Educate me.

[TrashcanDan]

So after several weeks of reading, I've decided, mostly due to cost and lack of funds, that I'm going the powder coat route. I just don't have 15 years worth of reloading or casting equipment and all the presses and dies. Reloading I've been doing for almost 10 years. Casting is new.

So because I lack the lube-sizers, dies and various wax or stick type lubes, here I am.

My questions are this-

What I have cast, about 4 to 500 125 gr (sized to) .358's, will be used in a 20" rifle.

I have 2 lbs of Harbor Freight Red.

Picked up the gun setup. Wasn't too impressed with how it was put together, read a few posts on various forums, drilled out an old mig welder tip, made a copper fan, all that.

Is there an advantage of either using the gun or plastic tub and paint thinner coating method?
Not looking to coat my garage floor with overspray or anything.
Also not doing what I would consider "bulk", it'll be what ever fits in a toaster oven.

I plan on keeping velocities around, or at least under 1200 f.p.s.
Are there multiple coats required, or is it a one-and-done process?

[bangerjim]

Forget the paint thinner method. And......"paint thinner" does NOT dissolve PC!!!!!!! The old wet method (acetone or laq thinner) was replaced by the now-standard dry BBDT method most use with great success.

There are LOTS of variables to BBDT'ing, but if you want to keep the mess at a minimum, that is your chouce. I ESPC outside and do not worry about any overspary (very little anyway).

I use BBDT for a lot of my boolits (223-45) with excellent success. But that is after tons of experimenting over the past 3 years. You will be extremely lucky to get it to work the 1st or 10th time. My coating standard is the finish I get with my ESPC guns, so my standards of finish are high. Most of what I reject would probably be just fine for most and would shoot just fine.

Try the BBDT method. Very easy and you probably have all you need to do it. You will need some black AirSoft BB's.

If you need more than one coat.........you are doing something wrong.

Good luck and have fun!

bangerjim

[jcren]

Try dry tumble, aka shake and bake. Works beautiful with little investment or mess. Check out Smoke4320 in the vendor section, he sells higher quality proven powders and as bb's, but also has a link to beginning instructions.

[TrashcanDan]

With the gun, how do you get the bottoms coated?

[bangerjim]

Covered MANY MANY times on here over the past 3 years!!!!!!!!! You do NOT need to cover the bases.

Grease gives you absoluttely ZERO base protection, so why would you expect PC ( just a grease replacement) to offer any protection.

Spray them and load them. Do not worry about the bases, If you do worry about protecting the bases due to very high velocities, use Cu GC's for gas cutting protection. That's what I have done for over 3 years.

bangerjim

[Dragonheart]

If you are going to spray then the base will not get coated, but if you are looking at 1200 FPS it shouldn't make any difference.

The only way I know to get the base of the bullets covered is to tumble coat or spray with the bullets with the nose down set in a hole or install gas checks. If your humidity is under 60% I would suggest trying the tumble method as it is faster, a lot less setup and should give you good results. If the humidity is higher I would spray as it will give you a more even and better coverage. High humidity kills the static charge necessary when you tumble coat and tends to leave an uneven and thinner coating. Since you already have the gun it is just up to you and the weather on which method you chose. Since I am on the Gulf Coast humidity is more of a problem than it is not, so the HF powders don't tumble well for me.

Just confirm that your oven reaches a true 400 degrees and stays there for at least 10 minutes. Don't rely on the oven dial as they are usually off somewhat.

Best of luck with it.

[TrashcanDan]

Roger that

Thank you gentlemen

[vrh]

How I powder coat cast bullets
Items needed.
Cast bullets
Powder coating powder
A # 5 recycled plastic tub w/ lid ( COOL-WHIP plastic tube is a good one)
A pair of hemastats or needle nose pliers
A toaster oven
A pkg of NON-STICK Aluminum tin foil
A pkg of plastic air soft BB'S ( I use regular steel BB'S)
Let's get started first with the dry tumble method.....
I size the cast bullets


I place a layer of BB's in the bottom of the COOL-WHIP container

Add a couple of teaspoons of powder.
Add approx: 20 cast bullets into the container ( Add more powder if needed or if more is needed later)
Close lid and shake for approx: 1 to two minutes
Open lid and check results.
If bullets appear coated.... I take my hemstats and pickup one coated bullet. Tapping the held coated bullet against the container's edge to remove any excess powder.
Next I set the coated bullet onto a tray covered with NON-STICK Aluminum foil. ( Non stick side up on tray.)

After filling the tray with the coated bullets it is time to place them in a preheated toaster oven set to 400 degrees for approx: 20 minutes.
At the end of the baking time, I remove bullets from tray and drop them into a container of water.
I then dry the coated bullets and resize them again
They are now ready to be loaded into a finished bullet.
Pistol bullets with flat bases are easy to coat with this dry tumble method Simply coat and set onto covered tray and bake.