Powder Coating 101 - Electrostatic Method

[jcwit]

Well that was dumb of me not posting the caliber or gun, Daaaaaahhhhhh.

At this point I'm only PC'ing 9mm, and so far am using/shooting them in a couple of SCCY's, a Hi Point, an a Walther P-38 post WW2 model. All are mid range to low end loads because of arthritis in my hands and wrists.

My senior moments are no longer moments any longer!

[jcwit]

I should have added I've yet to experience any function issues.

[robertbank]

Both those guns have generous chambers. I share your enthusiasm for heavy loads. I shot the IDPA Classifier using .357Mag rounds in my GP-100 to make 165PF using 158 gr bullets. When I was done (90 rds), my wrists were sore. Not something I am willing to do on a regular basis. I hold my 45 Colt loads to 8 gr of Unique for Bear protection but practice with light 200 gr loads. Having the need for a heavy load vs practice rounds are now dictated by aging wrists. Paper targets die just as fast with light accurate loads as they do with heavy accurate loads from my experience.

Take Care & Good Shooting

Bob

[RP]

I do not think seen this ? ask or anyone that has tried this method I thought of tonight while tapping the side of my gun to keep the powder flowing. What if you add some air soft BBs to the powder and let them swirl around while your spray. My thoughts it may add some static charge that may help with powder sticking better and you will no longer need to tap the side of the gun. If this works it may stop that heavy puff of powder you tend to get some times when spraying and I just feel like I should not have to tap the gun so much to keep it spraying powder.

[bangerjim]

Let us know how it works. The fluidized bed effect in the bowl is the key. I do not know if BB's will help or not. Key is getting the powder to "boil" in the bowl to be picked up by the air flow.

banger

[RP]

Well I tried the air soft BBs today and also noticed my air supply into the bowl was pointed at my exit tube to feed the nozzle. So I angled the air into to swirl the powder along with adding the BBs. The BBs are moving around a lot inside the tub I am sure it has to be helping but results were well up in the air still. I been PCing some rims on a mini rig I am restoring for a fellow and its not the same as PCing bullets on thing I did not have to do is tap the bowl. At lower air pressures this may not effect the way my gun works but for larger items that more powder is needed it worked fairly well. When I was done spraying I just dumped the extra powder and BBs right back into the storage bottle.

[bangerjim]

If you have noticed, the powders tend to clump in the gun containers and the BB's may help minimize that. I will have to try it!

Thanks for posting the idea/info.

banger

[RP]

There will be no clumping the BBs keep everything moving they almost sound like the electric charge is in the tub. Is others air intake pointed towards the discharge tube I turned mine to swirl the PC and also keeps the BBs going full speed around the tub.

[BulletFactory]

Great idea man!

[fcvan]

I have both the Harbor Freight and Craftsman style guns. I put a boolit in the reservoir and occasionally shake the gun to keep things fluid. I never thought of Airsoft BBs in the reservoir, sounds like a good idea!

[BulletFactory]

I've got the HF one, is the Craftsman worth the extra money?

[bangerjim]

I've got the HF one, is the Craftsman worth the extra money?

NO. If you already have the compressor, hoses, regs and gear, save your money. I have both and bought the Amazon gun because it was only about $50 to just test. You cannot get anything close to that now.

If you're going to upgrade, look at a Casswell or Eastwood rig.........$200 and up!

[BulletFactory]

Thanks so much. I've been blessed with a great setup, and I too got el cheap-o to see what it was all about. PC is here to stay, and I'll probably upgrade when I get a chance.

[Metroxfi]

Has anyone looked into what the powder is actually made of? I worked for an industrial paint dealer for a few years and we did deal a bit of powder, but do you know what gives coatings the white color? Titanium dioxide. Most deeper reds and deeper yellows have variants of iron oxide but white contains high levels of titanium diode and it's also used to increase the opacity of other colors. Granted it would be extremely fine but it would also be extremely hard, I mean people were cautious of the abrasive properties of aluminum gas checks developing oxides. Most blacks are attained with carbon, again it would be really fine but it would act as a continuous fire-lapping compound. Please don't get me wrong, the powder coated bullets seem to be the cat's A$$ in terms of fouling control (plus they look oh-so purty) I just want people to be aware of potential long term effects. I don't think there would be an issue if it wasn't such a high speed/high pressure scenario. If I asked you to use 6,000 grit lapping compound on every single bullet for the next 1,000 round that you put through your gun what would you say? It would be more of a polish than an abrasive but have you ever held a buffing wheel in one spot too long..? Again I'm not trying to put down the powder or hurt anyone's feelings I'm just trying to look at things from every angle.

[bangerjim]

Yes most of us know what is in powder. It is all listed in the MSDS sheets.

