blueeyephil
09-10-2013, 01:41 AM
Decided to try PC Piglet method. I read lots of posts before giving it a go. I shoot Bayou bullets in my 40 S&W and have for over a year now. I'm happy with them other than I often get comments about the odor. So I've had good luck with the Hi-Tek process but I've never applied it. I have several other calibers that I don't shoot that much and wanted to see if I could get similar results using Powder Coat, Piglet style. In particular, I've had major problems with leading in my 357 mag. I wanted to see if I could get past that with PC bullets like I've been reading.
So, I bought two colors of powder from Powder by the Pound, a silver and a Hot Candy Blue. I bought a can of Rustolem Lacquer thinner. First thing I had to do is de-lube some bullets as it is too hot for me to want to do any casting right now. So I took some 357 Lee 158 gr bullets that I had sized and lubed with 45/45/10 and dropped them in some Mineral Spirits and let them soak the lube off. I had about 120 bullets. Drained them, rolled them around in an old rag and let them dry.
Ok, 1st coat I used the silver. I started out with some parchment paper and baked at 400 for 15 minutes. When I did the second coat, the 1st coat came off. This time I used the non stick aluminum foil. That works pretty well. I don't think my oven was really hot enough so I bought a oven thermometer and baked at least 20 minutes after that. At first I missed the fact that the product (bullet) has to be at 400 for 10 min, so I'd say my oven wasn't hot enough and I didn't leave them in quite long enough the first time.
81444
After I got a good coat of silver on, I then did a top coat of the Hot Candy Blue
8142781428
Swirl and tumble, let dry, bake. I sized them as soon as they were cool but they had been sized when lubed when I first cast them, so there really wasn't any sizing going on. They sized very easy. I let them sit for about a week before I loaded them.
81429
Ok, now for the results. How do they shoot? Well this is also a new load for me, I've never tried it at all before. I wanted a good medium 357 load. I had bought some AA#7 at a gun show but never used it. I usually use a light Bullseye load but wanted something a little hotter. So, 10.5gr AA#7 with Win WSP primers in nickle cases. The bullets are supposed to be 158gr but were cast from WW and avg 162gr. I know how to work up a load and usually to 10 bullets at a given powder charge and then go to the range with at least 5 different charges to try. But this time I just took the one. This is 15 yds standing, but shooting single action. The gun is a 6" Colt Trooper MK III. I had my chrono out and fired the 1st 6 rounds over it. They averaged 1115 fps. This is low based on my Lee manual. Don't know why but it was getting very late in the day. As a matter of fact I tried to shoot my rifle over the chrono right after I changed targets and it wouldn't register. I was really wanting to see what the difference would be in the rifle vs revolver.
81431
I'd say not a bad load at all. Got lucky on that one I guess. I'll take that, cause I'm not that great of a shot. Got mature eyes and all. I had sweat running everywhere, and a horse fly trying to get me too. Ok, I was complaining about this bullet/gun leading pretty bad. And I will tell you that I hadn't cleaned all of the lead out but worked on it for over a half an hour before I took the gun out. So it was leaded some when I fired those loads. All in all, I only shot 12 rounds through the gun. I cleaned it when I got home. Used some Hoppes #9 and there was a tiny bit of lead. Nothing close to what I started out with. Ran a brush with some chore boy down it and it cleaned on out. Didn't spend more than 10 minutes this time. I don't think this gun has been this clean in years! Probably can't tell how clean it is by this picture.
81433
Now how about some recovered bullets? Well, I have a sand backstop on the side of a hill, but I forgot to take a shovel and screen. I looked and couldn't find my bullets! So, I fired some more at about 3ft from the berm. I found two of them. I weighed them and they weight right at 162 gr. So, they didn't loose any weight at all. Looks to me like most of the coating came off the side of the bullet and of course the front. But not the base at all. But my 1st coat was silver and it's almost the color of clean lead.So maybe just the blue top coat came off. I will say that I've recovered a number of bullets from the sand and if shot from 7 yds or more away, they usually aren't deformed at all. Mostly they have been 9mm and 40S&W. So, this was also a good show of how the lead deforms at close range.
8143581436
Ok, I had very good results from my attempt. I learned a few things along the way. Clean your bucket as soon as you've poured the bullets out to dry. I just put a little more thinner in the bucket and used a heavy duty paper towel. The Silver isn't the way to go. It didn't dissolve very well at all and I always had a clump left. Also you have to look to make sure that it's on there unless you get it on too thick. When you pour your bullets out to dry, let them dry and don't get in too big a hurry to get to the oven. Make sure they are dry to the touch. Make sure your oven is hot enough and bake at least 20 minutes. I probably wouldn't get the Hot Candy Blue again. It's somewhat translucent. And then the last thing is, I bought a total of 4 oz of PC from Powder by the Pound. Shipping was almost $12 by itself. I wish I would have bought a pound of one of the durable solid color powders instead of what I bought. I didn't try the Harbor Freight for a couple of reasons. First there isn't one close by and second, some people were saying that the Powder by the Pound worked better.
If you've been thinking about giving powder coating a try. Go for it. You don't have to have an electrostatic gun to get good results. Spend some time reading the posts. Do some small batches. You can do 50 bullets in a cool whip bowl with a tablespoon or so of thinner and a small amount of PC. I used a 1.6cc Lee dipper and would use 1 or 2 dippers at most. You have to pay attention to when to pour the bullets out. You want the thinner all gone but don't wait too long or they will get clumpy. With the blue if there was any thinner left, the PC would just be washing and running off the bullets, then as it evaporates, they will get covered completely.
