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Posted: 10/3/2013 10:03:43 PM EDT
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I have been casting for just a little bit, and I have been powder coating my bullets for the last few weeks, and I have to say that I absolutely love the powder coated rounds. I wanted to know who all else does or has tried powder coating to any kind of cast bullet. Experiences good or bad? I have shot them pretty flawlessly from my Glock 19, and my M&P. If you have tried the process, how has it worked for you?
John |
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Quoted:
I tl or PC everything. TL just doesn't cut it for some things like heavier loads and some rifles. Quoted:
Quoted:
I tried it, found it wasn't worth the effort as opposed to tumble lubing. It's just too much work IMHO. I tl or PC everything. TL just doesn't cut it for some things like heavier loads and some rifles. Agreed for rifles and higher pressure rounds. For most of my needs which is 9mm and .45, just isn't really worth the effort. For my 30-30 and higher pressure rounds you are absolutely right. How do you PC your rounds? Do you place them base first on a sheet or do you have another way? |
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I cast and powder coat 223,44mag,45acp and 300blk and love the results. I have a 44 mag rifle that I could not find a jacketed or cast bullet that was accurate until I tried powder coating.
I made a jig which is a thin 1/8 inch piece of alu. that I drilled 60 holes in large enough to insert a 38 cal case and then another piece of alu. attached to the bottom with no holes in it to hold the cases in place. these pieces are sized to fit my cheap toaster oven . (about14"x10").I then insert my cast boolits nose down into the 38 cal cases and pc with my cheap harbor freight gun and put in the oven at 400 deg. for 20 min. and then im ready to shoot. I coat the sides and bases and do not worry about the tips. works great for me . I am still working on the 223 but the 44mag and 45acp rounds are great. no leading so far in any of the guns. |
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I cast and powder coat 223,44mag,45acp and 300blk and love the results. I have a 44 mag rifle that I could not find a jacketed or cast bullet that was accurate until I tried powder coating.
I made a jig which is a thin 1/8 inch piece of alu. that I drilled 60 holes in large enough to insert a 38 cal case and then another piece of alu. attached to the bottom with no holes in it to hold the cases in place. these pieces are sized to fit my cheap toaster oven . (about14"x10").I then insert my cast boolits nose down into the 38 cal cases and pc with my cheap harbor freight gun and put in the oven at 400 deg. for 20 min. and then im ready to shoot. I coat the sides and bases and do not worry about the tips. works great for me . I am still working on the 223 but the 44mag and 45acp rounds are great. no leading so far in any of the guns. |
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Quoted:
Agreed for rifles and higher pressure rounds. For most of my needs which is 9mm and .45, just isn't really worth the effort. For my 30-30 and higher pressure rounds you are absolutely right. How do you PC your rounds? Do you place them base first on a sheet or do you have another way? Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I tried it, found it wasn't worth the effort as opposed to tumble lubing. It's just too much work IMHO. I tl or PC everything. TL just doesn't cut it for some things like heavier loads and some rifles. Agreed for rifles and higher pressure rounds. For most of my needs which is 9mm and .45, just isn't really worth the effort. For my 30-30 and higher pressure rounds you are absolutely right. How do you PC your rounds? Do you place them base first on a sheet or do you have another way? I use a PC gun and place them on a foil lined sheet and spray them down. For bullets that will tip over or fall if moved much I place the bases or gas check shanks in small hex nuts which are underneath the foil. Hollowpointed bullets can be "hung" on a nail that is pounded through a spare baking sheet. |
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I'm powder coating all of my pistol rounds with excellent results. Harbor Freight PC, Goodwill toaster oven (the size of the oven is what limits batch sizes); I'm putting the bullets on no-stick aluminum foil and have multiple toaster oven pans to rotate into the oven so I can process as efficiently as possible.
It takes a little more labor than tumble lube, but to me it's worth it. No sticky (runny here in Vegas in the summer) lube; less smoke and no leading. 9mm / .40 / .45 and .480 Ruger. |
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Quoted: www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/395802_Powder_Coating_Cast_Bullets_.html http://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=6&f=42&t=395802&page=7 http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?87768-lead-bullets-coated-with-polymer-paint http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=83968 http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/reloading/209517-powder-coating-cast-bullets.html No experience I just read a lot  Thanks for the links. I've been meaning to get up to speed on this. I've been hearing a lot about this, |
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I tried the "piglet method" which is dissolving the powder coat powder in lacquer thinner or acetone, and then swirling or tumbling the boolits in it. the problem I had was the coating was very uneven. and when I went to bake them on a mesh basket in the toaster oven, the little mesh wires left ridges on the coating. So I went out and bought the harbor freight electrostatic gun, I just haven't used it yet.
I have a USPSA Open pistol in 9mm Major. It would be great to get away from having to buy copper jacketed bullets (Montana Golds) for it, if this powder coating thing works. There have been a couple of guys on the cast boolits forum who claim to be pushing .308'ish powder coated boolits to velocities close to what you can get with jacketed bullets through their AR-10's . That's something I'd like to really see for myself with my own two eyes, especially if the accuracy was minute of paper plate at 100 yards. If this powder coating thing does work, I am changing all my moulds over to hollow point moulds to make the powder coating easier by setting them on pins or nails hammered through a baking sheet. |
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I started doing it for all my lead I shoot (mostly during western action shooting).
