Re-sizing after powder coating

[Scratchie]

I’ve been reading about powder coating and will probably start this spring with 45 acp, may start shooting at a higher velocity. I’ve been shooting wheel weight bullets for years, and here’s my question - although I think the answer is obvious, I’d like to ask anyway:

I’ve always sized my bullets after casting, does anyone size after powder coating? I suppose not, it would take the powder coat off…

[MUSTANG]

I size a wide variety of .308's after powder coating. Seat .014 aluminum gas checks and Size to .310 after powder coating; not seeing any loss of powder coat on drive bands.

[Recycled bullet]

I have size tens of thousands of bullets and have never had one where the paint coat came off during sizing. If you are new to powder coating then do the hammer test aka the smash test verify that they are done correctly before you go shooting the bullets. Take a sample bullet the batch of coated bullets and smash it flat, take another one and Hammer it into a small cube. If the coating comes off or flakes on either one then the coat is not done correctly and you will likely have poor results on Target and a leaded Barrel.

[Dom]

Also have sized thousands of bullets after PC. Just did 216 yesterday.Works perfect..

[PopcornSutton]

I size before and after PC. These are for target use. PC will add a thou or 2 to the diameter, so I size after.

[Walter Laich]

size one time, after PC.

figure this will bring the bullets into specs no matter how heavy the PC coating is.

too lazy to do it both before and after

[kayala]

I size after coating. If size before I'd be concerned about surface contamination and PC adherence.

[Scratchie]

Thanks for the replies, I'll be sizing and do the hammer test.

[redhawk0]

I size AFTER the PC....but I admit...if I have to install a GC...I do it after PC so I only have to size/crimp once.

I've seen where some will install a GC first...then PC then resize again...for me this seems like a wasted step with the same sized boolit being the result.

redhawk

[Hick]

Sizing before or after PC also depends on what size you are trying to reach. Sizing at least once is a good idea to assure uniformity. I have one bullet that drops at 0.311 but shoots best in my SMLE (303 British) at 0.313. So, that one I size to 311 for uniformity before PC, and do not size after (the PC bumps them up to 0.313). This is one of the really nice things about PC-- it greatly adds to your flexibility of matching bullets to barrels.

[Cast10]

I only size after powder coating. I let the boolits cool to around 90 degrees, then size them.

[hc18flyer]

I size after coating. If size before I'd be concerned about surface contamination and PC adherence.

I wanted to powder coat some 358156 gas check bullets, but I wanted the checks on first. I put the checks on and ran them thru a Lee sizing die, then applied pc with 'shake and bake', using 'Smokes' powder. I didn't have any trouble with the pc adhering. YMMV, hc18flyer

[hermans]

I also size after PC, since I do large volumes of 9mm and 45acp boolits, it will just take too much time to size before and after. One thing though, since I WQ after PC, so I do size them the same day, or at the most the next day, otherwise they really needs some extra force to be sized, my arm does not particularly like that anymore!

[Jack Russel]

No problem,the coating stays on.

[relics6165]

Yep, I did about 300 .314 to .312 coated bullets, all the coating stayed on. No problems.

[2TM101]

I have never resized before powder coating. I have also never had any of the powder coating come off. I have found the bullets after firing and its all still on. I even double coated 9mm so I could fire it in 38 special and the double coat stayed on. I even used two different colors to make sure it worked.

[jsizemore]

I had a little trouble with sizing after PC. I used a lanolin/isopropyl mix to lube before sizing. Increased my bake time to 30 minutes @ 400degF and the lube ain't necessary. I coat as soon as casting is done and size after the bullets have cooled from baking. Slides through the sizing die like butter. By the numbers My mold casts at .3584. After coating and baking they come out .360-.3605. After sizing they are .357. Very light resistance when sized within 2 hours of the bake finish. The PC is the lube like in the barrel.

[dr_rick]

Have also sized then powder coated then sized again without any loss of coating.

[Taterhead]

With a PB or BB bullet, I always size after coating. If I use a GC I size prior to coating since I find GCs fit truer on the uncoated base rather than after PC adds some girth. Then size again after coating.

[Charlie Horse]

You guys that size before and after: Do you have any die leading problems when sizing uncoated bullets?
I assume you size them unlubed. I'd hate to have to lube-size-clean-coat-size, or is that what you do?