My first go with powder coat

[aquarist]

@Smoke4320

Powder coat came in the mail yesterday and I was able to try out a few batches. It's really simple and affordable, so far I believe I have around $30 invested in it and have gotten great results. I did a bit of reading and youtube watching prior to getting into PCing, I may not have the best method but so far it's worked reasonable well for me once I get the tiny kinks worked out. Figured I would share my experience here.

So I ordered a sample pack of colors, I got a light blue, a dark blue, a light green, and a dark green, I also picked up a pack of plastic air soft bbs. Most of what I read people where using cool whip style containers, since I don't usually eat or buy cool whip I took a trip to the dollar store and found some awesome containers with screw on lids. I think these containers work a bit better than a cool whip container would because there is a built in grip that acts as an agitator and prevents the projectiles from just sliding on the bottom instead of actually tumbling. The powder goes a long way! For my first test batch I put about three or four teaspoons in my container and that was enough to coat several hundred projectiles.

Here is a photo of the coated projectiles inside my dollar store container, notice how the handle portion will act as an agitator when rolling the container.



From what I was able to find out there are two methods of placing the projectiles on your pan for baking, using a tool, like tongs, pliers etc, or just dumping them and baking as is. I tried using the plier method but that just took too long, so I've been using a disposable glove and just picking them up with my hand and placing them on my tray.



Prior to getting the PC in the mail I made a couple trays for my thrift store toaster oven since it didn't come with a tray. I cut out some cardboard to fit the wire rack and covered it in several layers of aluminum foil, then I drew a nice grid on it to help me place the maximum amount of projectiles on one try. Since my toaster oven is small it only holds one tray at a time. I learned a few things so far. First off, if you Pc on aluminum foil your projectiles will stick to it and you will have to peel them off one at a time, and ripping the foil in the process. I tried PCing on the aluminum two separate times, one where I attempted to remove the projectiles right away, and the second where I let them cool completely before removing, both had similar results. Although the cover of the coat was great and had really smooth bases I didn't want to have to peel the foil off after every batch.



So another trip to the dollar store was due, while there I picked up a selection of tin foil pans, and a cookie sheet made out of who knows what type of metal. I decided to try the tin foil pan first because it easily fit in my toaster oven with some minor adjustments. After the projectiles where done baking I knocked them over while hot and the majority of the PC seemed to come off the bases. I decided not to try a second batch on the tin foil pan. The tin foil pan did also have two more draw back, one being its super flimsy so you will need to put something under it when outing the pan in the oven, even then you may tip over your projectiles. The second draw back is there is a raised design in the bottom of the tin foil pans, I suppose it's there to keep your food out of the oil, but didn't work well for my use, I had to place the projectiles around the raised portions preventing me from putting the maximum I can put in at one time. PC is time consuming so I don't want to limit myself to only being able to use half of the pans surface.



The dollar store cookie sheet would not fit in my oven, so I had to cut off several inches with my Dremel and do some bending to get it to fit correctly, I by far am getting the best fit with this pan and am able to do the maximum amount of projectiles I believe. There are roughly 180 projectiles on that pan and I could probably squeeze in around 270 projectiles if I draw a nice grid on there.



The only downside is my first go with this pan the I ended up with similar result to the tin foil pan. I let the projectile fully cool before trying to remove them from the pan, which was a mistake they were stuck on there pretty good. After removing them from the pan I had about 50% with covered bases and 50% with exposed bases where the PC stuck to the pan. This could be due to the cheap dollar store pan, I may go see what my options are at the local WalMart tonight.

You can see how the pan dimpled in this photo.



Here is what the pan looks like after I removed the projectiles. The tin foil pan looked similar.



Here is a sample of the what the bases looked like.



All in all out of the methods I tried I believe I got the best results with the aluminum foil even tho it stuck to the projectiles it is easily peeled off, some was left behind but all the bases were fully coated.

After trying several different methods of cooking the PC I decided it was time to load some up! First thing I did was to do the good 'ol smash test and see if the coating was cured correctly. I took a projectile and smashed it with a hammer. From what I can tell not a single piece of the coating flaked off, granted there are now areas of exposed lead due to it being stretched out but none of the PC came off. I may have been a bit aggressive with my smashing but it was fun.

[aquarist]

I took a sampling of 60 projectiles and sized them using my Lee push through sizer in 357, my mold is 356, and the PC adds some extra so I decided to size them.

Here is how they look prior to sizing.






Here is how they looked after sizing.



You can see that some of the PC is removed but from what I can tell there is no exposed lead, but rather a thin see through coat of the PC on the parts that were sized down.

I was able to adjust the OAL to fit my Glock barrel perfectly with the plunk test. That's one of the benefits of reloading you can make everything as custom as you want.

Here's a reload:



Here's a factory round:



I did load up three "dummy" rounds without primers or powder to see if they would cycle in my G17, so far I haven't had any issues manually cycling them from a magazine. I was a bit worried that the truncated come would not want to feed properly but it works great. I haven't had an issue with it yet in my tests.



I'm hoping to go try the three test loads I worked up this evening at a local range, going to be meeting up with another forum member there to do some shooting. The test loads are:

3.0 grains tight group
3.3 grains tight group
3.5 grains tight group

My projectiles are a bit heavier than what my reloading book has data for so I decided to try some of the in between loads, without going over the maximum recommended load. Having weighed these projectiles after PCing and sizing they are roughly 127.3 grains average using the Lee TL356-124-TC six cavity mold.

I'll try and post some picture of my target with these reloads, and will report back about any leading, or issues I run into at the firing line.

