Tumble lube vs powder coat

[weeple2000]

I'm interested in hearing from people that have tried both tumble lube and powder coat. I have started by powder coating with smoke powder. When I first bought my gear I picked up a tube of Lee liquid alox. So I mixed up a batch of Ben's liquid lube. If you've tried both I'd love to hear what you thought of each in comparison.

[44Blam]

PC, then BLL. Just in case.

[fatelk]

I started out tumble-lubing, over 30 years ago. I eventually got a lube sizer and did that for a long time. I got back into tumble-lubing for a couple calibers, using some of the better TL recipes. A couple years ago I started powder coating. Now I powder coat exclusively.

What do I think, personally? Powder-coating, hands down. Tumbling lubing worked OK most of the time, though I hated the mess. I became a big fan of traditional lube-sizing, and had all the gear for it. At first I resisted going to powder coating because I'm pretty traditional and not given to jumping onto the latest fad.

I have to say, though, to me powder coating is a game-changer, a major step forward in the evolution of the cast bullet. You couldn't pay me to go back to the old ways.

[RogerDat]

powder coating is better but a larger investment in time. I find I can tumble lube a batch of plinking bullets in a 1/2 gallon zip lock bag that will work fine and involve a lot less effort on my part. If I want to push the velocity a bit or am going for max accuracy the PC is worth the extra time and cost. For example all my .223 are powder coated, same for almost all 8mm or 303 or 30 caliber. Revolver bullets some are and some aren't. I wouldn't bother for plinking ammo in any of those rifles but since I'm often making the bullets well in advance I don't know how I'll eventually load them.

[psweigle]

I do both. Powdercoat for velocity and alox for plinking. So far, both have done the job equally well.

[bmortell]

I like both just depends what for. for easy cheap target ammo a 20 dollar lee tumble lube mold shaked in LLA is as easy as it gets. anything else im happy with powder coating. I like how it isn't tacky and has no exposed lead makes for a good finished product imo compared to lubed bullets. they just have to be bullets that's you value enough to put the extra time in. like my 38 practice bullets I just want to go bang and send something forward, im not gonna spend an extra hour PC'ing them so I can save 2 minutes with a bore brush, that's a net loss of 58 minutes, so just give me the brush. if im making ammo that's a hunting load a carry load a box for a relative ect. ill go for the extra looks and performance of PC'ing even if tumble lubed could do the same job.

[weeple2000]

Most of my casting is going to be shot through a 1911 in 45 acp for bullseye. The loads we use are less velocity than typical loads for the caliber. I am thinking the PC isn't going to be needed from a leading perspective. I wouldn't be surprised if accuracy from a rest is better with PC but I can pretty much guarantee that off hand I won't be able to tell the difference between TL and PC. As for scrubbing my bore, for a while I wasn't doing it when I was shooting PC.

I have gotten into the practice of plunking all of my rounds before shooting them on a line. I found that if I didn't scrub my bore, over time enough residue would build up from the powder, that my rounds wouldn't plunk. So now I scrub my bore every time I plunk my rounds. I probably plunk 200 at a time. So given the effort for PC I am going to give TL a try.

I did TL about 300 boolits in BLL. I used the recipe 30% LLA or Xlox /30% Lundmark Liquid Wax /40% Mineral spirits. From what I understand, you need very little of the BLL when lubing. I tumbled them in a Tupperware container. I probably used about 7 drops of BLL for 100 45 ACP boolits. Does that sound about right? After they dried, I don't think I could tell by appearance that they had lube on them.

[Conditor22]

Once I started powdercoating and HiTek coating I never went back to lubes. Lubes are messy, sticky, gum up your dies, require keeping the bottom of the boolit clean and smoke when fired. plus many lubes dry out and fail over time.
coatings encapsulate the lead ( my reloading friends with kids like them because it puts a barrier between the kids and the lead, the girls like the pretty colors, I like the fact that I can designate differennt charges or sizes by using different colors.

my 2¢ worth

[Smk SHoe]

Love the fact that you can use different colors for different charges or for different guns.

[Walter Laich]

PC
it won't melt in garages in our Texas summers like lube will

[Chainsaw.]

Ive tried both and Im hard for powder coat, there is a mess involved but its just in the initial process, after that its clean, VS making a mess every time you handle lubed bullets, when shot the bore is clean after one dry patch, no lube slobber around the cylinder face of my revolvers, oistols stay as clean as shooting jacketed ammo. As stated above PC looses in the time it takes to apply for me because I take the time to stand wvery bullet on end on the cook tray, each users prerogative. Plus I can color code rounds for say different loadings.

[MyFlatline]

Powder coat all the way, no melted lubes or sticky dies as mentioned before. Can make batches to store with no worries. Will never go back to lube..

[waco]

PC has it's place. It's not for everything. Case in point. Try to PC a bore riding bullet. Now your nose is a thou or so too big.
It is a welcomed addition to my shooting. That being said. I'm not getting rid of my Lyman 450 or my Star.
BLL is an awesome lube. Nothing wrong using this either. It works VERY well. A lot boils down to personal preference.

[Chainsaw.]

Waco, if you dont mind, what is a bore riding bullet?

[bmortell]

chainsaw, basically the rear portion of the bullet (driving bands) is the diameter of the groves in the rifling, and the forward portion is the diameter of the tops of the rifling so that it centers it in the barrel. where as some others may just taper down from grove size to the nose.

[RogerDat]

The Lee 8mm is a bore riding design https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-m...75-1r-mold-dc-
As opposed to the Lee heavy 30 caliber which tapers all the way to the tip https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-m...d-tl309-230-5r

Myself I size after PC for most uses. That incudes bullets that get an initial sizing when applying a gas check before I PC, then I size again after PC. I will say my most accurate 38 special is a PC and sized bullet. Same bullet will shoot ok as cast and tumble lubed but it gives up a bit in accuracy for doing less work to prep the bullet. Not much loss but something.

[flyingmonkey35]

Results will vary.

I will say this about it.

Once you start casting your own bloolits. And work a load for your guns. You will never go back to buying factory ammo.

Lube or PC/hitech. Or swaging there is nothing better then knowing you are shooting your own hand made stuff. Cheap.

You WILL NOT SAVE MONEY

You will just shoot a heck of a lot more for the same cost.


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[popper]

BLL still is smoky, but works. PC is a little extra work but worth it to me.

[stubshaft]

I still use all three types of lube. Tumble, lubrisizer and PC because I have worked up great loads in different guns and do not want to or need to redo it.

[mdi]

I've done both, but it's not an apple to apple comparison, kinda like comparing plated to nekkid lead. I don't get leading with my pan or dip lubed bullets anymore mainly because they fit my guns. Pan lubing takes a bit of time (I haven't seen the need for me to get a lubersizer, after casting/lubing for 30 years), and dip lubing with 45-45-10 or alox is quick and easy. PCing can get involved with time and equipment, starting with simple tools, like a cool whip tub and a method of curing the PC is needed. My PCing stuff grew into a sprayer and toaster oven and about 8 pounds of different powder with several "custom" pans and assorted equipment/supplies. I had to "build" a bench top "spray booth" as powder will get into everything everywhere, even when tumbling. Both work for me in all my handguns and some of my rifles. I don't do much PCing as of late but I still have a few hundred PCed bullets available and occasionally use some.