a trick for tumble powder coating

[Rushthezeppelin]

Crossman black .25gm. Extreme Mirror Black from All Powder Paints (Ebay), 15 minutes at 375.
Seems a little thick but it flowed out nicely with very few flaws.

Attachment 104567

Are those Lee 312-160s?

[MacFan]

Are those Lee 312-160s?

Yup, I usually run gas checks but I wanted to try again without them on my next trip to the range.

[kryogen]

I tried the black BBs but didnt like the result at all.

Another wasted 20$.

Will stick to espc I guess.

[ebner glocken]

Ya I think the tumbler method is only good for copper BBs the way Ebner is doing it. I think these two systems while looking remarkably similar work of different principles. The airsoft BBs seem to work off static same as ES gun and dry tumble whereas the copper BB method actually impregnates a thin layer onto the lead much like moly coating. Personally when I get around to it, I'm going to be trying the copper BB method as it seems like it can use powders that aren't good for DT (like the APP Pink I've had problems with).

DING DING DING!! You nailed it, one works with static, the other with mechanical principle. BTW copper coated steel BBs work just fine with a mix of harbor freight white and red. Play with the mixture if you want barbie pink. The only reason I haven't tried black yet is that I have none on hand and I don't get into town very often. I think black would work you may just have to keep it in the vibrator longer.

Hopefully this Thursday I will be able to do some live fire testing with the .454 casulle, more .50 AE, and 30/06 with the 314299. I loaded some .454s with 252 grain coated over 34 grs. of 296, these should be cooking pretty fast. The '06 with 51 grains of IMR 4350 (bullet scales @ 215). If the weather holds out well enough to do video I shall have a couple of cameras set up and post on youtube. Chrono will be used if I get video or not so results will be coming soon.

Ebner

[Artful]

I tried the black BBs but didnt like the result at all.

Another wasted 20$.

Will stick to espc I guess.

So what kind of result did you get? not sticking, clumping, ???

[hickfu]

I just got some HF yellow and they DT nicely with the ASBB's, I tried both ASBB's and Copper BB's with HF Black.... no coverage!


Doc

[bangerjim]

I have tried everywhichway from Sunday with DT and matte black and nothing works. That powder reacts totally differently to the static charge in the bowl. It seems to be thicker and clumpier and does not coat at all. It must be the matte agent in it.

Works beautifully (as all powders do!) in the ESPC gun.

Matte black is still my favorite color!

banger

[captain-03]

Ya'll made me do it!!

[Rushthezeppelin]

I have tried everywhichway from Sunday with DT and matte black and nothing works. That powder reacts totally differently to the static charge in the bowl. It seems to be thicker and clumpier and does not coat at all. It must be the matte agent in it.

Works beautifully (as all powders do!) in the ESPC gun.

Matte black is still my favorite color!

banger

Ya I'd imagine we are not building near as much potential static with the tumble methods as you are with an ES gun. Some powders take a static charge easily and some others just have too much resistance to be overcome with a light static charge. I'd imagine the copper BBs still require a good enough powder in terms of taking static to get the BBs coated and from there it relies on mechanical means to coat the bullets.

[kryogen]

Overall it worked, but the coating is uneven, and spots where bullets hit each other have some bare lead.

In the end they will work, but I find that all this shaking and picking is longer than ESPC anyway, with poor results.

So what kind of result did you get? not sticking, clumping, ???

[kbstenberg]

I just placed an add in the WTS thread for 2 / 5000 count crosman black BBs. 15$ + shipping. Come and get them.

[cs86]

I tried the black BBs but didnt like the result at all.
Another wasted 20$.
Will stick to espc I guess.

$20 for BBs sounds pricy. I thought I seen a container of Black BB's at WM for half that price. It could be the type of powder you're using. I ended up with spotty coating, but I think it's because I had to many boolits in the tube with the BBs. Everything is still shootable even after one coat. I'll try again when I get them shot current shot up and cast again.

