Isit worth Powder Coating apart from purely cosmetic reasons?

[jsizemore]

I coat and bake 14-14.5 lbs of bullets at a time. I'm using an Oster countertop convection oven whose total wattage is 1500 watts. I'm like most ovens and folks, I monitor the air temp in the oven. Could be the total mass I'm trying to heat requires a longer time to get up to temp to cure completely. Kinda like the extra time to bake a 5lb turkey or 3 5lb turkeys at one time in the same oven.

[Oldfeller]

Looping on back to the original purpose of this thread, almost all of us now agree that if you are starting out fresh you are better served by following the PC path from the very beginning as:

1) general results are better all around
2) the total learning curve is not as steep as PC simply ignores a lot of early caster issues
3) startup cost outlay in the required equipment is far far less
4) the bullets are prettier with all the minor casting flaws "covered" and sized all "nice and shiny and round"
5) lead poisoning concerns in handling are greatly reduced, especially later on when the plain lead bullets get oxidized in storage
6) you have not invested time and tooling $$$ in the now obsoleted greased lead technology nor the sloppy messy liquid alox LEE system. Both systems now trail off into obsolescence where they belong.

[murf205]

I've kitted myself out with the gear to powder coat boolits but I'm starting to wonder if I've done the right thing.
I've seen a fistfull of youtubes where PC loads were tested alongside identical loads except that the latter were plain lubed (in most cases it was with Lees liquid alox) and the PC loads were always significantly down on velocity and showed no improvement in accuracy.
I wanted to PC my boolits in 30 cal and 357 formy three carbines and tbh I'm having serious second thoughts.
Can anyone convince me that these youtubes were bs or why they aren't bs and liqid alox is the way to go.

braddock, I can't tell you whether the you tube videos are BS or not because I have not seen them, but I can tell you that in my experience, pc'd boolits feed in lever guns and semi autos where lubed ones did not. The super slick coating glides up feed ramps and IMHO, eliminates friction in that area. Plus, it lets me use a softer casting mix without leading where the fit may be questionable. I don't mean to imply that boolit diameter fit can be discounted but pc'ing sure has cured a lot of problems for a lot of people. I use both methods so I am really not biased one way or the other, but I will tell you that I had my share of 9mm feeding problems but not since I started powder coating for those guns. If you use the "shake and bake" method, a 2nd hand toaster oven, a decent thermometer, and some of Smoke4320's powder, you can get in the game pretty reasonably. Good luck with your decision. Here is a pic of a 38S&W round that I pc'd for gun with a .360 groove diameter. The boolit dropped a mite small from the regular 38/357 mold so O coated it and picked up .001 and I shoots like a dream.

[skeet1]

So many of you guys have disserted your lubrisizers I thought you might as well send them to me. I'm sure I can find a home for those poor orphans.

[dverna]

So many of you guys have disserted your lubrisizers I thought you might as well send them to me. I'm sure I can find a home for those poor orphans.

When one door closes, another opens...LOL

When the PC "fad" started I was able to pick up a couple of Lyman sizers super cheap. I had no real need for them but like having backup. If the SHTF and the power goes out, those antiquated bits of technology will still work. LOL

No such "deals" on Stars...yet.

[FLINTNFIRE]

For the original question of is it worth it apart from purely cosmetic reasons , My answer is yes it is , I now powder coat most of what I cast and if it was not for black powder cartridge and muzzle loading I would coat everything .

Yes it adds size , some molds I ordered with that in mind as I did not want to size , some I size as it adds consistency when reloading , for long term storage I find it is great , now I do not usually size till I load and have had no issues doing that with powder coated range scrap and wheel weight alloys , pretty hard alloys that ring when dropped and hard to scratch .

I keep the lubesizer and lube for a what if scenario , along with the alox / Recluse lube , I like the cleanliness and no sticky while loading , no build up in seater stem less mess on gun when shooting and clean up after .

I placed powder coated bullets in with different powders I use to check for any reaction , and found none with powders I use , as to cosmetics I could care less what color the bullet is , I want fit , less smoke , less mess , and the coating blocking oxidization is a big plus .

If what you are doing works for you great , do what works for you and what you like for your own reasons .

[dogdoc]

I guess I do not see the point . I cast then size/lube in one step then load. Seems like a bunch of extra work and time to me. Might be fine if you got plenty of time. I can loads hundreds on my Dillon before I need to clean any lube out of the seating dies. I think people get caught up in having pretty little colored bullets

[jsizemore]

They got clear if the colored ones bother you. Goes on white and cures/drys clear.

[Finster101]

[2TM101]

Better than 70 years ago, Speer taught us the benefit of a “jacketed” bullet. It eliminates almost everything you need to know or understand outside of reloading and molding. All we did was trade jacketed material that we couldn’t apply ourselves to one we can.

Took me awhile to realize it - but powder coating is just tumble lubing that you bake on instead of air dry.

Which I now use for my 356-125-2R because once powder coated it doesn't work in anything I have except my S&W 986. I literally can't even cram it into the case far enough to work as 9mm cases are thicker near the bottom. In THAT gun though, I can powder coat it and even crimp it in the groove and it works. I suppose because it doesn't headspace on the rim so it can be more open.

[mehavey]

356-125-2R because once powder coated it doesn't work in anything
I have except my S&W 986. I literally can't even cram it into the case
far enough to work as 9mm cases are thicker near the bottom.

What are you sizing it to after coating?
(Note: I'm running three different 147gr/Powdercoated bullets through 9 different 9mm's -- sized .357 -- no issues.)
(Multiple SIGs, Glocks, M&Ps, and a Walther)

[fredj338]

Took me awhile to realize it - but powder coating is just tumble lubing that you bake on instead of air dry.

Which I now use for my 356-125-2R because once powder coated it doesn't work in anything I have except my S&W 986. I literally can't even cram it into the case far enough to work as 9mm cases are thicker near the bottom. In THAT gun though, I can powder coat it and even crimp it in the groove and it works. I suppose because it doesn't headspace on the rim so it can be more open.

Well probably so if you are NOT sizing after coating. Then they are whatever size you choose. I run 0.357" OC in several diff 9mm without issues. I do sort my 9mm brass though. Most foreign brads are quite thick as you get to the middle. Fine for 115gr, maybe 125gr but once you go to longer 147gr, you get little bulge in the middle that can prevent proper chambering. So I toss back anything but FC. Blazer, Xtrem, Starline or Blazer. Even Win & Rp can be problematic.