Tumble lube vs powder coat

[Forrest r]

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.

Excellent answer!!! +1 ^^^^^^^
I pc all my pistol/revolver bullets. Rifle bullets it depends, some get lubed in the 450, others get the 450 + tl, and the rest get pc'd + tl.

[mdi]

Jes wondering, why would you PC then tumble lube?

[weeple2000]

If they're doing it for rifle I suspect it's for higher velocity.

[fredj338]

PC all day. It just shoots cleaner with less smoke.

[David2011]

PC all day. It just shoots cleaner with less smoke.

It is just plain silly to want your gun to stay clean and have less smoke. I was told that on this forum several years ago when I posed a question looking to reduce smoke when shooting USPSA. Apparently the respondent fired a single shot rifle and not 4-5 shots per second against the clock and to have to shoot 500 rounds without cleaning.

[gwpercle]

PC, then BLL. Just in case.

You powder coat and then apply BLL to the powder coated boolits ?

[2wheelDuke]

It is just plain silly to want your gun to stay clean and have less smoke. I was told that on this forum several years ago when I posed a question looking to reduce smoke when shooting USPSA. Apparently the respondent fired a single shot rifle and not 4-5 shots per second against the clock and to have to shoot 500 rounds without cleaning.

Some of the personalities that come out on this site are interesting to watch. Same goes for real life. Different techniques are just tools in the toolbox to me. I don't see any one as the be-all, end-all. Sure there's established things that work great for certain applications.

Some people cling to their methods like they're a religion. The old "that's the way it's always been done" approach. When I told my dad that I was experimenting with tumble lube bullets, you'd think I told him I was selling my pickup and guns and moving to San Francisco. He seemed offended that I was breaking with the old traditions. To him, a dipper, an iron mold, and a Lyman 450 were the ONLY way to make bullets. I did by myself a lubrisizer later on, but I still tumble lube some bullets for certain loadings.

On the other side of the coin, some people latch on to the latest fad, trend, or technology and really run with it.

Some people just feel the need to tinker. They might make the next pet rock, or they may re-invent the wheel. Some of the curmudgeons at my range didn't even know what to say when I started experimenting with powder coated bullets and showed off some of my creations. By then I think my dad pretty well gave up on trying to tell me things when it came to casting and loading.

The high volume IDPA guys have different needs than the black powder guys or long range rifle guys, etc. Do what works for you.

[GLynn41]

Just started PC and my well shot .358 win likes it better so far than BLL which is good stuff
For my .410 GNR PC boolits are too large-- they are expanding a little when I size them in my 450?
The cooking process does soften my alloy at this point-- so for the GNR 450 all the way..I killed a meat doe with my 16.5 Henry with a pc'd 212 gr cup point... and it did fine -- good expansion-- I like all three but am shooting all three

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I'm transitioning over from tumble lube to PC. Once I worked out the coating, baking, etc, PC seems the way to go, and only slightly more trouble. It has solved several problems for me, a leading 9mm, binding cylinder on a 357, a rapidly fouling extractor on a rifle. Only downside is a few boolits that chambered fine as cast and tumble lubed now require sizing due to the thickness of the PC. I know there are better powders out there, but I've had decent enough luck with Harbor Freight Red. I'm not fond of the occasional burning plastic smell when shooting, probably worse than LLA, but it is fine outside. Never tried PC indoors, but I do know my LLA loads would create quite the smoke signals!

[MSD MIke]

I know fit is king but I have had some guns that I never could get a no lead result with using tumble lube or traditional lubing. No matter what the alloy and fit situation is. Fit remains important but I believe a good to great result is far easier to achieve with properly powder coated bullets. To me, loading powder coated bullets is just about as easy as loading jacketed bullets. After shooting my barrels are squeaky clean with no lead or copper fouling. PC is not a difficult process at all once you get the hang of it.

Mike

Mike

[rintinglen]

for me, time is the major limiting factor as to why I do not powder coat. I also have space considerations, but the major problem is time.

[Cloverdale]

My powder coating takes less time than tumble lube...don't have to wait on them to dry. I dump about 500 in the tumbler, add powder and tumble for 10 minutes, dump'em in a couple of pans and bake'em. Just me, but I will never conventionally lube another boolit...tumble lube or lubrisize.

[weeple2000]

It just seems like standing them on end to bake pc takes forever. I tried putting them in a basket instead of on parchment paper, but then they stick together and they're hard to break apart.

[Cloverdale]

It just seems like standing them on end to bake pc takes forever. I tried putting them in a basket instead of on parchment paper, but then they stick together and they're hard to break apart.

I don't stand them on end...I only cast handgun bullets. I dump...literally dump them in a pan and bake them. When baked...as soon as they cool, I size them. There will be a few that are stuck together...in a pan of 250, there will be about 20 that have to be broken apart. I just pick them up and squeeze and they come right apart.

Anyway, we all have our ways...this is mine and it works fantastic for me.

[weeple2000]

Thanks I'll try that instead.

[Cloverdale]

Thanks I'll try that instead.

One tip...when mine come out of the tumbler, I dump them in a cheap plastic collander from the dollar store and shake off excess powder...dump them from the collander into the baking pan.

[brewer12345]

I have tumble lubed from the start, but I have a revolver that leads no matter what I do. With commercial coated, plated, or jacketed everything is fine, so I bought a sample pack of Smoke's powder and will be climbing the learning curve if spring ever shows up. I will be starting with handgun boolits, but I may also try some rifle boolits PCd. Tumble lubing has worked well for my 30 and 35 cal rifles, so I will experiment with PC there, but I don't really have a reason to do so.

[Forrest r]

I've had nothing but excellent results with pc'd bullets in all my revolvers/pistols. Same with low velocity rifle bullets, low velocity ='s less than 2600fps. When I started getting into the 2650fps+ range I started seeing black streaks in the 308w bbl.
[IMG][/IMG]

It took bore-tech eliminator to get those black streaks out. Switched over to pc + bbl and no more black streaks.

[weeple2000]

2600 seems pretty fast to be pushing lead. How are the groups at that velocity and above?

[waco]

2600 seems pretty fast to be pushing lead. How are the groups at that velocity and above?

Here is a video of me hitting a 10" plate at 500 yards with cast .308 at over 2650fps. These are lubed with 2500+

I get a five shot sub 2 moa group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9VDouNYi7A&t=182s