Someone mentioned this to be a sticky. Just my thoughts on stickies, but it would be nice when the experimenting slows down that someone with better writing stills then I puts together a summary and tries to get all the information into a shorter thread. I've just noticed myself that I tend to avoid stickys with lots and lots pages. I don't like sifting through several pages of people BSing off topic or conflicting info and piecing together what I think will work. It's nice to read the journey of getting there, but when a person has time to shoot (which may not always be very available), and has to get materials and put time into processing before shooting, it's nice to read a few pages and come up with some good answers.

[Artful]

$20 for BBs sounds pricy. I thought I seen a container of Black BB's at WM for half that price.

it cost $14 and change + tax for 5000 of the crosman black at Chinamart for mine.
I got a couple of #5 containers emptied out - butter and large sour cream

[wwmartin]

I was wondering with gas checked boolits do you use them. If used do you apply before or after coating. I don't think they would be needed but was wondering how fast you could run them before they were needed.WW

[Artful]

I was wondering with gas checked boolits do you use them. If used do you apply before or after coating. I don't think they would be needed but was wondering how fast you could run them before they were needed.WW

You can use a gas-checked designed boolit without the gas check being applied, but powder coating doesn't replace a gas check.

- you push them up in speed (1500 fps and above usually depending upon your boolit, gun and load) and they will start to have issues requiring you to apply the gas checks to get your accuracy and shoot lead free.

I have not powder coated yet but all the pictures I see show them powder coating first then applying the gas check when they run thru the final sizing.

good primer on Gas Checks
http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_4-2_GasChecks.htm
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/foru...?60-Gas-Checks

[cs86]

I was brain storming on what others have mentioned about the tumble method with BBs. The main things that pop into my mind is type of plastics and static. I was thinking about beeswax lubes and how it acts as a carrier for oils and wondered if there might be something else we need to add to the mix to help aid coating. Someone mentioned walking across the carpet to generate static. So I wondered if small pieces of Styrofoam into the mix would help generate static. This is just a thought that is spilling out as I type and thought I'd share to spark any ideas. Not that what we have isn't working, but just food for thought. I'd give this a try but currently don't have any boolits made or Styrofoam. I'm thinking of harder Styrofoam like the stuff that is in block form that is packaged around items in boxes. I'm not sure if it would crush during tumbling or aid in static.

[popper]

WWMartin it will depend on the boolit design & alloy. I pushed mine to 1750 (308), just haven't loaded hotter to find a limit yet. It is a smooth sided boolit, designed for PC and works great in 30/30, 308 & 300BO. I apply before coating, no problem. Did ~30 this morning, humidity still too high to get a good coating. About half had good enough coating to shoot. GCs were covered well. Also smelted down my slag, annealed some used GCs and resized them. Surprised how well they turned out, they fit great. Too wet to mow or plow so I started cleaning & organizing the garage. (yea, right, see how long that lasts). Made a template for 10 rnd Pmag shoulder ribs for the BO. Gotta check out the Gorilla brand rubberized super glue to see if I can get a thin even coat.

[MacFan]

I was wondering with gas checked boolits do you use them. If used do you apply before or after coating. I don't think they would be needed but was wondering how fast you could run them before they were needed.WW

I powder coat after adding checks, then size. The PC wicks into the seam and helps glue the checks on if one happens to be loose. Not sure why you would want to PC and then leave the checks naked.

[slim1836]

I still ES powder coat my .308 (LEE T/L) and M/N (Lyman 314299) boolits first as I set the boolit base in washers under the N/S foil on my tray to support them during moving and baking. I would have to drill out each washer if I applied gas checks first. I apply checks after PC'ing at the same time I size them.

My .45 (LEE 230 gr T/L) boolits are tumbled with the black BB's (hardness and brand of BB's unknown at time of writing), since the bases are large enough and don't tip over.

Slim

I powder coat after adding checks, then size. The PC wicks into the seam and helps glue the checks on if one happens to be loose. Not sure why you would want to PC and then leave the checks naked.

[captain-03]

Had a few Lee 309-120R sitting around so I threw a few of them in with a batch of 9mm. These were already sized and gaschecked ..... loaded them in some M1 Carbine brass ....