Who here's spraying powder coat?

[Mauser48]

I've experimented a bit with shake and bake and now I'm looking into spraying. To me it's a pain grabbing all the coated bullets with tweezers and standing them up after. Sometimes the bullets get too clumpy after coating too. I like the idea of standing them all up on a tray with a gloved hand and then spraying them real quick. I could use it for car parts and other things as well. How does it work out for you guys? Are there any problems spraying certain powders? I know shake and bake is picky on powder but spraying isn't supposed to be. Another big question is what gun are you using? Is the harbor freight good enough or is the dual voltage eastwood a worthy upgrade? Please share with me your experiences and pics if you have them!

[GregLaROCHE]

I agree with you that standing the boolits up is a pain. That’s why I only PC my 45 cal boolits. I tried PCing my 6.5 Swede boolits, but ended up tumble lubing in Lee Alox. Even with spraying them, you still have to stand them up if you want them perfect.

[BNE]

I started out spraying. I found out it’s a mess and very time consuming. The cost is a little smoother, but not worth the effort and mess in my garage. Just my opinion.

[charlie b]

You still have to find a way to stand them all up and have them not fall over during the whole process. For me the angled tweezers with a bit of heat shrink on the ends are easier than picking them up by hand.

[Mauser48]

I figure they'd be easier to stand up when they're not coated yet by just using my hands with a rubber glove on. The smallest bullet I would do is a .38 cal.

[charlie b]

That might be true then. I stand up 210gn .30 cal and 106gn 6mm.

If I did a lot of pistol I'd just SnB them in a basket.

[BC17A]

I've been using an Eastwood ES gun since day one. I use trays with riveted 22lr cases to set the boolits on so the PC wraps the base. Haven't found a powder yet that doesn't come out perfect. I also PC car parts, bike parts and other projects.

[Mauser48]

I've been using an Eastwood ES gun since day one. I use trays with riveted 22lr cases to set the boolits on so the PC wraps the base. Haven't found a powder yet that doesn't come out perfect. I also PC car parts, bike parts and other projects.

Those look excellent! Do you find that the bases need a bit of coating?

[charlie b]

The entire base does not need it but the base edges do. You need a solid coating at that edge or run the risk of blow by.

[GregLaROCHE]

Gas check boolits are harder to stand up than plain base.

[hornetguy]

Those look excellent! Do you find that the bases need a bit of coating?

Those are just flawless.... very nice. I just don't have the space to set up a spray area, or I'd do it that way, as well.... I'm getting by with shake and bake, and/or tumble, pretty well.

[BC17A]

Those look excellent! Do you find that the bases need a bit of coating?

I've done them both ways and as far as I recall there wasn't any noticeable difference after recovering some from the back-stop.

[dnepr]

I have always sprayed my boolits . I went that way because I also wanted to powdercoat motorcycle parts. I stand my boolits up by drilling hole in a scrap piece of sheet metal that corresponds with the gas check shank diameter . This keeps the boolits upright and saves me from my own clutziness .

[bstone5]

I use steel plates that are wrapped in aluminum foil on top of the aluminum foil I put screen wire on toffee the foil. I stand the cast bullets on top of the screen wire and the powder coat with the gun. Over the years I have powder coated thousands and thousands of cast bullets using this method.

[pt4u2nv]

The Harbor Freight system works great and very inexpensive . I use a plastic tote box for a "paint " booth and works great ,. Just lay it on its side and spray into it. Also makes cleanup and recovery of powder very easy.

[compass will]

I was putting the boolets into one of those trays used for reloading cartridges. Put point down. Than using a wire basket, turn basket upside down over boolet tray. Turn whole assembly over and lift up tray, you end up with spaced, standing boolets.

[LAGS]

I use the HF sprayer also.
I too spend the time standing the Boolits up on a cookie sheet covered with non stick aluminum foil.
After I spray the Boolits,
I transfer them to another cookie sheet covered with non stick foil to bake them in one of my three toaster ovens.
Yes this all takes time.
But it is well worth the effort.
I also made some steel plates that have holes drilled in them that fit the base of the GC style Boolits.
That keeps the PC off the area where the GC gets put on.
But I also spray Boolits that I already have installed the GC's.
As far as types of powder that I use.
I like "Smokes " the best.
The stuff I get from HF is OK.
But it isn't as good of quality for Boolits as many other brands of powder.
Plus HF does not have much of a color selection to choose from.

[Rottweiler]

The Harbor Freight system works great and very inexpensive . I use a plastic tote box for a "paint " booth and works great ,. Just lay it on its side and spray into it. Also makes cleanup and recovery of powder very easy.


Been doing the same way for years......great minds..

[MarkinMD]

I started out with shake and bake, coating was uneven and finally bought a HF spray rig. Results were much better. My neighbor ran an auto repair business and had purchased an Eastwood powder coating start up kit. He never used it. He was moving and offered me the whole kit with with a number of different powders for $150. I had the money at the time and snapped up the deal. It is not the dual voltage model but it works well for me, much better than the HF rig. In my new dedicated reloading shop, I was eager to test the new rig. In one corner I have a range hood for casting fume removal. I had not shielded the area for spraying PC. I looked around and grabbed a kitty litter bucket and laid it on its side. I set my tray of boolits in the bucket, hooked up the ground wire and gave it a try. This worked so well that I have not bothered to try to improve. The Eastwood powder works very well for me. I stand plain base boolits on an inverted cookie baking pan and ground the pan. I can set about 160 boolits on the tray with enough room around them to allow the spray to get to all sides. I find that the boolits in the back may not get enough powder. I (very carefully) remove the tray and turn it around to add powder to the ones that were in the back. I use needle nose pliers with the tips bent to pluck the boolits from the tray and set onto a nonstick foil lined tray that fits into my small convection toaster oven. For gas check boolits, I had some 3" wide brass strips purchased at a surplus store. I cut sections that would fit into the toaster oven and drilled a pattern of holes that were a little larger than the gas check shank. I wrap the drilled sheet with nonstick foil and then push the shank of the boolit through the foil and into the hole. This holds tall boolits well. After powder coating, I move the whole sheet into the toaster oven. I did learn that too much powder causes puddling and the resulting rim on the boolit causes it to be added to the scrap container. The foil is discarded after one use. My method is tedious and would not work well for a high volume shooter. Being retired, I have the time for tedious tasks. I started out with using latex gloves to handle the boolits. I have found that if I wash my hands, I can handle the boolits bare handed without any powder adhesion issues. For clean up after the PC application, I stand the bucket up and bang on the pan. All the powder falls to the bottom of the bucket.

[pmer]

Hollow points go pretty good for spraying PC. Set them on screws nose down, spray and bake...