First time powder ..

[Digger]

Since being a lube guy all these years , ..tried powder coating for the first time.
Using Smoke's powder , I am impressed with the out come.
44 mag, 256 gr, sized 429.
Colors are , Carolina blue , Flame red and John Deer green.

297035

[fastdadio]

Yup, read all about it here. Good advice is given if you read up on it. Mine came out perfect first try, and I've never looked back. I've run my 170gr. 30-06 up into the 2300fps range with no problems, and that's really faster than I need/want to go, I just wanted to see if I could do it.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Just wait until you shoot them and go to clean your gun…

[Walter Laich]

Great job!

keep up the good work

[fredj338]

Yeah I was very skeptical on coatings until I gave it a try. Stupid simple to get good results & my guns shoot cleaner & I have less smoke to deal with. I doubt I ever go back to lubed but for an emergency reason.

[oley55]

Yup, read all about it here. Good advice is given if you read up on it. Mine came out perfect first try, and I've never looked back. I've run my 170gr. 30-06 up into the 2300fps range with no problems, and that's really faster than I need/want to go, I just wanted to see if I could do it.

same here and had great success first try. It went so easy that I was convinced it was just blind dumb luck and I’d soon get a wake up call. But it never happened. Probably the easiest process in the whole bullet casting and reloading process.

[GregLaROCHE]

They look good to me. How long and at what temperature did you bake them?

[Digger]

They look good to me. How long and at what temperature did you bake them?

Did as Smoke recommends ...400 degress , 15 minutes bake , lately sneaking up to 20 min.

[long_arm]

C'est bon!

[Dragonheart]

Did as Smoke recommends ...400 degress , 15 minutes bake , lately sneaking up to 20 min.

Just a friendly reminder or for those that don't know; Your timing starts when the bullets reach the desired temperature. The thermometer reads the air temperature in the oven, not the bullet substrate. Depending on the load (amount of bullets to cook) the bullets can take a long time to heat to temp.

[Glwenzl]

Just a friendly reminder or for those that don't know; Your timing starts when the bullets reach the desired temperature. The thermometer reads the air temperature in the oven, not the bullet substrate. Depending on the load (amount of bullets to cook) the bullets can take a long time to heat to temp.

That is good to know (because I didn’t). I bake in a conventional 35 year old propane kitchen oven out in my shop and started the clock when the door closed. Thank you

[oley55]

Just a friendly reminder or for those that don't know; Your timing starts when the bullets reach the desired temperature. The thermometer reads the air temperature in the oven, not the bullet substrate. Depending on the load (amount of bullets to cook) the bullets can take a long time to heat to temp.

Haven't been doing this for years, but for a while. I have drilled and crimped thermocouples into the boolits I PC so that I can start the clock when my boolits reach 400 degrees. I preheat my oven with brick heat sink setting on the bottom. Regardless of how many bullets or size it generally takes 6 minutes for my boolits to reach the target temp. Since I have validated my up to temp times I no longer mess with the crimped in thermocouple boolits. Just add 6 minutes to your cook time and you are good to go.

[Digger]

Want to thank the gentleman here in the coating group that suggested the silicon mini ice cube trays ...
ordered and tried them out and they work !
Makes for rifle boollets easier .
Using the nitrile gloves also has been very handy as I have found picking the boolits up and rolling them in my fingers makes for more consistency on coating with a good layer on the fingers to start with as I sit them down .
Thanks to all here for the suggestions ..

[Dragonheart]

Haven't been doing this for years, but for a while. I have drilled and crimped thermocouples into the boolits I PC so that I can start the clock when my boolits reach 400 degrees. I preheat my oven with brick heat sink setting on the bottom. Regardless of how many bullets or size it generally takes 6 minutes for my boolits to reach the target temp. Since I have validated my up to temp times I no longer mess with the crimped in thermocouple boolits. Just add 6 minutes to your cook time and you are good to go.

I agree with your method of using a thermocouple, and accept that adding 6 minutes to your time may work for you assuming all things remain equal in your process. But what works for you is not necessarily the answer for all.

I can assure you load is most definitely a deciding factor in heat transfer. Case in point, I use a PID controlled 220v, 30" oven and typically cook in excess of 5K bullets at a time. I use 3 thermocouples cast into like size bullets to cover 5 oven racks. My 2 - 220v oven elements running full power will reach an air temp of 400° in about 10 minutes, but it will take approximately 30 additional minutes before the last thermocouple mimicking the bullet sub-straight reaches temp.

To achieve a full cure, load makes a tremendous time difference for me. As far as adding ceramics, bricks, etc, to an oven this does nothing, but increase the dynamic load requiring more energy to achieve the same temperature. The only advantage of increasing the load with static mass would be a possible faster recovery on a second load, which I seldom do and a hindrance for taking up space.

My point is if adding 6 minutes works for you great, but there are a number of factors regarding the thermodynamics of heat transfer in an oven, especially these small cheap toaster ovens almost everyone here is using. Power, size, insulation, leakage, circulation, etc. to name some factors other than load.

Since a Chinese digital thermometer with thermocouples can be had for $7 off Evil Bay and in just a few days for $15 from Amazon i would suggest adding one to your PC process and stop guessing as to time and temperature of the curing process. I will be happy to provide any needed guidance in getting set up to those that are interested. I will say you will find it is so easy and it remove a worry in the PC process.

[oley55]

My apologies if I offended you or to those I may have led astray, please disregard my post.

[Dragonheart]

My apologies if I offended you or to those I may have led astray, please disregard my post.

No problem, no offense and no apology needed. I am glad you have found what works best for you. Sharing information is what this site is all about.