[shoot-n-lead]

Looks good...hope they work well, for you.

One thing, the pc is not removed from my bullets, when they are sized.

[bangerjim]

You got a SERIOUS problem, my friend!!!!!!!!!!

Looks to me that most if not ALL the PC was scraped off the MOST critical areas of your boolits - the drive band tops!!!!!! That will equal leading up the wazoo. PC should NOT scrape off in the sizing dies!!!!!! EVER. Even when sizing down 2-3 thou.

Check your oven temp. Make sure it is ACTUALLY 400F inside. Use a good oven thermometer. Do not trust the dial. Then bake for 10 min after the powder turns shiny.....that is all it takes.

Also, please follow what we have all found out - use NSAF or parchemnt paper to put your boolits on and do not try to reinvent the wheel when we all have spend tons of time developing what does work and documented what DOES NOT work. Forget youtube. Most of those clowns just like to hear themselves talk.

PC will not stick to NSAF - I have the same sheet on a rack that has baked at least 50 batches and is still perfect.

Good luck. I was down your current path over 3 years ago. I now turn out perfect boolits by the thousands using both BBDT and ESPC. And......the PC does not come off at all.

Those rounds you have loaded may lead to some serious leading due to missign PC on the drive bands.

bangerjim

[Eddie17]

Agree with bangerjim, PC does not look good after sizing!
Parchment paper works very well for me.

[takasaki]

1. Try a shallower container with a few more bb's and little less powder
2. Silicone baking sheet, parchment paper, or non-stick foil
3. Oven thermometer to double check your temp 10 min at 400 after bullets shiny
4. Most lee sizing dies(if not all) have a sharp shoulder inside the lip that needs to be polished up so bullets are sized without scraping off lead or pc.

Hope this helps a little, i'm far from an expert, but have learned a lot in the process also. Good luck.

[Hickok]

I am thinking that the color on your driving bands may be from your sizing die, and it is not bare lead of your boolit. Take a paper-towel or rag and rub your bullets and see if the boolits polish up.

I have had some discoloration from my sizing dies, on some sized PC boolits, (maybe due to lead from previous boolits that weren't PCed) but it wipes off and leaves the PC coat, which looks like polished glass.

Also gas checks, whether aluminum or copper, used in a sizing die, will leave a stain on PC boolits.

[bangerjim]

If I size a bunch of bare lead boolits and then run PC'd ones thru, there will be a little lead transfer left on mabe 4 or 5 ones that go thru 1st. After that, the die is cleaned off and there should NOT be any lead transfer to the bands.

There are way too many there to be just lead transfer. It really appears to be scraped off totally. The OP needs to, as we suggested, check oven temp and time. And probably not shoot any loads until he gets the scraping problem solved. Or spend time mining lead out of his barrels.

Hope our comments help.

banger

[hickfu]

everyone of these has been run through sizing dies... none had even the slightest amount of PC scraped off..

[bangerjim]

These are all PC'd and the sized. Notice ZERO PC missing or worn off!

Just a few examples.

bangerjim

[Beagle333]

Use non-stick foil when baking. Be sure to use the dull side. They won't stick.
I can't tell if that's lead from the boolits or lead from inside the die. If you have a really dirty sizing die, it might actually be cleaning the inside of the die as it sizes and that lead is on top of the PC.
Clean the die out really well and perhaps even polish it a bit with some 800 or 1000 grit paper (don't make the die bigger... go very slow and lightly) and reclean the die. It should look like mirror in there.
Try that and see if you don't get better results. I think you are very close, your procedure just needs a tweak or two. Good luck!

[sdcitizen]

Concur with beagle, I had a .401 die that would do that, until polished with 1000, followed by 1200 grit, then it would polish the PC just like the rest of them, pay attention to the tapered entry, mine had a very abrupt transition.

[flysubcompact]

My push though die left lead discoloration on my first PC's. After some use the PC'd ones eventually cleaned the residue out of the die.

[flysubcompact]

These guys are right..the nonstick foil is the way to go. Dull side up.

BTW, that bullet is the same one i PC. Liking it so far.

Those look great. Lot better than anything i made using the shake bake method.

[aquarist]

Thanks for all the advice!

So did a late night trip to Walmart, got some non-stick foil and parchment paper to try out. Going to try again today. Will take a look at the sizing die, if I had to guess its lead residue on top of the PC but I could be mistaken. I'll take a look at my die and polish it up some.

[bangerjim]

I have at last 10 sizes of Lee sizing dies and I have never had to "polish up" a one of them. They are smooth enough to do an excellent job right out of the little red box.

I still wil contend your bake time and temp are lacking. Not being able to actually touch & see what you say is lead smear on top of the bands, I can only go by the pictures and I have never seen that many lead smear boolits from a single die.

Check it out.

banger

[jcren]

Out of 4 calipers I pc, my .358 die would scrape until polished with a split dowel and 1000 grit flap.

[shoot-n-lead]

bangerjim...please show us a picture that has one of each of the calibers that you use the sizer's for. It will be interesting as we mostly just see the common handgun bullets that are coated like 9, 357, 44, 45. Be kind of neat to see 10 different caliber bullets in one picture.

[noisewaterphd]

I like parchment paper better than foil.


What size are your bullets before running them through a sizing die? What are you sizing them to?

[flysubcompact]

Forgot to mention that I like the foil because I use a HF gun to PC my bullets. Better conductivity, though judging by the inch and a half sparks I've seen the HF rig throw, parchment paper might still work.