Quench casting and powder coating?

[LRRifleman]

In some articles I've read, it has been stated that you should not powder coat bullets that have been quenched. In a video that I watched this morning, the caster was powder coating quenched no lube groove cast bullets.

Can quench cast bullets be safely powder coated? These will be used specifically for target/range use.

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

[Dusty Bannister]

Sorry, I do not watch the Utube stuff. I do search this forum and did come up with this for an answer. Maybe this will help you in your quest.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?468708-Heat-treating-then-powder-coating

[BJung]

I've read somewhere that if you PC after you water quench, the bullet gets tempered lead gets soft. I think it would be better to let your bullets air cool, PC, and then quench them.

[Budzilla 19]

If , in my opinion only,you powder coat quenched after cast boolits, and, do not quench them after powder coat, right out of the oven, then all benefits from quench after cast( hardness gain) is lost.

Never had any problems with powder coating quenched after cast boolits ,but, I also bake them for an hour while curing the powder coat!
I feel sure others on this site with more, and better experience in this matter will chime in.

As always, just my opinions.

Hahaha, while typing my reply, the questions got answered!! Love this site!!

[Recycled bullet]

Well let us know if it works better. I am not opposed to changing my techniques to gain an improvement.

[schutzen-jager]

I've read somewhere that if you PC after you water quench, the bullet gets tempered lead gets soft. I think it would be better to let your bullets air cool, PC, and then quench them.

would not quenching after they are cooled would quenching only make them wet + nothing else ?

[Finster101]

If harder boolets are your desire, simply quench directly from the PC oven. No reason to do it twice and you don't have to dry them before powder coating.

[charlie b]

The heat of baking the PC will anneal the bullets to some extent, depending on how long they are baked.

As stated above, if you want hardened PC bullets then bake them a bit longer and quench them out of the oven. The colder the water the better.

[405grain]

Form what I've read, if you powder coat bullets that have been quenched, the heat from baking on the PC will anneal the bullets, but they will still be 1 or 2 BHN more than they would have been if just air cooled. Aside from that, there no reason that you can't PC heat treated bullets. It would be better to just powder coat air cooled bullets, or if you want to harden them just dump the powder coated bullets straight out of the oven into cold water.

[William Yanda]

Water quenching shortens the crystallization process giving smaller crystals affecting the hardness of the boolet. Powder coating requires a temperature and time duration long enough to undo the effect of water quenching. I suspect the only reason for forbidding powder coating quenched boolets is that it makes the effort of water quenching ineffective.
Please correct me if there is more to the process than that.

[Ed_Shot]

Finally found the thread I remembered. Good research on the effects of quenching. I keep a copy of the chart in my log book .

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?453167-PC-Questions

326996

[fredj338]

The heat of baking the PC will anneal the bullets to some extent, depending on how long they are baked.

As stated above, if you want hardened PC bullets then bake them a bit longer and quench them out of the oven. The colder the water the better.

^^THIS^^ Quenching as you cast then PC & air cool will soften the bullet. You get some of it back quenching out of the PC oven. So just aircool & quench out of the PC oven.

[fredj338]

Water quenching shortens the crystallization process giving smaller crystals affecting the hardness of the boolet. Powder coating requires a temperature and time duration long enough to undo the effect of water quenching. I suspect the only reason for forbidding powder coating quenched boolets is that it makes the effort of water quenching ineffective.
Please correct me if there is more to the process than that.

I am not sure because I air cool then PC/quench but depending on your water source, it can leave a film on the bullet that may cause the PC to not bond well. Again, not sure, never tried it but some report that issue.

[archeryrob]

I just did a test on this and below is my findings. Lost hardness powder coating at 400 and not at 250. I have hammer tested the 250 but not rifle tested yet.
https://archeryrob1.wordpress.com/2024/05/27/heat-treatment-of-cast-bullets-and-annealing-while-powder-coating/

327096

[405grain]

250 degrees F is not hot enough for the polymers in the powder coat to form a molecular bond with the bullet. Too many people make this mistake; thinking that as soon as the PC looks shiny it's done. It isn't, and when they shoot those bullets they get poor performance from the coating. You need to bake the PC onto the bullet at around 400 degrees for around 20 minutes for the chemical process to take place that allows the powder coat to form a good bond with the bullet metal.

[fredj338]

I just did a test on this and below is my findings. Lost hardness powder coating at 400 and not at 250. I have hammer tested the 250 but not rifle tested yet.
https://archeryrob1.wordpress.com/2024/05/27/heat-treatment-of-cast-bullets-and-annealing-while-powder-coating/

327096

As noted, your powder wont setup properly baked at much less than 400 for 15min min.