Good luck and have fun.
So, I bought two colors of powder from Powder by the Pound, a silver and a Hot Candy Blue. I bought a can of Rustolem Lacquer thinner. First thing I had to do is de-lube some bullets as it is too hot for me to want to do any casting right now. So I took some 357 Lee 158 gr bullets that I had sized and lubed with 45/45/10 and dropped them in some Mineral Spirits and let them soak the lube off. I had about 120 bullets. Drained them, rolled them around in an old rag and let them dry.
Ok, 1st coat I used the silver. I started out with some parchment paper and baked at 400 for 15 minutes. When I did the second coat, the 1st coat came off. This time I used the non stick aluminum foil. That works pretty well. I don't think my oven was really hot enough so I bought a oven thermometer and baked at least 20 minutes after that. At first I missed the fact that the product (bullet) has to be at 400 for 10 min, so I'd say my oven wasn't hot enough and I didn't leave them in quite long enough the first time.
81444
After I got a good coat of silver on, I then did a top coat of the Hot Candy Blue
8142781428
Swirl and tumble, let dry, bake. I sized them as soon as they were cool but they had been sized when lubed when I first cast them, so there really wasn't any sizing going on. They sized very easy. I let them sit for about a week before I loaded them.
81429
Ok, now for the results. How do they shoot? Well this is also a new load for me, I've never tried it at all before. I wanted a good medium 357 load. I had bought some AA#7 at a gun show but never used it. I usually use a light Bullseye load but wanted something a little hotter. So, 10.5gr AA#7 with Win WSP primers in nickle cases. The bullets are supposed to be 158gr but were cast from WW and avg 162gr. I know how to work up a load and usually to 10 bullets at a given powder charge and then go to the range with at least 5 different charges to try. But this time I just took the one. This is 15 yds standing, but shooting single action. The gun is a 6" Colt Trooper MK III. I had my chrono out and fired the 1st 6 rounds over it. They averaged 1115 fps. This is low based on my Lee manual. Don't know why but it was getting very late in the day. As a matter of fact I tried to shoot my rifle over the chrono right after I changed targets and it wouldn't register. I was really wanting to see what the difference would be in the rifle vs revolver.
81431
I'd say not a bad load at all. Got lucky on that one I guess. I'll take that, cause I'm not that great of a shot. Got mature eyes and all. I had sweat running everywhere, and a horse fly trying to get me too. Ok, I was complaining about this bullet/gun leading pretty bad. And I will tell you that I hadn't cleaned all of the lead out but worked on it for over a half an hour before I took the gun out. So it was leaded some when I fired those loads. All in all, I only shot 12 rounds through the gun. I cleaned it when I got home. Used some Hoppes #9 and there was a tiny bit of lead. Nothing close to what I started out with. Ran a brush with some chore boy down it and it cleaned on out. Didn't spend more than 10 minutes this time. I don't think this gun has been this clean in years! Probably can't tell how clean it is by this picture.
81433
Now how about some recovered bullets? Well, I have a sand backstop on the side of a hill, but I forgot to take a shovel and screen. I looked and couldn't find my bullets! So, I fired some more at about 3ft from the berm. I found two of them. I weighed them and they weight right at 162 gr. So, they didn't loose any weight at all. Looks to me like most of the coating came off the side of the bullet and of course the front. But not the base at all. But my 1st coat was silver and it's almost the color of clean lead.So maybe just the blue top coat came off. I will say that I've recovered a number of bullets from the sand and if shot from 7 yds or more away, they usually aren't deformed at all. Mostly they have been 9mm and 40S&W. So, this was also a good show of how the lead deforms at close range.
8143581436
Ok, I had very good results from my attempt. I learned a few things along the way. Clean your bucket as soon as you've poured the bullets out to dry. I just put a little more thinner in the bucket and used a heavy duty paper towel. The Silver isn't the way to go. It didn't dissolve very well at all and I always had a clump left. Also you have to look to make sure that it's on there unless you get it on too thick. When you pour your bullets out to dry, let them dry and don't get in too big a hurry to get to the oven. Make sure they are dry to the touch. Make sure your oven is hot enough and bake at least 20 minutes. I probably wouldn't get the Hot Candy Blue again. It's somewhat translucent. And then the last thing is, I bought a total of 4 oz of PC from Powder by the Pound. Shipping was almost $12 by itself. I wish I would have bought a pound of one of the durable solid color powders instead of what I bought. I didn't try the Harbor Freight for a couple of reasons. First there isn't one close by and second, some people were saying that the Powder by the Pound worked better.
If you've been thinking about giving powder coating a try. Go for it. You don't have to have an electrostatic gun to get good results. Spend some time reading the posts. Do some small batches. You can do 50 bullets in a cool whip bowl with a tablespoon or so of thinner and a small amount of PC. I used a 1.6cc Lee dipper and would use 1 or 2 dippers at most. You have to pay attention to when to pour the bullets out. You want the thinner all gone but don't wait too long or they will get clumpy. With the blue if there was any thinner left, the PC would just be washing and running off the bullets, then as it evaporates, they will get covered completely.
Good luck and have fun.