I had my first go at powder coating lead bullets today and... it was a resounding success! I just wanted to post a "thank you" to everyone here who has shared their experiences and put out enough good info that a noob is able to get it right the first time. I tried a batch of Lyman .314" 200 grain rifle bullets in the blue silicone ice trays and they came out perfect. I did a small batch of Lee .452" hollow points in the green silicone ice trays with .50" holes and some had bare spots where the tray scraped the bullets on the way in, so I won't use those again for .45 bullets. My 3rd batch was a small number of lee .314" tumble lube SWCs that I did on a silicone baking sheet (flat) and those came out perfect, too. I have convinced myself now that I don't think I have to do PID to get good results as long as I pay attention, but maybe I'll do it some day just because it's fun to tinker.
THANK YOU, FOLKS!