a trick for tumble powder coating

[popper]

And it works extremely well in 308, 30/30 & 300BO, even without GCs.

[Blanco]

In response to my earlier post on having issues resizing and having the powder too thick....
I had to buy the daughter a set of jumper cables for her car. this was my excuse to make a trip to Harbor Freight. I also needed one of those freebie flashlights for my reloading press. While there I saw that they had 2 tubs of black PC, so I snagged one. I thought I remembered someone posting that the black didn't work with the tumble method. It was on sale for $4.00 so what the heck.
My wife had some round #5 bowls with Christmas stuff on em... I snagged one for testing.
I still have plenty of BB's and I added 1/2 a spoon of the HF black and gave em a spin. Sure enough no stiction.
rather than toss it I just added a 1/2 spoon of the PBTP gloss black and gave that a toss. Even with the round bowl the coating was really thick.
I tumbled them in my just BB's bowl and the coating was about as thin as practical. After baking they had an interesting textured surface. It is still tough as ever.
So seems the round bowl / square bowl makes no difference in my case. The dry 2nd tumble will get the coating as thin as practical.
That's my additions to the saga

[Blanco]

well tonight I was thinking on this tumble PC.
I thunk mebee I am still putting too much powder in the bowl?
So I did 1/4 spoon of powder and increased th number of boolits per batch.
Worked out purty good. All sized nice an easy. So it was just me. Not the first time I find out less is more.

[popper]

Second tumble with no? Powder knocked off excess so you got a good coat? I pull mine with hemostat a and tap the hemostat on the rim to knock off excess. Whatever works for you.

[Blanco]

The trick for me worked out to be less powder and more shake with more boolits per batch.
On my .40 Lee 175 TC I am getting almost always 100 % coverage all the time and they resize as they should.
I also increased the temp on my oven (400) and make sure I am cooking them for a full 10 minutes. The second dry tumble was un-necessary.
The shape of the bowl, as far as I can determine had no effect. My lunchmeat containers are easier to get the coated boolits out of as they are shallower.
Less is more..... That is all

[Idz]

After fumbling about with tweezers and pliers I found the best and easiest method to pickup boolits is to put on a nitrile glove and dip the fingertips in powder to coat them before picking up the boolit. A coated glove fingertip seems to leave no marks.

[Blanco]

Attachment 105667
My little boolets

[clocker]

Thanks folks for presenting this new twist on powder coating. I had put ES on the backburner since last year because honestly I'm too lazy to do the other methods. I picked up some black crossman plastic bb's today and within 10 minutes had a tray in the oven. I didn't get perfect coverage with HF red and yellow yet, but they are very close. The green is a second coat of some Eastman PC that I tried to wet coat last year.

[Lead Waster]

Has anyone tried using silicon cookie sheets instead of nonstick foil? They can take up to 450 degrees F.

They cost maybe 10 bucks but if you can re-use them forever that might work. Unless the coating sticks to them I mean.

[bangerjim]

Has anyone tried using silicon cookie sheets instead of nonstick foil? They can take up to 450 degrees F.

They cost maybe 10 bucks but if you can re-use them forever that might work. Unless the coating sticks to them I mean.

Yesterday I just baked my 1200th boolit on the same sheet of NSAF!!!!!!!! Now for you guys "on the cheeeeeep"......that IS REALLY cheap! The bases do NOT stick using the BBDT pick-em-up-and-set-em-down method. No flash like with ESPC gun. Foil will last until..............well..............forever!?!?!? !

10 buck will buy at least 2 rolls of NSAF. And those rolls contain a lot of sheets of coverage.

banger

[pretzelxx]

That is true banger, just don't rip the foil while covering the pan to bake!!

[Beagle333]

If not ESPC'ing..... NSAF does seem to last forever. Any other method I have used (DT, ASBB, or Piglet) doesn't leave anything but a very light discoloration where the last batch of boolits were standing.
It's good for the next batch.


Those are nice boolits and a very nice looking oven, Clocker!

[Blanco]

I used a sheet of industrial foil used for wrapping parts in for heat treating. I think it may actually be stainless ?
after baking you just knock em over. They stick a little but not enough to matter..

[guncheese]

The non-stick foil can be used over and over.... it doesn't build up like with spraying.
One square will last for many bakes.

tried my first today
and i had a used sheet of parchment paper i had baked a batch of buns on last week
and i will be able to use that a few times as well
here is a pic of the results, not perfect but usable, will be better next time
note the one on its side with flats, that was the hammer it on the anvil test. coating held up mighty fine

[Blanco]

I did a bit of shooting today and here is what came of it.
I like the powder coated boolits. They actually removed leading from all my barrels. That in itself is fantastic. My .40 cal reloads did well. Not fantastic but reasonable accuracy. The .40's had a bit of smoke. I think this may be from the Powder which is Unique. A batch of the .45's had feeding issues. The 9mm was the star. Power pistol works well with the PC'd boolits. Accurate, clean and no smoke or hang ups.

[bangerjim]

I did a bit of shooting today and here is what came of it.
I like the powder coated boolits. They actually removed leading from all my barrels. That in itself is fantastic. My .40 cal reloads did well. Not fantastic but reasonable accuracy. The .40's had a bit of smoke. I think this may be from the Powder which is Unique. A batch of the .45's had feeding issues. The 9mm was the star. Power pistol works well with the PC'd boolits. Accurate, clean and no smoke or hang ups.

There is a thread on here right now on how dirty Unique really is! I think it is filthy, especailly on any load not at max. I do not use it. I do not look for it.

Most modern powders will be dirty if ran at reduced loads. Just part of the physics of burning powder under pressure (or lack of it). Couple that with dirty Unique and you have a potential big black mess in your gun.

I am fighting the 45 ACP problem right on a new 1911. Factory ammo feed perfectly, my PC cast loads not at all. The cases jam in the barrel. I am going to sizing 451 and possible factory crimp to remove the bulges in the brass case that are causing the problems. I have a match grade barrel and tolerances must be very tight.

That is why I prefer revolvers over seimi's. A revolver will shoot just about anything! You have to have the length just right, the load just right, the boolit sized just right, and hold your mouth just right to get a semi to feed and function 100%. 9mm is the absolute worst!

banger

[rondog]

Made my very first attempt at PC'ing bullets last night. Used my freebie kitchen oven in the garage and did the shake 'em up method described here. Seemed to work OK, although coverage on the bullets was a little thinnish and spotty. I've never seen PC'd bullets before, not sure what they're supposed to look like. But the coating was hard as rock, they were slick, and they went through my Lee .452 sizer just fine.

[flyingmonkey35]

Rondog

Welcome to the world of PC.

Be prepared to be called that crazy nut who paints his boolits down at the range.

I always keep a few boolits in my range bag now for proof that they work just as well as a copper plated bullet.

[clocker]

Ran a few more experiments today. Sour cream tubs did alright. Small plastic Folgers can wasn't too great. Then I figured... why not try a zip-top bag. Bingo! It was the best coating out of the test. About one minute of kneading and light shaking and I had full coverage. White 38's started in the bag. Red ones were HF in a sour cream tub. Black ones were Eastwood that from the Folgers tub. Based on the small test, the bag gives the thickest and most uniform coverage yet.

[.429]

here's my results from the range today. I hope the pic shows up large enough to read what I wrote on it. Ow was disappointed for the 2nd time (the first was with .223). I did however, like the results of my lubed loads compared to federal fmj's