I did it, I powdercoated!

[wrench]

Unable to resist, after reading about all this powdercoating business lately. I've shot lots of coated bullets from BBI, but thought I'd try my own.
I had some powdercoating left over from years ago, when I used to make fishing jigs, all kinds of colors.
So I cast up some Lee 124tc bullets...
Attachment 103185
Dry tumbled in a Cool Whip tub with a tiny bit of coating, I was using orange, then black, then they got mixed together so I went with that...
Attachment 103186
My buddy gave me an old cheapo toaster oven, 20 min @ 375deg, here they are right out of the oven...Attachment 103187
Made quite a pile of them to try out, here they are after sizing .358" with a Lee push through sizer...
Attachment 103188
They pass the smash test...
Attachment 103189
So loaded up a batch and tried them out through a Glock 19. They shot great, clean and about the same accuracy as my normal lead loads.
I'll definitely be making more!
Attachment 103190

[Beagle333]

Clean loading and shooting, no leading and same accuracy.... plus fun colors! What's not to love?

[bangerjim]

Good job! The perfect smash test is nose to base which simulates the action the boolit does when it strikes it's target. I pound mine until they are about 3/8" thick and the stuff still does not come off!

If you are using standard commercial powders (and not some unique powder for fishing stuff) you can bake 10 min at 400F to save you some time! I cook all my boolits at that temp and time and they work perfectly. Just use a pre-heated 400F oven and start your 10 min timing when the powder turns shiny. That tells you the boolits are all at the right temp to start the curing process.

Welcome to the madness!

banger

[JASON4X4]

Welcome to the addiction

[psychicrhino]

Tgey look nice

[Garyshome]

Great job!

[sasquatch76]

Lookin' good! Also good to see that the powder used for fishing jigs works.

[BT8850]

Nice work! Looks like it is working out very well for you. The orange one that you smashed looks great for one coat of a lighter color, coverage looks superb. Congrats! As others have mentioned, prepare yourself, it IS addicting, once you get a pile of nice wild colored boolits you're all like HAHA! Best of luck!

[rondog]

Please forgive me for asking - but what is the purpose for powdercoating bullets? Why do you guys do that? Seems like a lot of extra work to me, but I don't know the reason behind it.

[xacex]

Please forgive me for asking - but what is the purpose for powdercoating bullets? Why do you guys do that? Seems like a lot of extra work to me, but I don't know the reason behind it.

It creates a jacket. No lube required, and you can shoot them in guns that do not like lead boolits such as Glocks. There are many other reasons as well such as storage, and the ability to re harden the boolit later.

[rondog]

It creates a jacket. No lube required, and you can shoot them in guns that do not like lead boolits such as Glocks. There are many other reasons as well such as storage, and the ability to re harden the boolit later.

Awesome, thank you! I kinda thought it might eliminate or minimize lubing, but the "jacket" part hadn't occurred to me. All I could think about was the PC cracking and flaking off, like the candy coating on M&M's.

[Smoke4320]

also in most cases leaves the bore clean of any leading and is super easy remove powder fouling
in my rifles it usually 1 solvent patch, 1 dry cleaning patch, then 1 oiled patch and I am done ..

[Maximumbob54]

What extra work??? I find it easier than any form of bullet lube and the cost is far less.

[Beagle333]

Please forgive me for asking - but what is the purpose for powdercoating bullets?

My reasons:
#1. It lets me shoot softer alloys faster in my revolvers, meaning that I can get my nice fat meplats and HPs to really splat without worrying about leading. And also I can buy cheaper, easier-to-find range scrap instead of COWW.
#2. It is cool to have boolits in a bazillion colors.
#3. No sticky lubes, no sticky loading dies and caked-up seating stems, and no lube cracking and falling out of the grooves if I store them my usual way in piles of ziplock bags.
#4. It's cheap. Darn cheap. The powder will lube a LOT of boolits per pound of it.
#5. It's actually fun and did I mention the really cool colors?

and some guys (mostly indoor range shooters) like the no-smoke bonus of using it, but I shoot outdoors and even shoot black powder sometimes just for the smoke, so that isn't a consideration of mine.
And you can also bypass the expense of a lubesizer or the mess of pan lubing. (I still lube some with my sizers, since I don't have a garage and can't coat whenever I want.)

