Besides Harbor Freight where is a good source for powder coating, what do you guys use.
Besides Harbor Freight where is a good source for powder coating, what do you guys use.
Smoke's powder. Here is a link. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...owder-For-sale
Ebay
Amazon
And my favorite
I found a local powder coating shop.
And asked him I could buy his overspray. Or left overs.
He was more than happy to part with it. As it was garbage for him.
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Smoke. Best powder I've used.
Smoke all the way. Tested and proven to work in out applications.
"In God we trust, in all others, check the manual!"
It is fine to patronize your local shops but if you want a powder that is without alibi then there is one sure choice for a supplier ...... Smoke!
Three44s
Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207
“There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”
I use and would recommend Smoke's powders, simply because every power he sells has been tested by an untold number of bullet coaters scattered across the USA, so you know the powder will work and is capable of giving excellent results. Off course it doesn't mean you can't screw up, it just means it wasn't the powder. For all new to PC I recommend starting off with Smoke and you may never have a reason to look any further for powder.
If you decide to branch out looking for more exotic textures, finishes and colors, especially for spraying or PC things other than bullets; I use and recommend Prismatic Powders. They are a commercial supplier offering some 6K of colors and just about every polymer type, texture and finish out there; but I do spray a lot. All powders will spray, but not all will tumble coat. So far it appears that all the Prismatic Solid Color powders will tumble coat, or at least all I have tried. At Prismatic, you can buy one pound or a hundred, pricing per pound is on their website for each powder, shipping is fast and reasonable if you are buying several pounds at a time as I do. They frequently have sales.
There are numerous other suppliers and I have tried several others, but what I listed is what I recommend.
Like many, I started out with Harbor freight for powder and a ESPC gun. I then started buying my powder from prismatic powder in White City, Oregon. At the time, White city was about two hours away. I toured their shop once, and they had 6500 sample swatches hanging on the wall to look at, basically aluminum strips that have been painted and baked. They also had car rims and AR15s that had been Cerro Coated in their lobby display. You can't walk in and buy powder, but you could order your powder for pick up the following day from the counter. I never did that as I simply ordered and emailed it which was typically shipped the next day. I later purchased one of the 'Craftsman' style ESPC guns for 50 bucks online. When ASBBPC coating first started out I jumped in with both feet. As described in numerous posts, Harbor Freight powder doesn't tumble with beans but Prismatic does, except their metallic powders do not coat evenly but spray well. Anyway, Smoke's powders are top shelf by all accounts I've read. I have not tried any of his because I found Prismatic first and their customer service is great. Again, so is Smoke, so I have read. Good luck, have fun, Powder Coat changed the game for me for pistol, and really upped the game for high velocity rifle, my .308, 30-06 loads are average 2250 tsp, and close with 300 BO. .223 I have pushed an NOE 225-63-RN-A4 Plain Base design (designed by a Cast Boolit member) over 2400 fps with minute of soda can at 100 yards. I'm still working on this lead, I need to harden up my alloy a bit but get 1.5 MOA at 2250 fps.
Anyway, good luck and have fun!
Common sense Gun Safety . . .
Is taught at the Range!
Well this thread is very relevant to my interest. Why? It kinda looks like Harbor Freight has discontinued their red powder paint. Not on their web site, not on the local store’s shelves, nowhere to be found.
As I understand it, HF red is the only one of their paints that works well with the “shake and bake” method of coating. Bummer for me, as I was getting ready to buy the powder and a toaster oven over the next couple of weeks.
So, do Smoke’s paints work as easily and well with “shake and bake” a cheap HF paint?
Last edited by OTShooter; 09-17-2019 at 04:48 PM.
Yes. Yes they do.
No, Smoke's powders do a far better job than HF and HF Red was the only color I tried.
Smokes powder works well for me
Hit em'hard
hit em'often
Powder by the pound is the place to get it.
another vote for Smoke
all I do anymore is S&B. I can "coat" about 50 bullets in less than 30 seconds--about a minute total to separate the bullets from the power/BBs and get them on the wire baskets.
for me this method has turned out to be best
NRA Life
USPSA L1314
SASS Life 48747
RVN/Cambodia War Games, 2nd Place
Hard to go wrong with ordering from Smoke. Especially nice to be able to order smaller amounts in diff colors.
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
HF red is fine. Works just fine. I moved on to Smoke4320's powder and never looked back. In fact, gave away a pound of HF Red to a friend since I have no use for it. I've tried 5 of Smoke's powders. 5 out of 5 work great with the ASBBDT method. All easier to get right than HF.
Like has been said before, powder from Smoke will be known to work for cast boolits.
Tip. I am not a fan of the look of Jet Black. However, a touch it in just about any color will make some awesome effects. And it seems to enhance coverage.
E.g. mixed with White Aluminum looks like lead.
Mixed with traffic purple looks like egg plant.
Mixed with yellow-green looks like a digi camo pattern. My favorite!
"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something."
~Thorin Oakenshield
There is a little known vendor on here that sells great powder that works for me.
Smoke.
762
Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
My amendment can beat up your amendment.
Smoke’s powder. Here’s his red tumble coated when moisture is low.
And his clear which always works no matter how humid it is when tumbling...
https://www.powderbuythepound.com/nautical-blue.html
is what I'd try. I swear by the Steele Blue 5011. Sort by price and study the specifics.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |