Colors and coverage?

[prs]

I am lazy. I let Smoke cull out the dud powders and I buy what he then recommends.

prs

[Tripplebeards]

Smokes clear covers like smooth glass. I use his clear on all my 100 yards plus rifle boolits. It even fills in my tumbling dings and dents. I also can see my lead so it gives more of a traditional look imo. For his colors Carolina blue always covers the easiest and best for me.

[gnappi]

When I get home I have to check my winners and losers against that chart. Thanks for that blikseme300.

In my limited experience I found that even powders from the same manufacturer can be different formulations and cover differently so the brand may not be an indicator of how good they cover on a particular material.

I bought some black paint that covers (with SnB) terribly on lead but beautifully on some steel swag lamp chain that I coated.

[mehavey]

Finally settled on three that take 90sec shake in Tupperware/airsoft beads container,
with perfect 1-coat coverage, all Eastwood, color-coded for alloy/quick ID:

- Lyman #2: Mirror Red
- 30-1 Soft: Mirror Green
- Pure Lead: Ford Light Blue

[Huskerguy]

I have four of smokes colors.

Carolina blue - works very well
Flame red - this one looks like it is not covering but it flows and covers very well
Clear - I really like this stuff, sticks quickly and covers well. Goes on white, cures clear.
Traffic Orange - a friend likes the orange and I do his PC but this stuff is marginal, seems to provide a thin coat, not as nice as the others. I would not recommend.

[dryflash3]

I'm partial to what Smoke calls bacon grease..

I call it FDE

[monkey wrangler]

Finally settled on three that take 90sec shake in Tupperware/airsoft beads container,
with perfect 1-coat coverage, all Eastwood, color-coded for alloy/quick ID:

- Lyman #2: Mirror Red
- 30-1 Soft: Mirror Green
- Pure Lead: Ford Light Blue

That is the first time I heard that one. I use different colors for different molds. So no accidental mixing of different size / weight boolits. Don't want a hot or squib load by accident.

[Dragonheart]

When I first got into PC a polymer physicist told me that for my bullet coating he estimated that using a hard polyester powder would be the best choice for my needs. Since PC from 2012 I have found he was right, even though he had never coated a bullet, he knew his polymers. A "Solid Color" Polyester works the best and the best coverage is typically with blues & greens. All the solid colors I have tried will tumble coat. You can check your specific powder for hardness, but I go with 2H+. A polyurethane powder will go even harder and like all powders it sprays well, but may not tumble coat.