Powder Coating Boolits

[mpawlina]

You can see a bit of lumpiness in the picture but for speed and $avings of not buying gun, foils, trays, not to mention time, I'm ok with that. I'll be shooting them at 25 yards and if they will be in the paper I'll call it accurate enough for my needs.

I don't know if anyone else is doing it but I spray them a bit after the last coat with Pledge to lube them prior to sizing. Used to use One Shot but Pledge is so much cheaper. On a upsidedown lee sizing die it's a breeze to size them after the treatment.

I actually filed two bullets flat before powder coating just to see is there is any measurable difference in hardness. I also saved two bullets from the same casting session to compare "orange to orange". I will measure tonight and post the results.

[Stilly]

Hi all!

My attempt at wet coating:

Attachment 142649

Got some sample powder from local shop. Eventually came to mixing ratio of 20 grams to 100ml of acetone. Coats well but still needs two coats for complete coverage. Needs to be dumped on a drying screen while wet or it will get lumpy. Discovered that if you place lumpy boolits back in the coating bucket and add some acetone and remix it it will smooth out completely.

15 min each time at 400 degrees in pid convection oven. Passed smash test. Will shoot 'em this week and report with outcome.

When I switched from acetone to lacquer thinner it was much nicer to do. but then I went dry tumble and it was even nicer.

[NavyVet1959]

I don't know if anyone else is doing it but I spray them a bit after the last coat with Pledge to lube them prior to sizing. Used to use One Shot but Pledge is so much cheaper. On a upsidedown lee sizing die it's a breeze to size them after the treatment.

I use cable pull lube. It's some sort of wax also. Throw a small dab of it in with a bunch of bullets in a container and kind of tumble lube them. Pour them out and let them dry for a bit or just use them wet. Either way, it seems to work. Cable pull lube doesn't make for a good bullet lube for shooting, but that is what the powder coat is for. I have a 1 gallon bucket of it, so I suspect it's going to last me a LONG time.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Too...1012/202266595

[robertbank]

Working with PC bullets in 9MM with my alloy. The HI Tek works for my 38spl and 45Colt. I am hoping PC will work with my 9MM alloy.

Bob

[DEC505]

WOW, 118 pages. Guys I have searched but haven't found answer. How does range recovered PC boolits act when smelting ??

[bangerjim]

It is just plastic. It melts & burns black! The burnt stuff just smokes and floats on the surface. Skim it...........and move on. And no, it is NOT a flux. You still need to use sawdust 3X.


banger

[Smoke4320]

^^^^ agree melt, skim, flux, cast

[DEC505]

Thank you for the quick answer. Also thanks to all who have experimented with this procedure,You have made life a lot easier for us new to this addictive hobby. With all this "reload you will save money" I heard, I'm going broke

[bangerjim]

I constantly hear from the wife........"remember this hobby that was going to save us hundreds? Well, it is now costing us THOUSANDS!"

I reply back......."But honey, it keeps me out of the bars and warehouses!" (Well.....at least one of them!)

banger

[RustyReel]

Got a package from Smoke today, Pound of red and a thousand ASBB's. Humidity is down to 82% today in S Fla so thought I would give it a try. My first attempt was a week or so ago using the PC that I use for my fishing jigs. I think they ended up shootable but they certainly were not pretty and I was a little worried about the coverage. Cool whip container, ASBB's and a couple of scoops of powder. Confirmed my yard sale over was reaching 375-400. Away we go. I think they turned out pretty well. The Red 458's and 308's are one coat. Some minor bright spots where I picked them up with the forecepts. The orange/red ones are my earlier attempt recoated with red. They came out pretty nice as well, think the red covered the weak spots in the orange. Gonna try these in my 458 Socom and 300 Blackout for starters. They are slippery!

Attachment 156833

Rats, where did that 308 pic go. Should find it soon.

[OnceFired]

Here's my first pass.

Since this was my first time using PC for any use, I tested it out on the cast boolits I had rejected & culled out. So these all had wacky problems such as wrinkling, deformities of all kinds, lack of fill out, etc.

But with just two shake & bake passes I got a good first blush. Convection oven was registering 400 on thermometer & controls which is good. Each batch spent 20 minutes cookin. I tried silicon mats as well as aluminum foil + just the plain cookie tray. They all worked equally well.


These are my first 223 cast boolits in powder coat black



Hammer test on concrete



Hand placed on 223 LC brass for an idea of what they'd look like

I've got Harbor Freight powders in black, red and yellow. I think my range ammo will be black and I'll keep red & yellow for specific loads. There are about 800-1000 freshly cast 224 keepers now itching to be PC'd.

I plan to smelt the existing PC rejects back down next time I hit the wheel weight supply. Which will be soon since all my lead ingots are SOWW at the moment.

[mikeingeorgia]

Hey, I'm planning on giving PC'ing a try. On Harbor Freight's website do I just search for powder coating powder? Do you just tumble them in the powder then bake them?

[NavyVet1959]

Hey, I'm planning on giving PC'ing a try. On Harbor Freight's website do I just search for powder coating powder? Do you just tumble them in the powder then bake them?

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...?q=powder+coat

[OnceFired]

OK, got my first set of range ammo done in HF black. I was guesstimating 300-350 and it landed at 352.

I took the ones on the left in the cookie tray...



and made these



I put several handfuls in a single Cool Whip #5 polypropylene container, added perhaps 100+ BB's (half what I originally used) and then followed instructions of 30 seconds circular (both directions) followed by 30 seconds up & down hard. It required 2 coats. I was hoping for one with the non-rejected boolits but got no joy.

@Bangerjim - how do you separate the bb's from the coated boolits? I read you dump 223 because they're small and you do a lot. Either you pick out 100 bb's which are smaller and harder to pick out or you pick out 300+ boolits. Either way it's tedious. Have you figured out a better way to separate the two once you dump?

I am planning on getting separate plastic bowls for each color to keep them as vibrant as possible.

[Desertbuck]

OnceFired
What kind of velocities are you getting out of the 223? I'm planning on getting a mold and powder coating some myself to try in my mini 14.

[OnceFired]

Haven't shot any yet Desertbuck. These are my first cast in 223. Still need to be sized & gas checked but my FreeChex III is ordered. I have primed, trimmed LC brass waiting to be assembled.

[bangerjim]

Hey, I'm planning on giving PC'ing a try. On Harbor Freight's website do I just search for powder coating powder? Do you just tumble them in the powder then bake them?

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to explain. Read the stickies on here about PC'ing.

We all on here developed it over 3 year's time, so you should be willing to spend a few hours reading about how it is done.

banger

[OnceFired]

And BangerJim is one of the people whose posts I followed.

[mikeingeorgia]

Alright, let me get my thinkin cap out

[popper]

2016-03-23 16.00.33.jpg
Two 185gr Lee brs both from the exact same batch placed side by each and then squarshed in a vice. Very effective anneling at 12 minutes in a toaster oven at 390.

Probably a very good test to make for a few weeks after cooking, before loading.