Removing Alox before PC?

[Poodleshooter]

I just started powder coating today. I have a decent stash of boolits that had been lightly alox coated and sized with a Lee push through sizer after casting, but were not re-lubed afterwards. So they have a very light coating of alox. I stripped almost all of the alox with a long soak in mineral spirits, and then gave them a quick wiping with paper towels to remove what was left of it. This seems to have mostly cleaned them off. This appears to have worked. Although the coating required two coats, and wasn't quite as smooth as I hoped, it is hard and doesn't flake even when hammered flat.
Does anyone here coat over alox? Do I need to remove it completely before powder coating, or am I wasting my time?
Any other suggestions for cleaning off the rest of my lightly alox lubed bullets before powder coating?

[JASON4X4]

Pc will not stick if the surface is not clean. I clean mine with acetone so it doesn't leave any residue. I use the harbor freight pc gun one coat one bake. They come out perfect everytime.

[Beagle333]

I remove all alox completely. A quick swirl in a little gasoline in a coffee or bean can will get it all off, and a quicker swirl in a little thinner or acetone will get all of the gas smell and any residual oils off of them, and as soon as they are all dry (just a few minutes if spread out well), you're good to go!


edit: Poodleshooter, do this outside and don't put your head down in the coffee can. :roll:[smilie=1:

[Handloader109]

I poorly cleaned some alox bullets a while back before PC. Fail. PC won't stick well enough. Mineral spirits, wipe off and let dry well. Please don't use gasoline to clean anything, valorizes too much and you are using heat to both PC and cast. Acetone is as bad or worse as you are breathing a carcinogen and it is highly flammable. No, I'm not a green nut, but be safe......

[2wheelDuke]

I'd just load them and shoot them up, but that's just me.

[jmort]

^ Me too

[Bzcraig]

I as well would just shoot them, but I am probably lazier than most.

[WMB30]

One minute in boiling water and they are clean

Bill

[Poodleshooter]

Well, they did accept a coating, it stayed nice and glossy, and I'm not getting any flaking or peeling, but coverage wasn't spectacular using a basic cool whip bowl shake and bake. I think the alox impeded adhesion of the dry powder. That answers that question!

[18Bravo]

Seems like a lot of work to take a boolit that will shoot and.......well, make it a boolit that will shoot. I'd melt and recast or just put them down range as others have suggested.

[Poodleshooter]

I grew tired of the great clouds of alox smoke, and cleaning and coating was easier than new casting.

[Schrag4]

One minute in boiling water and they are clean

Bill

This was not my experience. I had read that boiling water would remove LLA so I gave it a try. After 10 min I dumped the water out and they still had lube. So I wiped out the lube from the pan using a paper towel, filled it back up with water and boolits, and heated it to a boil again. I did this maybe 5 times before I figured they were "good enough" That batch of boolits ultimately didn't coat very well, but probably well enough. I posted a pic of of my coated boolits in the Shenanigans thread. You can tell which ones I removed the lube from just by looking.

[Deadpool]

Personally, I found the most effective way for me was to put all my cast lead into a bucket and add thinner (half a cup to 40 lbs of boolits or so) and tumble them, then pour off the fluid.. do this once more, pouring off as much fluid as you can. I throw in a couple of paper towels, and tumble them a little more in the bucket. Remove the paper.. Then I transfer the boolits to a thick towel (it'll wash clean later), pour another half cup of thinner on top of them.. Spread them out like you're going to roll a cigarette, roll them up, grab the ends and swish the boolits back and forth. This does a great job removing all oils, lubes, waxes and greases. A little time intensive but worth it for big batches.

[nagantguy]

i coated some alox boolits just to see what would happen, coverage wasnt great but after a trip to the oven it stayed put, they looked speckled and shot fine, if you just wanna use as paper killers they will be fine.

[Bigtravoz]

Brake clean gets it off instantly.

[reedap1]

There is another thread on this subject:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?405531-Removing-lube-before-powder-coating

[GregLaROCHE]

Boolits need to be perfectly clean before PCing. I think mineral sprits or paint thinner could still leave a residue. I would go with acetone or break cleaner (more or less the same thing as acetone I believe).

[Lloyd Smale]

it would get expensive cleaning bullets with break clean. Why not just toss them in the pot and recast them? That way your sure.

[GregLaROCHE]

it would get expensive cleaning bullets with break clean. Why not just toss them in the pot and recast them? That way your sure.

That’s a good point.

[iMigraine]

I used isopropyl alcohol 99% only when I sized my boolits with a Lee sizing die. Furthermore, I would make gradual reductions if needed so for example, if I had a cast boolit measuring .312 and needed .309. I would use a sizing die .311 or .310 first then a .309 sizing die. Bonus, you don't have to clean the boolits after. The alcohol evaporated after.

However, using this technique with my NOE sizing die set made them rust! Oops.

[Soundguy]

acetone or laq thinner should clean the alox off and then leave no residue

[jaysouth]

I found a thousand commercial cast .45 230 RNs lubed with hard blue. I boiled them a couple of minutes by batch, then added all of them to a rotary wet tumbler with some cold water and dawn. I cycled them twice 30 minutes each. I then put them in a collander and flushed with a hose for a couple of minutes. They shine like new silver and are easy to PC>

[Huskerguy]

I am in the load em and shoot em club as well.

I come from a background in automotive refinishing. In that world, any chemical, a wax, polish, cleaner, human oil, etc could be a disaster. You are dealing with a highly porous surface in a bullet. The Alox or lube will grab onto those pores and be difficult to remove. Likewise, chemicals to remove those lubes, unless completely removed themselves reside in the lead. Before we painted a car, the last thing we did was chemically clean a car by soaking an area and floating the debris up to the top and removing it with a clean rag. Thus all old and new chemicals were removed and nothing left behind. Granted, a bullet is not quite as delicate and the porous material of lead actually helps in adhesion versus a very slick surface.

Just remember, a chemical is a chemical and it all has to go somewhere and some are more toxic than others. If you put one on a surface, not all of it evaporates, it has a residue. Think about it, you put X chemical (select from above listed) on to remove another chemical Alox. Where does that Alox go? Where does the removing chemical go? Some evaporates into your lungs and the air and some stays on the surface unless it is completely cleaned off.

Just my two cents of teaching this for over 15 years and doing it for over 25 many years ago. The concept stays the same in whatever you are going though. I am not a chemical engineer.