Hello to those of you on the Cast Boolits forum, my name is Chuck and I've been a lurker on this forum for a little while. I believe this forum to be the most informative for the bullet caster that I have found. I would like to share with you some of my experiences with bullet coatings. I began reloading in 1992 but only started casting my bullets in 2020 due to the lack of availability of reloading components because of the pandemic. After learning how to cast bullets, I did not want to use traditional Lube due to the smoke of the lube when firing. That led me to the powder coating option. I did find the powder coating to work well. It seemed to me the powder coating did not coat as uniformly as I would like it to. From the pictures, I saw on the Internet that my powder coating never came out quite as well. This may be due to my pick of the powder itself. While I liked the bright neon colors, they always came out much darker after being baked and I did not like working with the fine powder that was in the air. The powder stuck to everything well except the freshly cast bullets. I did a ton of investigations into how to powder coat the castings, and I tried the bucket swirl method and ultimately decided on a vibratory cleaner for applying the powder coating. The vibratory machine worked the best for applying the powder coat material. I tested different baking times, and different baking temperatures. Still not being satisfied with the outcome. I ventured to the Hi-Tek bullet coating method. I meticulously weighed and measured everything. As with the powder coating, the Hi-Tek bullet coating also came out much darker than expected. Once again, I tested baking times, different baking temperatures with little satisfaction of the outcome. This has led me to my current reloading journey. I had purchased copper-plated bullets before and started my investigation into copper-plating. My investigation shows mixed reviews of electro-copper plating of cast bullets using a copper sulfate solution. I was able to find a homemade barrel plater @ http://www.nulltime.com/zincplating/...rel/index.html. I proceeded to build the barrel plater and acquire the necessary chemicals for copper sulfate copper plating. Ok let's get the cost out of the way, right away. I spent $310.68 on the barrel plater & the copper plating chemicals necessary for the process. The testing is done in my garage. I have completed 4 copper plating trials. I mixed up 4 Gallons of Copper Sulfate Solution. The ingredients were 4 gallons Distilled water. 4 cups Copper Sulfate Crystals. 100 Milliliters Sulfuric Acid Solution. 10 Milliliters Midas Replenishing Brightener for Electroforming Copper. My results are very promising. The cast bullets are very uniformly covered with a bright smooth shiny surface. My test processes are listed below 1st trial of 100, 132.2 grain cast 9mm bullets made from an MP 125 359 mold. Step 1 freshwater rinse. Step 2 Denatured Alcohol Rince. Step 3 Distilled White Vinegar & Salt Rince. Step 4 freshwater rinse. Step 5 load barrel plater set the voltage on the DC power supply to 3 DC volts & .86 Amps. I left the cast bullets in the plater for 7 hours. Then repeat steps 1 through 4. I dried the cast bullets for 1 hour in a case dryer. Then it was in a vibratory Tumbler for 30 Minutes for final polishing. The result was a bright copper plating but some cracking of the copper plating on the bottom of the cast bullets. This is from the sprue cut marks on the cast bullets. I later found out this is due to not enough cleaning of the lead castings. The plating reached 1 mil (.0010”) bullet diameter is now .357” My 2nd test used the same copper sulfate solution but had 300 hard-cast bullets. I was now testing typical casting volume. I followed the