Bullet coating

[jmorris]

I have been looking into setting up a bullet plating operation but ran across a thread on coating here that was 28 pages long but had missed until this morning and thought I would give it a try as it is pretty simple and fast.

My coating chamber was built by making a few cuts in a used beer box. HF powder coater and a bottle of powder was $64 and $20 for a toaster oven off of Craigslist.

Put some 8-32 nuts on the pan kind of spread out and laid foil over them. This raises the base so it's not sitting in the liquid that forms from the powder.

Heat the bullets so they are warm then connect the PC lead to the pan and spray the powder on.

Heat at 400 for 15 min and open the door and let them cool slowly.

Then load up and shoot. At least that's what I did this afternoon. They grew about .001" but I didn't waist any time resizing the one I shot to see how the coating held up, didn't want to be looking for a bullet at the bottom of my pool after dark.


http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_162438_485_zpsaa285e1a.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_162447_601_zps51d2613c.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_163035_459_zps87b43c68.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_165454_032_zps95a7fc78.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_165623_612_zps7c0e753b.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_172100_554_zps9d6f3c8f.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/Coating/IMG_20130310_175432_179_zps4c841f65.jpg

[LUBEDUDE]

Looks like the process bears fruit. However, what is the benefit over all of the excess labor involved? Like compared to moly coat? Tumbling or baking?

[dbosman]

Thank you very! much for summarizing those 28 pages.
Any idea yet, how many bullets you can coat per container of powder?

[jmorris]

The original thread was long but a good read if you are going to try.

I did try the lyman moly coat process years ago and it didn't work on cast bullets.

These are baked and would need jigs/fixtures to make viable for volume.

If you have any information on a tumble or other baking process I would be very interested in knowing more about them. Been looking for a better "mouse trap" for 9 years or so. In the process of putting a barrel plating machine when I came across this idea and it was too easy not to try.

[jmorris]

No idea how many you could do on the $5 container of powder but it would be in the thousands.

[popper]

I've done ~ 800 40SW and 100 30 cal, both in the 170 gr range with ~ 1/3 jar of powder. That includes waste and learning process so it should get better. I'd make a SWAG @ > 3K / $5 jar. $0.0016 each? Don't know how that compares to LLA, but I just clean powder residue out of the bbl now. And almost no smoke. $80 for the equipment & powder / 5K boolits = $.016 each. There is a report that HF powder fails at > 2500 fps. Accuracy was the same for PB & GC 30-30 with 14-15 gr of 2400.

[jmorris]

Just to be well rounded on the subject, I finished gathering up the stuff to copper plate some bullets today and called Donnie at Bayou bullets and ordered his coating too, should be here in a few weeks.

[olaf455]

Please let us know how the hi tek coatings works. Especially for rifle of higher velocity.

[jmorris]

Well trying to hurry a project during nap time was a bust today but here is what I know so far.

The Zep root kill is copper sulfate and mix 1.5 cups of it with distilled water so it can dissolve while you set up the rest.

Strip some romex and place one strip in the bottom of a pan. I used the already stripped ground wire to make a loop around the top of the tub. Hang your bullets and pour in the solution.

Now the problem with rushing things. Check to make sure your container will hold water or you will plate the clean parts of your bench with copper.

The positive voltage from the power supply needs to connect with the wire in the bottom of the tub. If you reverse the voltage the bullets try to disintegrate and foam like the photo. The tiny wires I used also sacrificed them selves and the bullets dropped.

Connect some more wires and get head out of butt and connect wires correctly and 10 min later you have a copper plated bullet that looks like it has been sand blasted, likely because of the etching that took place because of the initial reverse voltage.

[bear67]

Let me know about the coating from Donny at Bayou Bullets. I like his coating--loaded some for a friend in .357 Mag and they really look and perform well. I need to understand the process his coating needs. Guess I just need to bite the bullet and order a start of his material.

[Norbrat]

Let me know about the coating from Donny at Bayou Bullets. I like his coating--loaded some for a friend in .357 Mag and they really look and perform well. I need to understand the process his coating needs. Guess I just need to bite the bullet and order a start of his material.

From the Lube forum:

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VevKJgHseWc

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU7PbbtbAtE