What I learned today! Powder coating-

[Jon.Moore]

I got my powder from Smoke and wasted no time getting started. I did not have "non-stick" tin foil, so I used regular tin foil-- fast forward, the bullets stuck like glue to the foil- some came off nice, others tore the foil and stuck in shreds real hard... lesson learned, but which side is non stick- or is it both sides? I bought "Rubber maid" round bowls at my local Menards, put in about 1/2 cup of black air soft BB's along with about 2 tablespoons of "Carolina Blue" powder and about 75 --9MM 115 gr bullets and spun-shook the bowl for 1 minute-- fast forward, I got a good coating with no "bare spots"... the 1 minute shake added 8 thousands inch to the diameter of the bullet when baked, so I still had to size down. I did a second batch, this time I used a little less powder, maybe 1-1/2 tablespoons, and added about 100 of the same bullets and shook/spun the bowl for 30 seconds-- fast forward, I had lots of bullets with bare spots all over them. When I baked these they still gained 8 thousands inch in diameter... lesson learned- shake/spin for one minute and get good coverage because they will still need to be sized back down. Right or wrong, I baked them at 375 for 15 minutes from a cold convection oven,, they smelled very hot like melting plastic, but they did not burn nor turn brown or black, the coating melted nice and looks slick and glossy! To say the least, I'm loving this and having a great time! I will do some load testing tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who had a hand helping me along! Jon

[retread]

The dull side is the non stick side. As far as 8 thou on the diameter I can not speak to that as I spray mine, usually only a few thou thick using the spray method.

[Walter Laich]

I swirl mine for 30 seconds then flip the container over about 5-6 times. This last part seems to be what spreads the PC evenly.
I 'think' you might be using too much powder or...
are you taping each bullet as you take it out of the container to remove excess powder? I use hemostats and the powder goes back into the container.
mine have to be sized but it's easy to do so I'm not getting a large buildup of powder.

FWIW I went through the non NSAL when I started. Was using a new sheet each time and really didn't care if they had pieces of foil on the bottoms. Shot fine and nothing left in barrel.

Sounds like you have a good start on this--keep working on it--you get better with practice

[OS OK]

Check the wife's pantry, parchment paper works fine and will bake quite a few times before becoming too brittle.

[HABCAN]

I've found, for ME, HERE, I get much better and more even coverage if the #5 container has at least three spoons of powder for a large handful of boolits (smaller caliber, more boolits, larger caliber, less boolits) and gets swirled, shaken and tossed for 75 seconds. I started out with using less powder but got poor coverage, so I added a few more BB's and the extra powder. Now, it works just fine.........but I'm still fine-tuning. Oster's neat little conv. oven starts from cold, set @ 400*F, runs 15 minutes.

[Jon.Moore]

Thanks everyone! No,, I was not tapping the bullet as I held it in my tweezer-thingy,, perhaps I could and shake off a little excess. I have noticed in all these posts, no one has mentioned the number or ratio of black BB's per number of bullets powder coated. Is there such a thing as too many BB's per tub? Would too many BB's knock powder off-- or does it really matter?
Each time I did it,, I did not have an "abundance" of powder left in the bowl, so I thought I had about the right amount of powder per bunch of bullets... Thanks Guys!! Jon

[HABCAN]

Since you asked, four of Smoke's 1000(?) black BB packs spread over 6 #5 tubs seems to be about right, FOR ME.

[bangerjim]

Tap your tongs/tweezers/hemostats on the side of your #5 container to get rid of all the excess powder.

In the many MANY thousands of boolits I have BBDT, I have never ever gained more than 2-3 thousands on the coating...if done as described above. If you do not tap off, you coats will be lop-sided and uneven at best.

Why 375°F? Just crank up the temp to the industry standard of 400F! 10 min after the powder turns shiny will do it. No more time and electricity needs to be wasted.

Experience & time are the best teachers. Too many on here try to over-think this simple process even before they have any of the supplies. As you do more, you will learn what works and what does not. I and many others on here started doing this and jointly developed the techniques over 3 years ago. It does work VERY well. But I still use my ESPC guns for perfect coats.......AND matte black~!

NSAF = dull side up!!!!!!!! PC does stink when it cures. won't worry about it! At 400F it will not burn.

banger

[Jon.Moore]

Thanks Guys, some real good info being shared here! I ran out some test ammo today, running 7.5 grs of Accurate #7 and 115 gr bullet. Not very happy with accuracy as I'm having some crazy fliers- I am willing to blame this on the coating (8K thickness) perhaps being lop-sided. I am resizing to .357... I am also experimenting with the OAL, it seems they shoot better when they are longer, than when sit deeper in the case. I am also taper crimping. I get a fairly good group, then one goes WAY off- like 6-7 inches!! I'm going to blame lop-sided coating being too thick and try to shake off excess powder for the next run. Shooting AR-15, 9MM 16" carbine.

[bangerjim]

Keep playing around! That is how I develpoed my methods of coating. No one method works for everyone!!!!!

Good luck and have fun!

banger

[shoot-n-lead]

Too many on here try to over-think this simple process even before they have any of the supplies.

banger

Listen to this man ^^^^.

Folks, this ain't rocket science and there are many ways to do it, with the exact same results...find the one that works best for you.

This stuff is as easy as pie...very hard to mess it up.

BUT, you have to do it...to find what works for you.

Also, when I started...I took some of the things touted as absolutely necessary to be done a specific way, with a grain of salt. So, over time, I set about testing these things that I questioned. Turns out, everything that I questioned, could be done a different way or was just flat wrong...but I would have never known for sure, had I not tested them MYSELF. As my process stands now, I know that the things that I do and don't do...are done or omitted, for a legitimate reason. It did not take me long to workout a process that was quick, efficient and effective. And, I am confident that you will workout a comparable process, for yourself.

I will say, that there has been more misinformation posted on this process, than probably any other process discussed on this entire forum. And by misinformation....I mean, posts that say it has to be done "so and so" way to get "such and such" result. When, in fact, for a lot of things pertaining to powder coating...being done,,any one of several ways, will get the desired result.

[popper]

Tap the excess powder off and you probably need to wipe the coating off the base to insure it is FLAT. You won't see any difference at short range but it sure shows at 50-100. Even cooking base down doesn't guarantee a good base. This is a 145gr PB @ 100 going ~2k fps, BO carbine. Nice circle from coated bases. HiTek coating does the same. I coudn't shoot that circle on a $1K bet.
Attachment 173677

[alfloyd]

I put 2 layers of Black Air Soft BB's in my #5 container.
That makes it easier to find and pick up the boolets.
There is some ( little ) power left in the bottom of the container when I am done shaking.

Lafaun