New wrinckle to my easy pc.

[prickett]

I'm wondering if the tumbling container's material might be the cause. I use a Thumbler Tumbler's rubber canister. I'm seeing successful folks mention using Tupperware. Next chance I get I'm going to try that.

[Freightman]

Black don't work for me found out yesterday red,yellow, white work just fine.

[prickett]

Hmmm, has anyone gotten HF Black to work? Seems the common thread is that black paint doesn't work, but Red, White, and Yellow do. Interestingly, it seems to be the opposite when doing the Piglet method (i.e. adding Lacquer Thinner).

[prickett]

I bought some HF Red today and tried tumbling 20 or so boolits and had complete success!

So, if you want to do Piglet, get HF black. If you want to do dry coating, get HF red/yellow/white.

[prickett]

Something else to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: After yesterday's small sample success, I started large scale dry powder coating and the results are equally as good! I load up my rotary tumbler and let it run for 10 minutes with HF red. Cook at max temp of my oven (hits 410ish) for 25 minutes, and repeat. Great results! And dead simple. No measuring, no waste, and 100% coverage (meaning even the lube grooves are covered, for those who worry about that)! And, unlike my previous Piglet coats, this one is very smooth.

I dump the tumbled boolits directly onto the hardware mash screen that I bake them on (have a sheet of paper under neath to catch the excess paint). There is no need to pick up with tweezers or fingers. Shake it a little to knock off any excess paint. Then, I dump what was caught on the paper back into the tumbler for the next batch.

So, anyone not having success with dry powder coating, blame the paint. Not all paint works. HF red DOES. HF black DOES NOT.

[3006mv]

I've gotten it to work on 55 gr .224 boolits, it is matte. It takes two coats. The bigger .45 cal 200 gr need 3 dry coats to work well so I don't even bother. I have not use their other colors but probably will now, I heard you can mix them for different colors like black yellow and red for a kind of copper look, I don't know what ratio though.

[Tonto]

Not sure if this is the variable but HF black is a flat black and the other colors gloss...

[prickett]

Just a follow up to my last post - I shot the dry coated boolits today. The .45 ACP was VERY accurate. And, I only coated them once. So, of all the coating techniques described on this board, I declare this one to be simplest, cheapest, second best looking boolits (where Piglet rates a 5 of 10, Klass Kote a 6 of 10, dry coat 8 of 10, and Hi Tek 10 of 10). Originally I hit the boolits with a quick spray from an aerosol can of silicon to lube for sizing. I've found that isn't even necessary - they are slick enough to not require any lube. The barrel had NO leading. My search for the perfect coating is over - for the .45.

Now for the bad news - my 9mm's were not so good. The very first one key holed, it appeared. I proceeded to shoot 39 more, trying to see if the first was really a key hole. Of the 40 total, only 2 key holed. But accuracy wasn't great. When I got home, I found the barrel was lightly leaded. I think what is happening is that the wheel weights, which I always water drop, had lost their quenched hardness following the baking of the PC. So, the higher pressure of the 9mm rendered these borderline satisfactory. Next week I'm doing a battle royale test, pitting dry coat, piglet coat, HI-TEK, and traditional lead (all from the same batch of cast boolits) to compare accuracy. I'm wondering if I just need to let the baked dry coated boolits sit for a month to age harden.

[Beagle333]

this thread needs more pictures.....

[popper]

Pricket - just put those PC'd 9s back in the oven for 40 min ~370-380 then WD. They will work fine. I H-T'd 9s, 3 coats, let the last coat cook @ 350 for 30 min, WD. All shot fine and no leading. I WD everything coated, which is everything now.

[Cane_man]

just getting ready to get into this, i notice two different types of powders used:

Epoxy Resin Powder - this seems to be what Harbor Freight sells

Polyester 'TGIC' Powder - this is what Powder Buy the Pound sells

seems like some are getting better results with the TGIC powders instead of the Epoxy powders?

