Easy Big Batch Powder coating???

[Krag 1901]

Elvis Ammo had this youtube " Powder Coat (As Much As We Can Lift) Where's The Limit?" that made PC look a lot easier and less fussy than I had previously seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LizyGKA4yQ

I have been using Lee "Mule Snot" lubing for my rifle boolets and found it messy and made my hands sticky. After seeing the cool colors of PC'd boolets I thought I'd like to try it.

I have a few questions though.
1, Can you use a #2 plastic tub, which is what my H-4198/H322 comes in? I thought #5 was the right stuff?
2. Elvis says he cooked at 275 degrees in this video, I thought that it had to be in the order of 400 degrees? He was using Eastwood blue powder. Is that different than what Smokes powder needs?
3. Anyone else tried this big batch process?

Some help here guys, before I invest in an oven and powder, please.

[Iwsbull]

I always try to go by what the powder manufacturer says on temp and time. I have used Eastwood and Smokes both are good and easy to use, Smokes gets the edges as he tells you the ones that work best. It is plastic containers with the 5 on them. I have no desire to use lubed bullets as powdercoated bullets are so much less mess and no exposed lead.

[dverna]

Thanks for posting the video. I do not PC but it was impressive to see the quality he got with that big mound of bullets.

Cannot answer your questions.

[Krag 1901]

I checked Elvis Ammo's videos and he says he's had good luck using 250 degrees for 15 min, in order to not soften his WQ's boolets.
I'm thinking I'll go to my second hand store a see if I can find a good and cheap toaster oven after the Holidays. Then I'll try my empty #2 powder tubs to see if they work as well as dollar store #5 tubs.

[reddog81]

I use a 3” PVC pipe and can do 15 lbs at a time without problem. I take the time to place the bullets one at a time on tray but that is just my being OCD. Baking them like he does is probably OK for pistol bullets. I’m sure I could do twice as many at a time but have no desire.

Do not try and bake at 275. Just follow the PC instructions. Every powder I’ve ever used was 400 for 20 minutes. I cannot think of any logical reason to bake for shorter times or lower temps. 90% of PC problems result from people not curing the powder correctly.

[slownsteady22]

I use smokes powder and bake at about 350 for 15 min. in MY toaster oven. I then conduct the "smash test" i have not had any problems with the coating staying on or leading after shooting. That has been my experience with pistol and rifle bullets. (10mm 9mm 44 mag in a rifle 45 70 35 rem. )

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[charlie b]

Elvis has misled many people on this. Please use the mfg directions on time and temp. There are many posts from people following his advice that end up with leading and/or accuracy problems.

One thing that Elvis did mention in a video was baking in two steps. Bake for 10 min, shake up the batch to break everything loose and bake for another 10min. He claims this reduces the amount of flaws from big batch baking. If I ever did a big batch I might try that. FWIW, the bullets do not lose much heat if you do this quickly. Lead is a bad heat conductor, takes a while to cool off.

For large batches I'd monitor temps with a thermocouple in the middle of the batch, even go so far to cast one into a bullet that I'd place in the middle.

[Bored1]

Interested in seeing if anyone gets the same results using a pile instead of the tedious standing up one at a time.

[Krag 1901]

Interested in seeing if anyone gets the same results using a pile instead of the tedious standing up one at a time.

I'm going to try it when I get my oven and powder. I can be bothered to stand .30 cals on end. I'd rather use Mule Snot!

[Sasquatch-1]

Every time I used the dump 'em in a tray method, I have had a lot of bullets stick together and leave massive flaws on the sides of the bullets. "Elvis Ammo" is one of those YouTuber's I take with a grain of salt along with several others.

[Smoke4320]

First off with powdercoating done correctly ( not Elvis ammo temps) there is no need to worry about losing hardness as you can shoot must less hard bullets. The pc toughness will act as a jacket. Second his recommended Temps will lead to leading and accuracy issues as the pc is NOT cured all the way

[dverna]

First off with powdercoating done correctly ( not Elvis ammo temps) there is no need to worry about losing hardness as you can shoot must less hard bullets. The pc toughness will act as a jacket. Second his recommended Temps will lead to leading and accuracy issues as the pc is NOT cured all the way

The guy selling powder might know a bit more about this than a YouTuber.

[Krag 1901]

I was figuring on getting Smokes variety pac to start with and use his recommendations first before experimenting. I haven't cast for a few years and am running out of my 165 gr Lee's, I use in my .30-40. I also got a new 324299 mold and want to cast a few hundred of them. They worked very well in my Krag too. I'm looking forward to colored boolets.:p

[405grain]

The Elvis ammo guy doesn't understand things like chemical reactions, material properties, or metallurgy. First, if you only cook your powder coated bullets at low temperature until the coating looks shiny and smooth, that's not enough. The polymers in the powder coating need to bind properly for the coating to be effective. This usually requires cooking at around 400 deg. F for at least 20 minutes. (I bake my bullets at 425 deg. for half an hour.) Baking on the powder coat will effect the water quench hardness of the bullets. Tests (which I've read about on this site) generally show that baking on the powder coating will soften the water quenched bullets by half. In example: if you have an alloy that air cools to 12 BHN and water quenches to 26 BHN, even after baking on the powder coat the bullet should still be 13 BHN or harder. If you want hard powder coated bullets you can air cool them, powder coat them, then water quench them straight out of the oven. (besides the coating not curing properly, this is another reason to bake the coating on at around 400 deg.)

