Advantage of Powder Coating

[metalman21]

Beginning here to cast bullets and have questions.
Is the powder application like when they do parts with the dust gun and +- charges?
Or is it done otherwise? Do the boolits need to be sized prior to loading.
Where do you get the supplies.

[RP]

Two main ways to apply one is with a gun and charge the other is call shake and bake will find that information here as well. Bullets need to be sized after PC and you can find the powder for sell in the S&S section as well as on the internet you may live in a area that you can pick up local. Just takes some looking to find which method will fill your needs.

[remy3424]

I see fellas are putting away their 450s, I PC all my hangun boolits now, but they still go throught the 450 afterward...the same day. I just have no need to add or apply any lube to theses now. I didn't even clean the lube out, it will be ready to lube again if I have the need to. I have no desire to buy push-through sizers at this point with the 450 still on the benchtop.

[kevin c]

I need lots of pistol bullets that don't smoke and will land in a 6" X 11" max scoring zone at 5 to 25 yards. A plus is ease of handling and reduced lead exposure. Coated does that for me.

I agree with Petander that the shake and bake technique, which is what I do for my casts and which I think is the most common approach used in commercial production, probably beats up the boolits more than a precision long distance shooter would accept, but it's fine for my application.

[markmars]

Same here with 9, 357, 45, etc ... but nervous about 223 pushing at FMJ speed.

I reload 5.56 55 grain military pulldown bullets at 3200 FPS. I'd like to start casting .224 rounds, but it looks like the maximum velocity is 2200 FPS. So what is the maximum velocity for a PC cast .224?

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I've chronographed 55gn .224 boolits in my .223 Remington to 2,818fps average and a little 40 gn plain base in my Hornet to 2382fps then accuracy failed

[TjB101]

I've chronographed 55gn .224 boolits in my .223 Remington to 2,818fps average and a little 40 gn plain base in my Hornet to 2382fps then accuracy failed

All my lead 224 rounds have been pushed with Unique, 2400, etc at pretty slow speeds ... are you running low end rifle powder loads? Recipe?

[markmars]

I've chronographed 55gn .224 boolits in my .223 Remington to 2,818fps average and a little 40 gn plain base in my Hornet to 2382fps then accuracy failed

That's a could velocity for cast what powder coat and gun powder are you using? How many grains of Powder?

[Dragonheart]

Same here with 9, 357, 45, etc ... but nervous about 223 pushing at FMJ speed.

I have fired full power properly coated & cured PC bullets in my 22-250 at 3500+ fps with no leading; full power loads in 30/06, 7x57, 762x39, M1-Carbine, 45 acp, 44 mag, 357, 38, 9mm & 380. Speed is not an issue for me because I don't have anything faster. The limitation of full power loads with PC bullets is accuracy at distance. The inaccuracy is not due to the polymer jacket.
The inaccuracy is caused by the fact that all cast bullets are non-concentric (lopsided).

[TjB101]

I have fired full power properly coated & cured PC bullets in my 22-250 at 3500+ fps with no leading; full power loads in 30/06, 7x57, 762x39, M1-Carbine, 45 acp, 44 mag, 357, 38, 9mm & 380. Speed is not an issue for me because I don't have anything faster. The limitation of full power loads with PC bullets is accuracy at distance. The inaccuracy is not due to the polymer jacket.
The inaccuracy is caused by the fact that all cast bullets are non-concentric (lopsided).

I’m gonna need to up my game a little with my GC cast 224. I’ve got 8 lbs of CFE223 ... gonna try a few at the low end and see how they perform. I’ve pushed my cast 358’s pretty fast with no issues to my lever gun.

[fredj338]

You can get details on other threads about PC. All you really need is an oven of some type, #5 grade plastic container with lid, some airsoft BB & powder. Something to put them in/on like a tray or silicone mat or I use a small gage wire baskets. Then size after coating with cheap Lee bullet sizing dies in your press. Cost can be as little as $100 total.

[Dragonheart]

I’m gonna need to up my game a little with my GC cast 224. I’ve got 8 lbs of CFE223 ... gonna try a few at the low end and see how they perform. I’ve pushed my cast 358’s pretty fast with no issues to my lever gun.

The only way to get full power accuracy is with a bore rider design bullet with bands sized to fit the barrel grooves and the nose portion sized to fit the lands and with a perfectly fitted gas check. I only know of one person "Bama" who has done this achieving MOA accuracy out to 350 yards with full power PC cast bore rider bullets. His bullets are the most perfect cast & coated bullets I have ever seen and his checks are completely flat and perpendicular. He proved PC cast bullets can rival commercial jacketed bullets, but not as they come out of the mold like almost everyone is using.

Other bullet designs like the "Spitzer" just will not work as the nose of the bullets remains lopsided. PC even though the polymer jacket will withstand the full power of torque spin-up and stabilize the bullet out of the barrel the lopsided bullet at some point will start to wobble and once the wobble starts it only gets worse. Most will find good full power accuracy out to 50 yards then the wobble begins.

I have been acquiring some tooling and materials to attempt making swaging dies to reform other PC bullet designs like the Spitzer to correct the non-concentric flaw. Swaging in theory makes sense to me, but the proof is can I get it to work. The limitation I have are the tools/mini-lathe, not known for the greatest accuracy and accurate re-alignment is a must.