Powder coating old bullets.

[gunfan2]

I have a lot of 30 caliber bullets that have been cast for a while. They still look good, but have a few rough places due to oxidation for lack of a better term. Will these powder coat ok? Thanks for your help in advance

[LAGS]

If you don't have white powder oxidation on the old Boolits , I don't see why you couldn't powder coat them.

[Rapier]

If you have a good many different styles of bullets and you want to clean them up by removing the old lube. I have found a 24 hour bath in acetone, shaken but not stirred, followed by an acetone rinse gets them clean enough to powder coat. That is a source of testing fodder, your own old bullets. Two cans and a colander gets it done.
I found that an old 500 count box of hard cast bullets that were so-so in performance, years ago, after they were cleaned and powder coated, sized, then shot at a bit faster speed in a rifle, showed real accuracy and consistency improvement. Most of us have a few boxes of bullets that did not perform as well as and decidd to put them back, try dragging them out, cleaning and PC, might get a suprise.

[Cast10]

Soak in Acetone for 10-15min. Remove and let dry. Use nitrile gloves to handle.

[kenton]

I have used acetone to remove lube from boolits but I always spent more on acetone than I felt the boolits were worth. If you have a lot to do maybe it might be worth it but I don't know how many you could do with a gallon before you had enough lube dissolved in the acetone that it would start redepositing as the boolits dried.

Another member (I can't remember who to give credit to) suggested boiling the boolits and pouring the melted lube off the surface of the water before removing the boolits. I have never tried it but it seems like a great idea to me.

[gunfan2]

If you don't have white powder oxidation on the old Boolits , I don't see why you couldn't powder coat them.

They don't have white powder on them. just a little rough in places and they have never been sized or lubed.

[reedap1]

I recently powder-coated some 158-grain SWC 357 bullets that I had cast 20 years ago. They were not lubed or sized and I forgot I had them. There was no visible oxidation on them other than they had taken on a dull gray color. I soaked them in white vinegar (5%), rinsed them a few times in a strainer, and swirled them in an acetone bath for a few minutes. Let them dry for about an hour. I preheated the bullets and did a S&B with Smokes Clear and they powder-coated beautifully. You will be fine, go ahead and powder-coat them.

[gunfan2]

That is exactly how these are, dull gray. Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm going to pc them in the next week or so.