Because the powder coating forms a tough polymer jacket around the bullet, softer alloys can be used, which aids expansion and terminal performance. The jacket is less likely to strip in the rifling, and (when cured properly) does not lead the bore. If the polymer is not cured properly it will not have the bonding properties or the mechanical strength that a properly cured jacket will. A poorly made jacket can fail in the bore, which leaves both lead and plastic fouling. A properly made polymer jacket will be orders of magnitude more accurate than one that clogs the bore with residue and lead.

Over the years I've seen that there are basically two types of bullet casters: there are the ones that want better performance with their cast bullets, and there are the ones who are satisfied if the cartridge just goes bang. The ones who want better performance in either hunting or target shooting with cast bullets are inquisitive, creative, skilled, and generally are on this site. People have lots of different ideas (some work, others don't) and freely share what they've learned or tried. These are the people that discover new and better ways of doing things, as well as finding out about pitfalls to avoid. Virtually all of these people cast bullets because they like doing it.

The other camp casts bullets just to shoot, and is unconcerned with improving accuracy or performance. Volume production and "saving money" are the main selling points here, (There's nothing wrong with either of these), but the only objective is that the cartridges goes bang when the trigger is pulled. The Elvis videos that I've watched lead me to believe that this is the group that he's targeting his channel towards. The upside is that his videos help many new casters get started, and once they learn a thing or two they try things that work better. The downside is that some of his stuff doesn't work well, and that can discourage folks that are just starting out. I think that the exposure he's generating is mostly a good thing as it gets more people interested in casting. The best example is that the OP saw the video, then came here to ask questions.

[hermans]

405grain, excellent post, I could not agree more!!

[sureYnot]

I've used #2 and #5 with identical results. I did try the low temp bake early on. As a result I learned how fun it is to remove lead from a barrel early on. I don't stand the boolits up to bake. But I'm not trying to reach out 400 yards either.

[414gates]

Interested in seeing if anyone gets the same results using a pile instead of the tedious standing up one at a time.

I dump 300 powder coated 9mm bullets on a wire document tray that fits on the oven shelf.

I shake the tray for the excess powder to drop out the bottom, and level the pile a bit.

Temperature is just over 200 degrees C.

I put the tray in for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, I take the tray out and shake all the bullets loose, spreading them out evenly over the tray. A document tray can fit 300 9mm bullets on one layer.

I put it back in for 10 more minutes.

I remove them after a total of 20 minutes, and let them air cool. No water. That's 600 9mm bullets in 20 minutes.

A document tray also easily accomodates 200 .44 bullets, so I do my .44's 200 per tray, 400 per 20 minute session.

[Budzilla 19]

Cast, air cooled, powder coated, baked at 400*F for one hour, ( rifle boolits only),splashed in cold water,works for me. 30 minutes at 400*F for pistol boolits, let them air cool after PC. Smoke’s powder only now. I’m satisfied with the results. Just my opinion on this subject.

[Sasquatch-1]

I dump 300 powder coated 9mm bullets on a wire document tray that fits on the oven shelf.

I shake the tray for the excess powder to drop out the bottom, and level the pile a bit.

Temperature is just over 200 degrees C.

I put the tray in for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, I take the tray out and shake all the bullets loose, spreading them out evenly over the tray. A document tray can fit 300 9mm bullets on one layer.

I put it back in for 10 more minutes.

I remove them after a total of 20 minutes, and let them air cool. No water. That's 600 9mm bullets in 20 minutes.

A document tray also easily accomodates 200 .44 bullets, so I do my .44's 200 per tray, 400 per 20 minute session.

When speaking of a document tray, are you talking about the In-Out Basket that would be on an office desk?

[Carrier]

I don’t always agree with Elvis Ammo but do enjoy his videos. Anyone know what has happened to him as his last video was 9 months ago?

[414gates]

When speaking of a document tray, are you talking about the In-Out Basket that would be on an office desk?

Yes.

I have these exact ones.


https://www.amazon.com/Greenco-Document-Letter-Organizer-Black/dp/B01IRNTO26

Coverage is good. It's not perfect on every single bullet, but it'll do.

https:///ysterhout.net/images/powder-coat/pc-orange.jpg

[BamaNapper]

I totally agree with the idea of there being two camps, those wanting lots of boolits as well as those on a quest for the perfect boolit. I put myself in both camps. For 9mm I mostly want ammo that hits the paper at 10 yds. The dump and bake method is fine for those boolits but I do limit myself to one layer in the oven (at 400 degrees as recommended). But when it's time to PC boolits for a rifle where I'm pushing them harder and farther, the boolits get tweezed and stood up in the oven for accuracy.

Imperfect PC in the pistol gets shot as is and I've never had leading issues. I'd never know if accuracy was off by an inch or so shooting concealed carry drills with a 3" barrel.

[Charlie Horse]

I could see using the bulk process for short range handgun loads. If they will hit the metal plates or bowling pins - then why not use this method? Could be another tool in the toolbox. I'm going to give it a try.