Powder Coating Boolits

[popper]

I want to neck down some 9mm cases for mounting 30 cal so I can PC without getting GC area coated. The GCs didn't work well but a 308 case covers the entire shank and is good for the nose also. Thinking of cutting of the shoulder off a 308 case, fill with lead as a pusher. Set a 9mm on top and push into a Hornady 308 case sizer die. Lots of case lube for sure, anybody have any idea if it would work? I have a Lee press which should be strong enough. Never reformed cases before, I'd anneal the 9mm. If it works, it should do for doing PB also. 308 cases will work but I don't like to waste them.

[HDS]

This is a good page for powder coat info. Nylon based coatings sound interesting:
http://www.specialchem4coatings.com/....aspx?id=resin

I believe I will have to try polyester-epoxy, nylon and polyester-tgic to see which one works best. Probably won't be able to start a PC operation until may though.

[popper]

Nylon is thermoPLASTIC - do you want to try to remove that from your barrel?

[HDS]

Whoops, good catch, missed that.

[xyankeeworkshop]

Isn't the polyester in the typical HF/PBTP powdercoat a thermoplastic as well?

[HDS]

According to the site I linked its in the thermosetting category, if you use polyester TGIC or polyester-epoxy hybdrid. Polyester on its own is in the thermoplastic column.

[ItZaLLgooD]

I received my Harbor Freight order today. I was able to coat up about 150 boolits. This stuff really sticks the boolits to the aluminum foil, making a big mess. On the last batch I cooked, I put down 10-32 nuts and then set the boolits on them. That worked out perfect. There wasn't anything left on the edge to deal with and they came off with a little twist leaving the aluminum foil intact. The top of the nuts were still shiny, so I assume that I could just set more on and go again.

I loaded up 100 and will try to get out tomorrow and see how well it works.

[bayjoe]

Was it hard getting an even coat across your bullets?

[ItZaLLgooD]

Not too bad. A little trial and error with air pressure and angles and I got a little better as I went. I wasn't super critical about coverage. There are a few light spots. I'm curious how particular I need to be with the coverage.

[cylinderman]

Giving a little epdate with the 30 Herrett. I worked upto 21.5 gr 2400 behind this 135 gr bullet, actually I believe it is the Lyman #311410. I started to get sticky cases at 21.5 gr but this load Chrono at 2208,fps. Bore as clean as ever, matter of fact its been close to 200 rds since anything but a bullet has been down the bore. Accuracy did fall off past 20.5 gr 2400 but accuracy was nice all the way from 17.0 gr to 20.5 gr. This is plain base powder coated bullet no gas check. Moving to slower powder in 30 Herrett and test in 30-30 next

[ItZaLLgooD]

Update for me as well. I was able to shoot a little today. I put about 40 PC'd rounds through my 1911 before the extractor broke. I normally would have some leading by this point. No leading with the PC'd boolits. Accuracy was hard to judge, cuz it was COLD. Seemed right on par with my regular loads. I also couldn't judge the smoking issue, cuz it was WINDY. I'm not real sad that the gun quit working but I did want to shoot at least 100 rnds before calling it a success.

I also read some posts that mentioned a funny smell. I didn't notice, cuz it was WINDY.

I am going to go ahead and make up a couple hundred for both the 45 and the 40. I am really interestd in the 40. I have 2 of them and one is a Glock. I have had decent results with 45/45/10 but the 40 smokes like a chimney. So we'll see how the Glock barrel and smoke issues pan out when it gets a little warmer.

[cylinderman]

My next bullet will be for 9mm and the main subject will be my Kahr K9 as it is picky on cast because of the polygonal rifling. One of my 30-30 tests will be with a marlin microgroove barrel which has posed some issues with leading. This one will tell me if PC bullet will be able to replace GC lubed. I have put enough through my 30 Herrett to determine accuracy is on par with all other bullets that worked well. I have yet to work with the OAL to determine if some improvements can be made. I can also report I have no noticeable smoke.