[prickett]

Pricket - just put those PC'd 9s back in the oven for 40 min ~370-380 then WD. They will work fine. I H-T'd 9s, 3 coats, let the last coat cook @ 350 for 30 min, WD. All shot fine and no leading. I WD everything coated, which is everything now.

Thanks for the tip popper! Just wondering... have you tried baking your final coat of PC for 40 minutes, then WD it? Seems like you could kill 2 birds with one stone.

I can't wait to try your technique, because I LOVE the dry PC method. Its the fastest/simplest method yet!

[prickett]

just getting ready to get into this, i notice two different types of powders used:

Epoxy Resin Powder - this seems to be what Harbor Freight sells

Polyester 'TGIC' Powder - this is what Powder Buy the Pound sells

seems like some are getting better results with the TGIC powders instead of the Epoxy powders?

I'd disagree with that. I'm using HF Red as are a number of others expressing success. I've also seen where PBtP folks buy several colors and discover (much like HF paint) that only certain colors seem to work.

[fastfire]

Could you water drop them straight out of the oven to heat treat them?

Just a follow up to my last post - I shot the dry coated boolits today. The .45 ACP was VERY accurate. And, I only coated them once. So, of all the coating techniques described on this board, I declare this one to be simplest, cheapest, second best looking boolits (where Piglet rates a 5 of 10, Klass Kote a 6 of 10, dry coat 8 of 10, and Hi Tek 10 of 10). Originally I hit the boolits with a quick spray from an aerosol can of silicon to lube for sizing. I've found that isn't even necessary - they are slick enough to not require any lube. The barrel had NO leading. My search for the perfect coating is over - for the .45.

Now for the bad news - my 9mm's were not so good. The very first one key holed, it appeared. I proceeded to shoot 39 more, trying to see if the first was really a key hole. Of the 40 total, only 2 key holed. But accuracy wasn't great. When I got home, I found the barrel was lightly leaded. I think what is happening is that the wheel weights, which I always water drop, had lost their quenched hardness following the baking of the PC. So, the higher pressure of the 9mm rendered these borderline satisfactory. Next week I'm doing a battle royale test, pitting dry coat, piglet coat, HI-TEK, and traditional lead (all from the same batch of cast boolits) to compare accuracy. I'm wondering if I just need to let the baked dry coated boolits sit for a month to age harden.

[prickett]

Could you water drop them straight out of the oven to heat treat them?

I believe that's been found to be unsuccessful. Apparently the 20 minute cooking time isn't long enough (???). But, if baked for the 40 minutes Popper suggested, then water dropped... that is something I may experiment with if someone hasn't already done so.

[fastfire]

SO........the WD does harden the boolit after powder coating?
What's the hardness before and after WD?

Pricket - just put those PC'd 9s back in the oven for 40 min ~370-380 then WD. They will work fine. I H-T'd 9s, 3 coats, let the last coat cook @ 350 for 30 min, WD. All shot fine and no leading. I WD everything coated, which is everything now.

[prickett]

this thread needs more pictures.....

Boolits with dry powder applied (tumbled for 10 minutes), then after 25 minutes at 425F (according to the oven, but more realistically around 400F).

This used HF Red powder. Not quite sure why it comes out of the tumbler a very dark red, then out of the oven almost brown, but the brown looks much cooler.

Oh, and I've revised my process to only do a single coating. Found no need to do a second coat.

[HDS]

What if one doesn't get HF but buys from powder by the pound instead? To be specific i am interested in matte black 223 bullets. I might still go the electrostatic method.

[prickett]

What if one doesn't get HF but buys from powder by the pound instead? To be specific i am interested in matte black 223 bullets. I might still go the electrostatic method.

What are you asking? Whether PBtP can be used?

PBtP powders also can work. It depends on the powder. I've not used PBtP as it's quite a bit more expensive, so I can't answer as to which paints do and don't work. Maybe someone else can. I know someone earlier (or in another thread?) posted he bought a number of different paints and mentioned that some worked and some didn't.

[DRNurse1]

Great looking Boolits! This is the How to thread, but where is the What to use thread?