Powder Coat Total Fail

[jonp]

I decided to try it a little bit yesterday and while in HB getting a few things picked up a jar of powder coat. Matte Black. Yes, 2 mistakes in one purchase

Put them in a plastic dish but didn't have any plastic pellets so decided to try anyways. Shook them up and got some coat then into the toaster oven I bought last year to try this but never got around to. There was my second or third mistake, I didn't temp the oven. When the boolits came out all clumpy looking and rough I temped the oven and found out it runs almost 75 degrees hot so instead of 400 for 20 min I had them in 475.

So now I have 20 clumpy, rough boolits. Will the paint come off it I try to melt them and be ok, will it contaminate the rest of the melt and should I throw them or should I load them and give it a try while waiting for some good powder and pellets to arrive?

[gpidaho]

I'd melt them down outside in one of those cast iron melting pots if you have a lot of them. I sometimes throw just a few in the pot when it's up to temp. The coatings are easy to skim off. I'd worry more about the fumes than contaminating the melt. Gp

[mehavey]

I temped the oven and found out it runs almost 75 degrees
hot so instead of 400 for 20 min I had them in 475.

A true 475 wouldn't hurt anything.
But if you started then a cool oven, it probably hit quite a bit higher than
that before it equilibrated and the thermostat/sensors got it under control.


ps: just throw back in the pot and skim the residue.
pps: Absent a PID, get one of these for Temp monitoring.

[slide]

That is a nice set up. Another option, go to amazon and you can get a digital thermometer with thermocouple for around twenty bucks. Drill a hole in a bullet,squeeze the bullet down on t-couple. Lay the bullet in with your coated bullets when you bake them. Takes the guess work out of it. When the bullets hit the recommended temp start a timer. Too high temp can cause your coating to become brittle so you need to watch those temps. You might think you got the dial figured out but it will still go crazy on you. I run a p.i.d. on my oven and I still use the t-bullet. Don't focus on the oven temp focus on the temp of your bullets.

[merlin101]

Don't feel bad Jonp, I had a batch turn out looking like chocolate chips! I not only messed up the temp but also left them a bit to long and they slumped down. OH well back in the pot they went.

[jonp]

No bullet slump so there is that. I did heat the oven first so got that right, I think part of the problem is HB coating. I've read in a couple of places including here that not only is it not the best but the matte black is the worst of the two they still have.

Since I can throw them in the pot again I'll just melt with some other lead I have to do and skim it off trying again.

[Winger Ed.]

Go back to what ya know.

The whole powder coat thing is just a passing fad anyway.

[slide]

Winger Ed, you make a good point. I have been doing tests with powder coated bullets and lubed bullets using white label lubes. So far the lubed bullets have outshot the powder coated bullets. I want to do some more testing before I decide. This is mainly in rifle. Time will tell.

[Winger Ed.]

So far the lubed bullets have outshot the powder coated bullets. I want to do some more testing before I decide. This is mainly in rifle. Time will tell.

I have been meaning to try powder coating myself.
But it's like me getting a 'beeper' or a cell phone--
I just haven't quite gotten around to it yet.

It reminds me of my intentions of joining the Procrastinators Club.
I haven't gotten around to doing that either.

[AlHunt]

Go to Smoke4320's vendor page, get powder and BBs that we know work. Follow the prescribed process. If you don't succeed, go back to lubed bullets. Honestly, it works like a charm. I changed the process a little ... after I mastered the process as laid out here.

[jonp]

Go back to what ya know.

The whole powder coat thing is just a passing fad anyway.

Haha. I've been ok with tumble lube but what do I know. Kids and their fads like that IPhone thingy.

[jonp]

Go to Smoke4320's vendor page, get powder and BBs that we know work. Follow the prescribed process. If you don't succeed, go back to lubed bullets. Honestly, it works like a charm. I changed the process a little ... after I mastered the process as laid out here.

AlHunt, yeah. That's what I should have done in the first place but I'm only out $7

[Winger Ed.]

I'm only out $7

$7.?
It sounds like you're playing with fire, or working up high without a net.

$7. doesn't get you a oven AND the powder.
I suspect you're using the kitchen oven.
I'd warn against that.

When I used the kitchen oven to dry a big batch of .45ACP cases I'd washed & rinsed awhile back,,,,,,,
After the second live round cooked off---- I was banned from the kitchen for all reloading activities.

[jonp]

Ha, no I meant the powder coat. The toaster oven will be fine now that I've dialed the temp in

[TjB101]

$7.?
It sounds like you're playing with fire, or working up high without a net.

$7. doesn't get you a oven AND the powder.
I suspect you're using the kitchen oven.
I'd warn against that.

When I used the kitchen oven to dry a big batch of .45ACP cases I'd washed & rinsed awhile back,,,,,,,
After the second live round cooked off---- I was banned from the kitchen for all reloading activities.

Holy crap ... no way. Was anyone in the kitchen at the time? What was the noise level. Break anything?

[mehavey]

How does one miss a full-up/loaded 45ACP round in a layer of otherwise empty brass spread on a cookie sheet?
(much less handled multiple times during the wash/rinse operations)
He asks....




OOC: Just how hot are you running your oven when drying?
Ammunition takes a lot of heat in desert/battlefield/storage conditions w/o mishap

[Monobill]

Well now I am second guessing going the powder coating route. I mean, you still need to size the boolits anyway so why not just us a lubicator/sizing process?

[45workhorse]

Powder coated AND the LEE app, (Automatic Processing Press), you can have a pile of bullets sized and ready in load in no time. I don't need to do that myself, just putting it out that if needed to, it is very doable!
YMMV!

[slide]

Powder coat has it's pros and cons just like everything else. Nothing wrong with lube.

[fredj338]

Well now I am second guessing going the powder coating route. I mean, you still need to size the boolits anyway so why not just us a lubicator/sizing process?

Smoke, crud left in your gun, enough reason to go PC.
If people would follow directions given on the site about how to PC, they would avoid the failures. HF PC has been discussed for a few years, it doesnt work well shake & bake. S&B works better with ASBB in the #5 plastic tub. Your oven needs to be checked with a simple $3 oven therm. I have a STAR luber/sizer but doubt I ever go back to it.