This had been cussed and discussed TONS of times. You are a bit late to the blame game.

Only SOME (like 3 or 4!) claim they have seen barrel wear from matte black. And I believe all of those were proved to be something else like boolit fit or defective soft barrels. I have not see ANY problems after thousands of rounds.

There many hundreds (if not thousands) of us shooting many MANY thousands of PC'd rounds in every gun made by man and there have been relatively ZERO problems.....except a lot more spare time NOT cleaning gun barrels that are leaded! And no grease smoke. And no sticky boolits in the summer.

If there were any problems with PC, we would have heard about them in spades by now after several years doing it.

And I have looked at it from the most important angle....down the barrels......with magnification. ZERO problems.

Thanks for your concern.

bangerjim

[Metroxfi]

I'm not trying to play the blame game, I'm just trying to expose all angles. I'm not saying it will strip your rifling or anything like that. In just trying to say that there is a reason manufacturers make sprayer tips out of carbide and there's a reason why painters have to replace them relatively often. I'm not saying don't do it, I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from starting or continuing the process. I only want people to think.

[robertbank]

Yes most of us know what is in powder. It is all listed in the MSDS sheets.

This had been cussed and discussed TONS of times. You are a bit late to the blame game.

Only SOME (like 3 or 4!) claim they have seen barrel wear from matte black. And I believe all of those were proved to be something else like boolit fit or defective soft barrels. I have not see ANY problems after thousands of rounds.

There many hundreds (if not thousands) of us shooting many MANY thousands of PC'd rounds in every gun made by man and there have been relatively ZERO problems.....except a lot more spare time NOT cleaning gun barrels that are leaded! And no grease smoke. And no sticky boolits in the summer.

If there were any problems with PC, we would have heard about them in spades by now after several years doing it.

And I have looked at it from the most important angle....down the barrels......with magnification. ZERO problems.

Thanks for your concern.

bangerjim

Jim I have to say your reply is about as condescending as anyone would or could write. The member asked a question and you come down like he insulted your family tree. First just because 1 thousand shooters shoot one bullet down a barrel that doesn't mean a thousand bullets have been shot down a barrel and satisfied some test. In short one experience a thousand times is not a thousand experiences. Has anyone done an abrasive test on either the Hi Tek or Powder Coating bullets? From your reply I would assume not. That is his question. If you know the answer pass it on.

I prefer powder coating but have come to realize, using the alloy I have I am going to have to GC my high pressure 9MM and 40cal bullets if I am going to use powder coating. No offense but I get leading when using unchecked bullets in my 9MM. If I can source some antimony at a reasonable price I may make up a batch of harder lead but right now it is cheaper to go with lube bullets.

Take Care

Bob

[bstone5]

Some barrels will lead with powder coat or Hi-Tech coating.
A gas check will usually keep the lead out of the barrel due to the good seal the gas check makes at the base is the bullet.

The bullet fit to the barrel is still important even with a coated barrel.
A larger diameter bullet with a coating usually helps in keeping the lead out of the barrel.

Any form of gas check will work as a seal, the cola can gas check on a plain base bullet makes a very good seal at the base of the bullet.

[Metroxfi]

Jim I have to say your reply is about as condescending as anyone would or could write. The member asked a question and you come down like he insulted your family tree. First just because 1 thousand shooters shoot one bullet down a barrel that doesn't mean a thousand bullets have been shot down a barrel and satisfied some test. In short one experience a thousand times is not a thousand experiences. Has anyone done an abrasive test on either the Hi Tek or Powder Coating bullets? From your reply I would assume not. That is his question. If you know the answer pass it on.

Bob

Robertbank thank you for that.

I too have a 9mm that leads horribly no matter the hardness, size, lube.... I researched and found the plans on this site for a one step gas check maker and had some help to get a couple calibers worth of plain base pop can makers made up. It solved my 9mm leading issue but I am always looking for other options. I was recently kicking around getting a HF powder gun for coating some castings (not bullets) that I've done with the abundance of zinc weights one acrues in this hobby and was looking for a dual-purpose for the powder gun. But like most things I like to research and look into things deeply before I invest my money, time, and condition of my equipment (gun barrels) into it.

[Beagle333]

There are always two questions from people new to ESPC. The first is "Why don't you coat the bases?" and the second is "Will this hurt my barrels?"
There are many threads to read on abrasive or not if one wishes to research more here. If you type "is powder coat abrasive?" into the Google custom search box on the right side of the menu bar on the top of each page, it will bring up lots of discussion on it. You can read questions and experiences from many members and then decide if you want to test it yourself.

Good luck and do report your findings!
Happy Shooting!
Chuck.