[MJohnston]

I thought about doing this the last time I saw this subject pop up and even bought the craftsman powder gun then. I finally got around to doing it this weekend using some pink from my pro-tech jig stuff to make some ammo for the wife's lead unfriendly sr9c. The coat ended up very brittle with some chipping during sizing and it didn't pass the hammer test. don't know if it matters but the color wasn't nice and shiny like when I dip jig heads either. For those who do a lot of powder coating is this from me doing 2 thin layers, bad surface prep (possibly has some lube residue on them), or my cheap oven being too hot or cold?

[Ken73]

For those who do a lot of powder coating is this from me doing 2 thin layers, bad surface prep (possibly has some lube residue on them), or my cheap oven being too hot or cold?

I'd say lube residue; it can get in the powder and mess it up. When you say "2 thin layers" do you mean coat, bake, coat, bake, or coat, coat, bake? I would suggest a heavier layer either way, but bake only once so it's one uniform coating, not two separate coats. If your "cheap oven" gets up to 400 degrees, you should be fine. Bake for at least 10, preferably 20 minutes. If it doesn't get up to 400 degrees, bake it longer.

[felix]

No different than oven heat treatment for alloy hardness. ... felix

[ROKINGR]

I have an idea and am wanting you folks that have been pc,ing boolits to let me know if you think it will work.

From the linc provided you get some of the perforated sheets, put 1" long bolts in the corners for legs, cover the perforated sheets with foil, stand your boolits nose down in the holes, place them on cookie sheet, powder coat just the bases, place the cookie sheet, boolit holder and boolits as a unit in the oven and bake. After they are baked and cooled flip or turn the boolits to get them nose up and pc the tops and bake so the entire boolits is pc'd. I know the perforated sheets pictured have 1/4" holes but they were just for reference and will not fit all boolits, but there ar other hole sizes and perferated sheet sizes available.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Perforated-3...item1e718f1bf0

[lavenatti]

It would be really difficult to just powder coat the bottoms.

It would remelt anyway when you did the tops and stick the boolits to whatever they were standing on when you put them in for the second baking.

[ryokox3]

I did some pc shooting this weekend. Only 8 rounds of 30-06 through my garand, but about 40 rounds of 303b through my enfield. No noticable leading on either gun. It was messy out so I did not mine the berm for some to see what the pc looked like after firing. All of the boolits are a lee precision ctl312-160-2r. No gas checks, open bases. Going to work on something to hold them nose down to make coated bases and an uncoated nose next time. Overall a positive experience.

[popper]

If the powder is thermosetting it doesn't remelt. It sounds like it would work, does it matter if the nose is covered, other than looks?

[xyankeeworkshop]

I took a previous suggestion and JB Welded a bunch of 9x19 cases to the top of a piece of perforated aluminum, wired them with copper wire to hook up to the gun, and did a few hundred Lee 125 grain TL boolits. I have not had a chance to shoot them yet, but I imagine they'll do as well as the fully-coated (well, mostly fully-coated) ones I did earlier.

These two-tone versions look a lot neater and were generally easier to manage than the wire grid cradle I had previously used. The fact the boolits are setting nose down inside a case keeps everything from falling over when bumped. The "bump" at the start of the Lee tumble lube bands keeps a fillet from forming where it contacts the case mouth. The downside was getting the coated boolits snapped off the jig without snapping the case off as well (which I did to several). Eventually, a pair of taped-up pliers helped in that task. I think I'll look into lubing the case mouths with Alox next time to see if that helps.

Even though I wired a circuit around the jig to ground it, I'm really not convinced it matters. If you preheat the loaded jig to 400 degrees and coat it fast, the powder will stick. I'm also becoming less and less interested in powder recovery. The next jig will be on plain metal sheet so the JB Welded cases will stick better. More tests for another coating session, I guess.