge gun. We have been MOST fortunate to discover that coating our little teenie-tiny lead boolits can be done by generating a slight static charge in a coolwhip container with a tiny bit-powder (any color except HF black!) in it.

Most.....I repeat MOST....commercial powders call for 400F for 10 min. There are variants on that and without knowing a lick about what "someone gave you", it will be very difficult to troubleshoot your problems........

Buy some red powder, try it per the several threads on here....and report back to us.

Good luck

bangerjim

[RP]

Noticed his quote by Mark Twain at the bottom of his post. enough said.

[Bullshop Junior]

Those are NOT HF matte black like everybody else has bought. You somehow have a gloss black. HF may have mixed up a batch and you just plain lucked out. Matte has no gloss whatsoever and Matte will not stick at all! Bare lead only left after DT. Your pictures show gloss.

Sounds like coating is just fine. What is the fit in your barrel? I shoot that same 300gn boolit (100's of them!) with black (ESPC) and red (DT) with absolutely ZERO leading! I use 4.5gn TightGoup and 4.2gn TrailBoss per the published load data for the powders. They shoot great!

You may have other gun/barrel/powder problems than the PC.

Still.....no one on here has EVER reported getting the black HF to stick with DT. You may be the 1st because the powder is different. I would still recommend going to the store and getting some red.....if you can find it! The guys on here have almost depleted HF's red stock nation-wide!

good luck!

banger

Maybe the powder coat is just not good enough for my stout loads. The bullets were sized my standard .454" and shot over my standard load of 22.5 grains of H110 in colt cases. I'm really glad I didn't try my casull loads first.

[Bullshop Junior]

So................... you do not know the brand of powder, the type of powder, or the baking and time requirements of the powder you were "given"?????????????????????????

Why did you say in your opening post it was Harbor Freight powder?????????????

You are stabbing in the dark. Do NOT blame the technique or the process or that freebee powder you have. "Everything FREE........may not really be FREE!"

There are several types of polyester resin thermoset powders out there....ALL are designed to be applies with an electrostatic coronal discharge gun. We have been MOST fortunate to discover that coating our little teenie-tiny lead boolits can be done by generating a slight static charge in a coolwhip container with a tiny bit-powder (any color except HF black!) in it.

Most.....I repeat MOST....commercial powders call for 400F for 10 min. There are variants on that and without knowing a lick about what "someone gave you", it will be very difficult to troubleshoot your problems........

Buy some red powder, try it per the several threads on here....and report back to us.

Good luck

bangerjim

The tub the guy took it from said harbor freight on it, and he said thats where he got it from. I'll maybe try to get some red and give it a try...

[BadCarp]

Maybe the powder coat is just not good enough for my stout loads. The bullets were sized my standard .454" and shot over my standard load of 22.5 grains of H110 in colt cases. I'm really glad I didn't try my casull loads first.

You are using a paint that you really don't know what it is, with a method you have been told won't work with the paint you think you have, and yet with all these unknowns, you still seem to want to bash the idea?

I use the HF black all the time, but I do spray rather than tumble, so I really can't say how they work with the tumble method. I can say it isn't your stout loads though as I load 36.6 grains of H110 in my .500 S&W Magnum rounds and have zero leading even when using really soft lead.