Anyone Tried Powder Coating Buckshot?

[Dragonheart]

I decided to powder coat some 00 Buckshot for several reasons and now I have Blue Balls.
Attachment 166183

[Goose18557]

If you dont mind me asking, what were your reasons?

[Reverend Al]

I've been seriously considering trying to do this in a bright blaze orange with regular # 7 1/2 or # 8 lead shot to see if I could make some home made "tracer" loads to use with the new Trap shooters that we coach up at our local gun club. If the shot shows up well enough to see it in flight it could be a great instructional tool ...

[Goose18557]

Rev, i think PC might be a little over kill. Maybe try some of the hi viz flourescent spray paint?

[bstone5]

I coat all buck shot with the Hi-Tech coating. The color is copper. I coat for what ever.
The coating looks nice.

[Beagle333]

There was a fellow a couple of years ago that made a bunch of red/white/blue buckshot and put it in clear hulls and it looked really neat. Maybe in the powdercoated pictures thread?

I have only coated round balls for ML's, but not buckshot.

[MediumCore358]

I powdercoated 38 cal lead balls for slingshot, a nice visable green to see trajectory and minimize contact with the bare lead. Worked well.

[ironhead7544]

There was some shot loads made years ago that were used for night clay bird shooting with lights. IIRC, the coated shot required UV light also so the shot would show up.

[Dragonheart]

If you dont mind me asking, what were your reasons?

To begin with it was something new to try with powder coating. I first wanted the balls round, so I burnished the balls by rolling them under pressure to make them more round and eliminate the cut sprue.

The powder coating leaves a slick, hard, tough surface that is about 10 times harder than lead, so they should have less tendency to deform. The coating is a lubricant. There should be no lead deposits left in the barrel or bare lead to handle when loading. My goal is a more uniform shot pattern.

[Dragonheart]

I've been seriously considering trying to do this in a bright blaze orange with regular # 7 1/2 or # 8 lead shot to see if I could make some home made "tracer" loads to use with the new Trap shooters that we coach up at our local gun club. If the shot shows up well enough to see it in flight it could be a great instructional tool ...

I can see how you could coat the small shot, but trying to separate the shot for curing would be a problem if you wanted any quantity.

[savage308]

please explain your method of coating the buckshot. I cast my buckshot and would like to try this. thanks

[jcren]

Would this eliminate the need for shot cups? Just a gas seal would possibly increase shot volume wouldn't it?

[bangerjim]

I coat 00, and 000 shot as well as various roundballs for loading gallery loads in 30's, 38's, 44's, and 45 Colts. Just BBDT like standard boolits. Lay on NSAF in the grooves made between the rungs of my oven racks.

[Bullwolf]

When I loaded 00 Buck, I'd keep the pellets stacked inside a shot cup/wad so that it would not be in contact with the barrel. It also depended on if you were doing a 2 or a 3 ball stack, and what wads you used.

I found it was much easier to stack up 1 Buck, than 00 buck in most shotgun wads.

Commercial buck shot, rather than buckshot that we cast was not exactly in spec. I'd noticed that the sizes would vary quite a bit after dissecting and measuring a few commercial buck loads.



000 Buck is larger still, and more difficult to stack in most wads. I'd have to cut the petals off of some wads, to make a stack of 000 Buck fit.

While I can't personally imagine powder coating individual buckshot in the quantities used for shotguns... It might work like harder or plated shot, and help prevent bore fouling if you remove the wad petals. Could possibly pattern better too, as long as it helped the pellets resist deformation.

Interesting idea, much like the red white and blue powder coated buckshot load.

I forgot just who did it first on Cast Boolits, but it was neat!





- Bullwolf

[Bob in St. Louis]

I want one of these just to look at. ^^^^ It wouldn't even need powder or primer!

Hmm...Now that I think about that, I might just spray paint some and make a "fake" shell as a paperweight and conversation piece.

A little bit off topic....but on another forum I belong to, we have a "picture of the day" thread.
I posted this one, just to see if anybody would catch it.

[Dragonheart]

please explain your method of coating the buckshot. I cast my buckshot and would like to try this. thanks

I don't know if you are familiar with powder coating, if not there is information on this site under Coatings & Alternatives. The whole process is quite easy and inexpensive, except for a toaster oven.

You will need powder (one pound will do a lot), a flat bottom plastic container with lid which has a recycle code #5 (like a cool whip container, tupperware, rubbermaid, etc.), a toaster oven, tweezers and some silicone trivets with a grid pattern . The easiest way is to get powder is buy a pound from an the vendor "Smoke", on this site.

To coat: Make sure your alloy is clean & free from oil. Put a couple of tablespoons of powder in the plastic container drop in some buckshot, lock down the lid and shake. Unless you have high humidity the balls will coat in less than a minute. Remove the balls with tweezers and place on a silicon trivet. The grid pattern of the trivet will keep the balls from rolling. The Trivet will need to be laying in a pan or on a flat surface so you can transfer it to the toaster oven. Once in the oven, cook at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes once the temp reaches 400. You need a good oven thermometer like a Taylor glass oven thermometer to make sure you get and hold 400 for at least 10 minutes to cure properly. Let cool and it's done.

Photos of a trivet, my toaster oven and my metal wrapped racks I cover with silicon mats when I cook bullets. If you have more question just ask.
Attachment 166299Attachment 166300Attachment 166305