You just spray or tumble or someway get the powder to stick to the boolit, then it melts during baking (curing) and forms a polyester jacket (1/1000" thick) over the boolit and is really slippery and also flexible. It will let you size the boolits and shoot them and it lets them slide right on through the sizer and/or barrel without leaving any lead behind. It is only an anti-friction coating for the contact surfaces between lead and steel and is not needed on the nose or the base, but you usually end up coating one or both just by the application method.

[xacex]

Awesome, thank you! I kinda thought it might eliminate or minimize lubing, but the "jacket" part hadn't occurred to me. All I could think about was the PC cracking and flaking off, like the candy coating on M&M's.

Nope, doesnt crack or peel off at all. In fact recovered boolits still have the powder coating on them. For pistol boolits there is no reason to ever use traditional lubes again. Accuracy is the same, no smoke , and no leading. Plus the ability to use lead that would normally be to soft. For rifle boolits some have pushed them past 3000 fps, but many of us are still figuring out the accuracy equation. The powder coated boolits do not act the same as jacketed, or traditionally lubed boolits in rifles. So, we must work up what will work for these. Mike Houghs did some .223 groups that were over the 2000fps mark, and under MOA. This gives you some idea of the potential of what we are working with.

[Rushthezeppelin]

Nope, doesnt crack or peel off at all. In fact recovered boolits still have the powder coating on them. For pistol boolits there is no reason to ever use traditional lubes again. Accuracy is the same, no smoke , and no leading. Plus the ability to use lead that would normally be to soft. For rifle boolits some have pushed them past 3000 fps, but many of us are still figuring out the accuracy equation. The powder coated boolits do not act the same as jacketed, or traditionally lubed boolits in rifles. So, we must work up what will work for these. Mike Houghs did some .223 groups that were over the 2000fps mark, and under MOA. This gives you some idea of the potential of what we are working with.

There are quite a few people that are getting good enough accuracy for hunting though, especially with 300blackout PC both subs and supers. Need more testing but I think I've found my ideal super load

[xacex]

There are quite a few people that are getting good enough accuracy for hunting though, especially with 300blackout PC both subs and supers. Need more testing but I think I've found my ideal super load

Absolutely! This method of coating works well for slower rifle velocities that the blackout archives. For us blackout guys this is one of the best things to come along in a while. Bullets for the blackout can be expensive, but now can be made for pennies, and achieve excellent accuracy. I have not achieved MOA with them in supersonic, but that is more a product of the shooter than the boolit in this case.

[bangerjim]

Awesome, thank you! I kinda thought it might eliminate or minimize lubing, but the "jacket" part hadn't occurred to me. All I could think about was the PC cracking and flaking off, like the candy coating on M&M's.

Believe me.....and hundreds of others!......IT DOES NOT CRACK! You are thinking of paint. This stuff is a hard coating. We do a smash test with a block of steel, a 3# sledge, and a boolit.....smash it nose to base until it is about 1/4" thick.....and the coating does NOT flake or come off. If it does, you either had oil on the boolits or did not bake it long enough (10 min max) or hot enough (400F max)....for most standard industrial powders.

Try the coating......you will never use grease again!

banger

[Rushthezeppelin]

Absolutely! This method of coating works well for slower rifle velocities that the blackout archives. For us blackout guys this is one of the best things to come along in a while. Bullets for the blackout can be expensive, but now can be made for pennies, and achieve excellent accuracy. I have not achieved MOA with them in supersonic, but that is more a product of the shooter than the boolit in this case.

Not to mention they will perform well and get great expansion/penetration even at lower velocities. Then you get to sub velocities and you just put deep hollow points and things still perform great.

[a.squibload]

...Try the coating......you will never use grease again!

banger

Well, I will use the grease!
Mainly 'cause I have many sticks of it.
And I still like gas checks even though you can't see 'em in loaded ammo.
And swaged JHPs from spent cases work real good.

But PC is now my favorite!