Anyone tried to plate their boolits?

[MightyThor]

Years ago I was shooting with a gun club in Portland Or. and the bullets that they supplied for us for the indoor range were copper plated lead in 9 mm and 45 cal. Always wondered how they did that. I also remember that in Highschool science class we did a little electroplating of our own as part of a chemistry experiment. Anyone here ever try to coat your lead slugs with some sort of coating.

[2wheelDuke]

From what I understand, it'd be a fairly complex process involving some very nasty chemicals. I haven't heard of anyone doing it at home yet.

[redneck rampage]

I have plated some rounds at home. Cheap to do but yes there are some chemicals that are used to kill roots involved.

I am still in the testing state.

But so far got good coat all the way around. There are a few guys on different sites playing with the idea. I see it as more of a fun thing to try.

[John Traveler]

I formerly visited plating shops all over the Los Angeles area as a calibration service technician. Learned a lot about plating techniques and industry standards. Since then I've done hobbyist level eletroplating, and find that it is a messy, cumbersome, PITA activity.

First, you are dealing with poisonous chemicals, including copper salts, and acids. Toxic fumes are released, and disposing of depleted chemicals can be a major problem. Many (most) of the electroplating shops in the Los Angeles area have disappeared since the early 1980's due to US EPA and California EPA restrictions, enforcement, and violation penalties.

You will need a large battery charger or DC power supply with variable output, ammeters, voltmeters, cabling. You will need a supply of copper sheeting, non-metallic plating tanks, non-metallic roller cages, and a means of continuously rolling the immersed cages and bullets in the plating solution. You will need plating solutions, of course. Most of these materials can be purchased at commercial plating supply houses on the internet.

The actual plating itself is relatively simple: acid pickled bullets are rinsed, and immediately subjected to non-stop slow tumbling in the solution for xxx minutes (determed by current density and plating thickness desired).

[midnight]

Caswell Inc. has what they call a "Flash Copper Plating Kit" in 4 sizes from $169 to $849. Found a long write up with good pictures on their site. Google it, it goes into much detail.

Bob

[MightyThor]

See that is why I love this site. An answer for every question. I am more intrigued now than ever. For anyone else following this thread here is the site for the Plating that was mentioned above.

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/flashcopper.html

[Wally]

Pickle bullets in hot vinegar..handle with vinyl gloves and place on an aluminum flyscreen in a non metallic flat bottom container. All a solution of Copper Sulphate (root killer) to water and use an small low vaoltage electric transformer..one lead negative lead connected to the flyscreen the positive to a chunk of clean copper immersed in the solution but not touching the bullets or the flyscreen,..plug in and you will plate the bullets w/ copper. The longer you do the thicker the coating... The copper solution should be poured into a container & marked accordingly--it can be reused again and again.

[Silicon Wolverine]

when you figure in the costs and difficulties associated with it, is it worth what it costs?

SW

[Wally]

IMHO it is very simple & easy to do...

[jixxerbill]

wow, a wide variety of answers for a single question... i copper plate lead bullets, and its very simple. for +- $40.00 u can too..disposing of the spent chemicals is easy flush them down the toilet , its where they were ment for in the first place !!!

[Jim]

Questions:
How long does it take to get a minimum plate achieved?

Does plating eliminate the need for lubing?

What is a proper ratio of copper sulfate/water?

Why does the screen need to be aluminum?

Does the process generate flammable or toxic fumes?

What is the minimum voltage required?

[DukeInFlorida]

Here's the deal.......

I spent a LOT of time (wasted time, I might add) trying to come up with a system for successfully plating bullets.

My full report was here:
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/86026-Copper-Plating-Lead-Bullets

I started with an effort to understand the plating process. Since I was specifically interested in COPPER plating, I focused on that.

You can buy copper plating supplies really cheap! The best source for the copper plating solution chemical (Copper Sulfate) is to go to Home Cheapo or Lower than Lowes and look for ZEP brand Tree Trunk Removal chemical. They call it, "Root Kill" It's virtually 100% Copper Sulfate:
http://www.colonial-lures.com/plating/setup.jpg

You mix that in with water, and some acid acid or base to help with the low of electrical current. Vinegar will work.

Hook up a couple of battery cells, and make sure you have the electricity flowing in the right direction, and you can electroplate anything with copper.