same procedure but left the castings in the solution for 12 hours. This resulted in a bright shiny copper plating of 1.5 Mil (.0015”) bullet diameter is now .3575” again some copper flaking from the sprue cut marks on the cast bullets. My 3rd trial was with a double bucket. The reason for the double bucket is to try and keep the copper sulfate solution at a more uniform temperature. My research showed better cleaning of the cast bullets along with aeration of the copper sulfate solution and more constant temperature would make for better results. The outer bucket is a 106 Qt. Latching Storage Box with water and a 2000-watt heater. Set to 85°F. The inner bucket is now the barrel plater now fitted with a EcoPlus ECOair 1 Commercial Grade Air Pump 793 GPH - 18-Watt Single Outlet with 6 Valve Manifold for aeration of the copper sulfate solution. 3rd trial 300 132.2 Grain Cast Bullets From 2nd Test Group. This was done for 2 reasons 1st reason is to see if you could just add plating thickness to existing plating. The 2nd reason was to try to get better adhesion by better cleaning. The cleaning process now is Step 1 RCBS Ultrasonic Case Cleaning Solution @140 °F for 30 min. Step 2 Distilled water bath for 10 min. Step 3 Denatured Alcohol & Acetone Bath for 10 min. Step 4 Distilled water bath for 10 min. Step 5 White Distilled Vinegar & Salt Bath (2 Tablespoons Salt) for 10 min. Step 6 Distilled water bath for 10 min. Then into the Copper Sulfate Solution & Aeration for 6 more hours. Then repeat steps 1 through 6. Dried the cast bullets for 1 hour in a case dryer. Then it was in a vibratory Tumbler for 30 Minutes for final polishing. This resulted in a bright shiny copper plating of 3.5 Mil (.0035”) bullet diameter is now .3595”. The 4th trial was with 150 132.2 Grain fresh Cast Bullets and the same copper sulfate solution. Repeat previous steps 1 through 6. After placing the casting into the copper sulfate solution, I raised the DC voltage to 4 Dc volts and 2.9 amps. I left the castings in the plater for 18 hours. This plated very evenly to 5.5mil (.0055) bullet diameter is now .3615” repeat steps 1 through 6. Dried the cast bullets for 1 hour in a case dryer. Then it was in a vibratory Tumbler for 30 Minutes for final polishing. This resulted in a bright shiny copper plating and no cracking. I hope my trials are helpful to anyone wanting to try their hand at copper plating.
Frame Parts
qty
4 90° ½” PVC Fittings $ 2.84 Home Depot
1 45° ½” PVC Fittings $1.32 Home Depot
3 ½” Slip Tee PVC Fittings $2.37 Home Depot
5 ½” 2’Stright PVC Pipe $11.30 Home Depot
1 ½” to ¾” PVC reducer $1.76 Home Depot
1 1/2" x 1/2" x 3/4" Tee $1.67 Home Depot
Barrel Parts
1 ½” 2’Stright PVC Pipe $2.26 Home Depot
1 ½:” to ¾” NPT Adapter $1.76 Home Depot
1 ½:” to ¾” NPT Threaded Adapter $1.76 Home Depot
1 1 Gallon Drywall Mud Bucket (will Hold 400 Cast 132.2 Grain 9mm) Free.
Dangler Parts
1 ½” 90° anchor CPVC $1.39 Home Depot
1 ½” 45° CPVC $.74 Home Depot
1 ½” 2’ Straight Pipe $1.38 Home Depot
1 ¼” x 2 ½” Stainless Steel Bolt $1.38 Home Depot
1 Clear Vinal Hose 6’ $6.56 Home Depot
1 Braid from Coaxial Cable Free
Tubs
1 106 Qt. Latching Storage Box $20.98 Home Depot
1 64 Qt. Latching Storage Box $12.98 Home Depot
1 4-Watt Universal Grill Electric Replacement Rotisserie Motor 120 Volt $19.99 Amazon
1 Kungber DC Power Supply Variable, 30V 10A $69.90 Amazon
1 EcoPlus ECOair 1 Commercial Grade Air Pump $28.04 Amazon
1 PNKKODW 2000W Immersion Water Heater $32.99 Amazon
Chemicals Needed
4 Gallons Distilled Water $4.64 Walmart
1 Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate 99.9% Crystals - 10 Lbs. $27.77 Amazon
1 Sulfuric Acid Solution, 1M, 1L $27.26 Amazon
1 Midas Replenishing Brightener for Electroforming Copper $30.24 https://www.riogrande.com/