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Thread: powder coating with rotary tumbler

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
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    If your having issues with a particular bullet, its probably something else. I coat 230gr NOE 30 cal, and they coat exactly like everything else I PC.

  2. #22
    Boolit Master
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    The size of the bullet has nothing to do with the coating as I have coated everything from a 52 grain 22 bullet to my 30 pound bench vice. After you have down the PC basics, many random PC problems stem from poor choice of powder for the application and for me the local humidity. I monitor the humidity and 70% or more and I know I am going to have problems. For example, some have great results with Harbor Freight Red. I could not get a good solid tumble coat unless I double coated.

    As far as powder, for those first starting out I suggest you go with what others have found that works and try Smoke's Powder. If you want more selection of high quality powders at a good price I suggest Prismatic Powder; look for sales and start with solid colors.

    I have tried Powder by the Pound and gotten good powder, but it is more expensive and not any better. Unless the powder is really cheap, meaning not a big loss if you toss it, I would not recommend Ebay as a source of powder.

  3. #23
    Boolit Grand Master
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    BBDT has MANY variables as most have discovered. Some new people are EXTREEEEEMLY lucky and get it to work right off the bat. Others fiddle and mess with it, using multi-coats, different tubs, different BB's, vibrators, tumblers.........and still do not get it to work. The "I want it N-O-W" syndrome does come into play at times. There are always the ESPC guns that do work 100% of the time. I have 2 of them.

    HF red works great for most. But people just must have a rainbow of colors, so hence the mad rush to various other powders. Go for it if you need Technicolor splats on the other end.

    Check out this thread for comments on tumble coating:

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...coating/page16

    And read post #651

    And avoid Ebay for..................EVERYTHING!

  4. #24
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dragonheart View Post
    The size of the bullet has nothing to do with the coating as I have coated everything from a 52 grain 22 bullet to my 30 pound bench vice. After you have down the PC basics, many random PC problems stem from poor choice of powder for the application and for me the local humidity. I monitor the humidity and 70% or more and I know I am going to have problems. For example, some have great results with Harbor Freight Red. I could not get a good solid tumble coat unless I double coated.

    As far as powder, for those first starting out I suggest you go with what others have found that works and try Smoke's Powder. If you want more selection of high quality powders at a good price I suggest Prismatic Powder; look for sales and start with solid colors.

    I have tried Powder by the Pound and gotten good powder, but it is more expensive and not any better. Unless the powder is really cheap, meaning not a big loss if you toss it, I would not recommend Ebay as a source of powder.
    That could be my problem it's pretty humid here in jersey

  5. #25
    Boolit Master
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    When the humidity is high I either turn on the AC in my shop for a couple of hours before coating or preheat the bullets under 200 degrees before dumping into my tumbler. Sometime I do both because it's too hot to be comfortable.

  6. #26
    Boolit Bub
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    I use a vibrating tumbler with a variety of smoke powders and harbor freight red along with a couple of other brands of powders. and while I don't get a picture perfect coverage they shoot just fine. I only leave them in the tumbler for 30 seconds or so. this morning I coated and cooked around 2000 bullets in about 40 minutes

  7. #27
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by docstodd View Post
    I use a vibrating tumbler with a variety of smoke powders and harbor freight red along with a couple of other brands of powders. and while I don't get a picture perfect coverage they shoot just fine. I only leave them in the tumbler for 30 seconds or so. this morning I coated and cooked around 2000 bullets in about 40 minutes
    My tumblers are homemade from a unused small tumblers. I tumble 300+ bullets at a time and because the vibration is dampened I get the swirling action like shaking by hand, but with no effort. This also allows me to preheat if I think it is necessary. A lid keeps the powder from drifting, while it tumbles I can do other things and I get coverage almost as good uniform as spraying.
    Attachment 174680

  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy Big Tom's Avatar
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    I am using an old 1lbs H110 powder container that I put the bullets and the powder in and throw that into my rotary tumbler (Frankford Arsenal). No mess at all, one small container per color and the tumbler stays clean too.
    Click image for larger version. 

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  9. #29
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big Tom View Post
    I am using an old 1lbs H110 powder container that I put the bullets and the powder in and throw that into my rotary tumbler (Frankford Arsenal). No mess at all, one small container per color and the tumbler stays clean too.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    man when I saw this I thought GREAT! This is it! I have a powder container and a wet tumbler! But alas, tried it and didn't work. Tried warmed bullets and cold.
    How long are you tumbling them? Is your powder container labeled 2 on the bottom? No BBs? I really want to find an easy fast solution for this that's repeatable in thickness and quality.

