Powder coating barrel residue ?

[BUFFALOW RED]

Should I powder coat them again to get to . 402
As most fit the Lee die Nicely . I have to hone out my die a . 001

[Wheelguns 1961]

Should I powder coat them again to get to . 402
As most fit the Lee die Nicely . I have to hone out my die a . 001

You can do that. This is why I like the NOE sizing system. You have many more options, and it is cheaper in the long run.

[murf205]

The good news is that the Lee dies are soft compared to reloading dies. I use a split dowel and 400 grit paper rolled on a soft towel evenly. Check the diameter often with an as dropped boolit. Push an oily patch through each time to clean the grit out when checking. You will get there and remember, you can't put the metal back but one of the best things about cast boolits is that a tad bigger is more forgiving IF the chamber throat will allow it.

[BUFFALOW RED]

Ok great info
THANKS

[popper]

You need to measure the size of bullets from the Lee sizers for your alloy.

[BUFFALOW RED]

You need to measure the size of bullets from the Lee sizers for your alloy.

They come out of die at . 401

[charlie b]

I would also check the throat in your barrel. A pound cast is easy to do. My HK9mm does not have a throat and will not shoot PC'd bullets (the edge of the chamber scrapes off the PC).

I would not worry about the black stuff. Most of my barrels either show black or grey residue after firing, jacketed or PC.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve always started with a cold oven and turned it up to 400*F for 40 minutes. It would take me too long to get ll my boolits stood up in a pre heated oven.

[fredj338]

The black stuff could be carbon or moly. I have never had any residue in any caliber bbl with PC bullets. They dont even get much powder fouling.

[fredj338]

I’ve always started with a cold oven and turned it up to 400*F for 40 minutes. It would take me too long to get ll my boolits stood up in a pre heated oven.

I turn my oven on then start coating bullets. I stand them up using a jig made from plastic ammo trays. I can get 150 9mm into one of my wire baskets. Basket over the trays & flip, all perfectly stood up.

[popper]

I would leave them sized 401 until you find they really need to be larger. Do you do the hammer test (pound a rnd flat) to see if PC sticks or flakes off?
I read an article about 40sw in particular yesterday. Seems they tend to make a sharp step to barrel that increases initial pressure greatly. Over-sizing bullet compounds the problem.
borescope of my 40 after many PCd sots. probably need to run a patch down it.

[jimb16]

I stand my bullets in a silicon mat or on a sheet of parchment paper depending on the size and style of bullet. The parchment paper is on an aluminum tray. I carefully place them into the oven so they don't fall over. The oven is already hot so care must be taken so as not to get burned. Then I allow 5 minutes for the bullets to heat up before starting the 20 minute bake time. I've used several different powders and none of them have failed to adhere properly. I've never had any residue from any of the powders that I have used. All bullets are sized to proper dia. before PCing. In a few cases I size again afterwards. I cast 9 different calibers.( 5 different .30s = one caliber, 3 different .45s= one caliber, etc...) No problems with any of them.

[stubshaft]

The most I've had is some colored dust in the bore.

[fredj338]

I stand my bullets in a silicon mat or on a sheet of parchment paper depending on the size and style of bullet. The parchment paper is on an aluminum tray. I carefully place them into the oven so they don't fall over. The oven is already hot so care must be taken so as not to get burned. Then I allow 5 minutes for the bullets to heat up before starting the 20 minute bake time. I've used several different powders and none of them have failed to adhere properly. I've never had any residue from any of the powders that I have used. All bullets are sized to proper dia. before PCing. In a few cases I size again afterwards. I cast 9 different calibers.( 5 different .30s = one caliber, 3 different .45s= one caliber, etc...) No problems with any of them.

Seems a bit complicated. I put the coated bulelts in a 400deg oven & bake for 15-16m total time. Then into ice water out of the oven. Various brands of powder, all stick & pass the smash test. I also size after coating is baked on.

[charlie b]

Just curious, why not bake the extra 5 min recommended by the mfg?

[hc18flyer]

I use an oven thermometer. Even starting with a warm oven, when I put 200-.38 bullets in, it takes almost 10 minutes to get the oven back up to 400 degrees. I don't start my 20 minute timer till I am back up close to 400. I use a small convection oven and Smokes powders. Works well for me, hc18flyer

[BUFFALOW RED]

Just curious, why not bake the extra 5 min recommended by the mfg?

the sample pack came with no instructions or manufacturer label.
the black stuff had filled groves making it a smooth bore with no accuracy. had accuracy whin I started I have scrubbed with bronze brush on cordless drill still not got it all out

[oley55]

I have been following this post from the beginning but didn't comment until I had a pretty good grip on my own PC residue problem. Which was really hard to remove and soaking in acetone didn't seem to help the removal process much if any. I eventually used about the same method I'd use for lead removal (under sized bronze bore brush with either bronze wool or copper chore-boy wrapped around it with Kroil). I know my residue was not lead because I never once found even a hint of lead flakes.

A little background, I have been powder coating for more than a few years and have had the occasional actual leading with undersized bullets in various revolvers, but never had this hard black stuff. Same powder, same process and curing method.

My PC residue problems were with my new SIG P320 9MM and I figured out my just barely large enough bullets were being sized down by some of my mixed headstamp brass. I finally realized I was using the wrong NOE expander for the bullet size I was using. I have since loaded and fired severel hundred rounds without any residue problems.

Why I never had the residue problem before but had seen leading is uncertain. I suspect some bullets were getting swaged down by some of the brass just enough to allow enough gas seepage to melt the PC but not enough to cut/vaporize any lead.

Although several responders have questioned your curing method as the culprit, I gotta question those notions. If you have ever recycled a bunch of PC'd boolits you will quickly produce some nasty black goo in the pot.

NOTE TO SELF: do not EVER dump a bunch of PC'd bullets into your casting pot.

[charlie b]

Had to laugh a bit. I put bunches of PC'd bullets back in my pot all the time. After fluxing there is a bunch of gas checks and black stuff on top. After fluxing I just scoop it out. Isn't any 'nastier' than beeswax residue.

[oley55]

Had to laugh a bit. I put bunches of PC'd bullets back in my pot all the time. After fluxing there is a bunch of gas checks and black stuff on top. After fluxing I just scoop it out. Isn't any 'nastier' than beeswax residue.

Glad you had a good laugh. Not sure what a 'bunch' means in the legal sense, but when I said a bunch I was in the 300+ category. I have dropped plenty of PC'd boolits into my casting pot and the black goo floated to the top and was handled with some sawdust. If however I dumped PC'd boolits in to an otherwise mostly empty pot the melted paint clings to the pot.

Last week I recycled approximately 1K 9MM PC'd boolits in a cast iron pot. The paint stuck to the bottom and sides and even after scooping off the floating paint, large bubbles of cooked paint gases kept burbling/burping up. After a lot of stirring and fluxing it mostly stopped, but when I emptied the pot the bottom and sides remained encrusted with mostly hardened goo. So then I took a propane torch to it and eventually burned most of it away. However that cast iron pot still has a black sooty coating in it.

Giggles or not I am damned glad I don't have that stuff semi-permanently clinging to the bottom and sides of my casting pots and that was the reason I mentioned it. Just hoping to help someone else from screwing up as I did a couple years ago.