It isn't worth it by any stretch of the imagination. I started casting my own bullets and powdercoating. I love the results but it does not pencil out if you value your time at all. Will I keep doing it? Sure will. Casting (have to buy lead, no free) and powder coating doesn't pay but I enjoy it and it is a stress reliever for me. I'm a small business manager and have a problem with penciling everything out. I find that I have to do a cost analysis on everything. This helps me relax and stop worrying about money for a bit. I like the results, they run great so far. ymmv |
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Quoted:
I tried the "piglet method" which is dissolving the powder coat powder in lacquer thinner or acetone, and then swirling or tumbling the boolits in it. the problem I had was the coating was very uneven. and when I went to bake them on a mesh basket in the toaster oven, the little mesh wires left ridges on the coating. So I went out and bought the harbor freight electrostatic gun, I just haven't used it yet. I have a USPSA Open pistol in 9mm Major. It would be great to get away from having to buy copper jacketed bullets (Montana Golds) for it, if this powder coating thing works. There have been a couple of guys on the cast boolits forum who claim to be pushing .308'ish powder coated boolits to velocities close to what you can get with jacketed bullets through their AR-10's . That's something I'd like to really see for myself with my own two eyes, especially if the accuracy was minute of paper plate at 100 yards. If this powder coating thing does work, I am changing all my moulds over to hollow point moulds to make the powder coating easier by setting them on pins or nails hammered through a baking sheet. This was my very first round of rifle pc'd bullets. The mold was a lee 311-155 SKS bullet. I don't recall the powder offhand but I took a jacketed load and used it. H335 I believe. Range metered out to 55 yards- I was just trying to see if they would even be on paper, because I was highly skeptical too. Turns out I didn't need to be... First six shots went into this, and then I did a tactical mag dump downrange of a 40 round mag just to see if there would be any leading (there was none at all) I also DID NOT gas check these. Velocity was around 2250 for these when I chrono'd the load later. 
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I will add that you need to be very diligent when belling and seating. PC is really, really tough stuff, but if you shave the lead off the bearing surface of your bullet, you're going to get leading bad! I didn't put enough bell on some .45s I was doing once and one of those tough little slivers fell down in my 550... I went to wipe it out with a finger and got that sucker lodged in there and it was sharp and painful!
I normally cast, size once with no lube in a lee sizing die (It will not lead... I have hundreds/thousands of many different bullets with no lube pushed through these with no problems- if you do get leading, chore boy that sucker and it'll be clean as a whistle), powder coat, then size again. I think this is important, because PC adds 1-2 thou to the diameter. This ensures concentricity (although ES power coats are generally very very even) and also makes sure you aren't shaving any material. |
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Quoted: This was my very first round of rifle pc'd bullets. The mold was a lee 311-155 SKS bullet. I don't recall the powder offhand but I took a jacketed load and used it. H335 I believe. Range metered out to 55 yards- I was just trying to see if they would even be on paper, because I was highly skeptical too. Turns out I didn't need to be... First six shots went into this, and then I did a tactical mag dump downrange of a 40 round mag just to see if there would be any leading (there was none at all) I also DID NOT gas check these. Velocity was around 2250 for these when I chrono'd the load later. http://i.imgur.com/WOTArbY.jpg http://i.imgur.com/epvqp8r.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ZtoA24Z.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8CB6y4e.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RAf9YUV.jpg Quoted: Quoted: I tried the "piglet method" which is dissolving the powder coat powder in lacquer thinner or acetone, and then swirling or tumbling the boolits in it. the problem I had was the coating was very uneven. and when I went to bake them on a mesh basket in the toaster oven, the little mesh wires left ridges on the coating. So I went out and bought the harbor freight electrostatic gun, I just haven't used it yet. I have a USPSA Open pistol in 9mm Major. It would be great to get away from having to buy copper jacketed bullets (Montana Golds) for it, if this powder coating thing works. There have been a couple of guys on the cast boolits forum who claim to be pushing .308'ish powder coated boolits to velocities close to what you can get with jacketed bullets through their AR-10's . That's something I'd like to really see for myself with my own two eyes, especially if the accuracy was minute of paper plate at 100 yards. If this powder coating thing does work, I am changing all my moulds over to hollow point moulds to make the powder coating easier by setting them on pins or nails hammered through a baking sheet. This was my very first round of rifle pc'd bullets. The mold was a lee 311-155 SKS bullet. I don't recall the powder offhand but I took a jacketed load and used it. H335 I believe. Range metered out to 55 yards- I was just trying to see if they would even be on paper, because I was highly skeptical too. Turns out I didn't need to be... First six shots went into this, and then I did a tactical mag dump downrange of a 40 round mag just to see if there would be any leading (there was none at all) I also DID NOT gas check these. Velocity was around 2250 for these when I chrono'd the load later. http://i.imgur.com/WOTArbY.jpg http://i.imgur.com/epvqp8r.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ZtoA24Z.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8CB6y4e.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RAf9YUV.jpg I use the Lee 2R cast bullet in my AK also.
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