  10. #30
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    I don't understand people wanting to use a tumbler. I get perfect coverage with Smokes powder, ASBB's, a No. 5 Rubbermaid and 10 seconds of up and down plus swirl. 55 grain 22's up to 500 grain 45's all come out fine in this high humidity climate.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  11. #31
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by farmerjim View Post
    I don't understand people wanting to use a tumbler. I get perfect coverage with Smokes powder, ASBB's, a No. 5 Rubbermaid and 10 seconds of up and down plus swirl. 55 grain 22's up to 500 grain 45's all come out fine in this high humidity climate.
    Well good for you, but if you were like me you'd be interested. Ive had limited luck getting consistent repeatable results. I'm a healthy 42 yr old man with extra large hands and I shake that stuff till my arms hurt and it doesn't seem to help. I'm looking for a reliable process that doesn't require effort and allows huge runs of boolits. I really dislike picking individual bullets up out of the powder too.
    Do you warm the bullets first?
    Last edited by Drew P; 03-08-2017 at 01:23 PM.

  12. #32
    Boolit Buddy Lagamor's Avatar
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    Im still working on what works for me. I don't have problems with powder not sticking, but I could never get acceptable results when baking in a "pile". Even spread out on a single layer if one bullet touched another one of them when I puled them apart the coating would come off one and have large bare spots.
    Not to mention clumps on the nose of the bullet, which if large enough caused seating problem. Tried several different methods, but I didn't have any luck.
    Finally went to a medical supply store and bought a large pair of tweezers and a cooking supply store for a silicon oven liner(I cut to size for my toaster oven pan). I stand them up and it's tedious, but coverage is almost perfect on the first pass. I do a second because he coat is a little too thin.
    Gonna order five more oven pans and put a layer of that silicon mat on them. If I bake three pans at a time I plan on getting PC boolits 500 per cycle. Ten minutes to stand them up and twenty minutes to bake.
    Has anyone had luck getting with one coating?

  13. #33
    Boolit Master
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    "Do you warm the bullets first?"
    No, I do not warm them.
    My first try was with HF red. It worked fine. second try with HF red was spotty. I then ordered a 4 color trial pack from smoke. It worked great. All of the powders that smoke says work with ASBBDT, that I have tried, do work for me. I tried with just a swirl in the container and did not get a good coat. It had to have about 3 seconds of vigorous up and down included.
    I do pick the boolits out with tweezers. This is easy for me as I was a USDA grain inspector for 25 years and manipulated little piles of grain with tweezers for hours on end almost daily. They became my third hand.
    " I'm a healthy 42 yr old man with extra large hands"

    I am a 70 year old not in the best of health, but my hands are too big to wear large gloves, I have to use extra large, and even then, some do not fit.

    Keep trying, It will work for you.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  14. #34
    Boolit Master
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    i still am amazed at the number of people that use the bowl method unsuccessfully.....but WILL NOT spend 60 bucks for the espc gun ...that works EVERYTIME!

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by mozeppa View Post
    i still am amazed at the number of people that use the bowl method unsuccessfully.....but WILL NOT spend 60 bucks for the espc gun ...that works EVERYTIME!
    I have a gun. It works fine It is too slow. ASBBDT works every time too.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  16. #36
    Boolit Master
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    With an Automated Master Caster I end up with thousands of bullets to powder coat at a single time. The ESPC gun results in perfectly coated bullets with a high volume of bullets coated and cooked at one time. For small volumes te ASBB works well with the bullets heated a little before coating. A heat gun works for me for the heating.

  17. #37
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by farmerjim View Post
    I have a gun. It works fine It is too slow. ASBBDT works every time too.
    if I could automate the espc gun or somehow streamline the fussy boolit placement issues it would help a lot.

  18. #38
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by farmerjim View Post
    I have a gun. It works fine It is too slow. ASBBDT works every time too.
    thats FOR YOU.....it doesn't work for EVERYBODY!

    you know the ones who DON'T hold their mouths right.

  19. #39
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by mozeppa View Post
    thats FOR YOU.....it doesn't work for EVERYBODY!

    you know the ones who DON'T hold their mouths right.
    And they swirl their boolits clockwise, everybody should know it has to be counterclockwise north of the equator.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  20. #40
    Boolit Bub AKholicBubba's Avatar
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    I recently started using smokes powders. No complaints. Just as good as as other quality powders. Work fine in #5 plastic

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check