The problem is: You can't build up enough of a copper plate with the process to do any good at all. The Berry's and Rainier type plated bullets are done with dangerous industrial chemicals. You WILL NOT be able to duplicate that at home.

My advice, having wasted weeks working on this: FORGETABOUTIT!

[Daywalker]

It is very easy to do, not a waste of time at all. Get a very good base of copper plating. Actually, does not need to be that thick at all. If more people do this, then they will see how easy it is and put all the horror stories away.

I am almost finished with my setup. I have 2 other friends that do this with great success and only leave the bullets in the solution a few minutes. Tested with no leading, no lube either.

[Jim]

Daywalker,
Do you have SPECIFIC directions with quantitative values? You know, like load data? All I've seen so far is "some of this and mix it with a little of that".

[jonblack]

I spent a LOT of time (wasted time, I might add) trying to come up with a system for successfully plating bullets.

I dunno, looking at the photo with two D cell batteries, doesn't look like you had enough current to produce satisfactory results. Did you try your experiment with a larger capacity battery?

Wait! I'll read your link and see if I can answer my own question.

jonblack

[Daywalker]

Here is what I have seen and what I will be using for mine.

1 1/2 cups of ZEP Root Killer to 1 gallon of distilled water. Mix till the crystals are disolved which could take a while. 20 drops of Bleach into the solution.
A 3amp power source. Add a 1.5 amp car dome light inline to further reduce the amps

A plastic container.
Your copper source, in my case I am using the copper ground wire from left over electrical wiring that I have.

The plastic container, at the top, drill 2 holes on each side. Run copper wire through one hole over top the mixture out the other hole, bend and run it back through again. Make a big circle. The other wire, you bend it over the top and lay it in the bottom of the container inside the solution.

Make sure you scrub and clean your cast boolits to get oils and stuff off. You can use a wire brush to clean it then wash the boolit off in acetone bath and rinse with clean distil water then hang from the top copper wire till the bullet is submerged in the solution...

Turn your power supply on and let run around 10 minutes or so...

Now, hook a coffee maker inline to heat your solution. Have a hose running from the solution into the coffee maker back out into the solution. They plate better when the solution is moving and keeping warm..

Sorry for the crappy discription, I try to explain best I can. There is a 3 part video of this, however, it is exclusive to another forum in which I am at. You have to be a registered member to see the section where the members place their videos. I do not want to disrespect 45nut by dropping another forums url.

I will talk to the member that made the vid and see if he wants to share it here. I have not finished my setup to do my own video on it to be able to share myself..

The member that does this, he has shot them with no leading in his 45. He only plates his for about 10 minutes or so, and once it is done plating, he puts a little swage lube on the boolit so that he can run it through his lubrisizer with no lube in place. It sizes the boolits great without taking any of the copper plating off...

The member gave permission to have all 3 parts of his vid put up here. He also reminded me that he forgot to add to put 20 drops of bleach into the solution for the smoothness of the copper plating...

This should answer everyone's question about copper plating. He did one heck of a job with all positive results...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KM_hr5eCNo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amv9ZfRLo-U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-OZit3muEU&feature=related

He made this video specifically for a particular forum, so I appoligize for the forum plug in the video...

[oldtoolsniper]

That is redneck engineering at it's finest!

[Jim]

.....Make sure you scrub and clean your cast boolits to get oils and stuff off. You can use a wire brush to clean it then wash the boolit off in acetone bath and rinse with clean distil water then hang from the top copper wire till the bullet is submerged in the solution...

Ya' need to understand, right up front, I'm an old man and sometimes I don't get it. And then, when I do "get it", sometimes I just stand there and give you that "deer in the headlights" look.:shock:

I have to tell ya', I'm really havin' trouble visualizin' this. Scrub boolits with a wire brush? :roll:

I appreciate all the help you have offered, but I think I'll stick with my JPW and lithium/graphite.

[Daywalker]

It's cool Jim. The wire brush is just one way of cleaning them. You just need to rough up the boolit a little bit then clean in acetone...

It definatly isn't going to be for everyone. Just another example of how the hobby can go in ones garage. It isn't quicker then casting, sizing and lubing that is for sure. For me, it is ju the wow factor and great conversational peice.

What I am mainly waiting on is report in Glock. I have always refused to and still do, purchase a Glock and then turn around and purchase a barrel for it just to shoot cast. Kinda like buying a vehicle, and then if you want to drive it on gravel road, you have to buy a special set of tires.

We will see LOL