Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

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Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by juststarting » 04 Oct 2017, 2:10 am

Morning all

I have a question about powder coating (cast bullets)... I think I got pan lubing under control (thanks to noisy and OB), but now I am thinking I want to give powder coating a go. Especially with deep groove bullets designed for black powder amount of lube (and a new toy on the way, pic when it arrives)... Anyhow, I want to give powder coating a go.

The process seems rudimentary, no issues there. However, I am a confused about materials used to powder coat bullets.

What is it?

Is it something designed for bullets or something more generic like, say, airbrushing? Where can I buy it? What can I use and what should I avoid using? Basically, I am really unclear on the actual material that is used to powder coat and everything about it (what, where, how much, etc).

Any answers would be awesome.


Cheers
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by No1Mk3 » 04 Oct 2017, 3:12 am

G'day juststarting,
There are a variety of products for bullet coating, some specifically designed such as Hi-Teks coating, others more generic, from plain metal powder coating paints and urethanes, to tungsten disulfide to hex boron nitrides. The methods of application also vary according to which product you use, from mixing powdered Tungsten Disulfide with MEK and spraying, to tumbling powder urethanes and baking. For starting out, go to Hi-Tek Australia and buy one of their commercial powders and follow their instructions for application. After that you can get a bit more adventurous and start buying moly disulfide from the hardware, or powder coating paints, and baking. There is a very good article on castboolits about this subject that is well worth a read, Cheers.
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by straightshooter » 04 Oct 2017, 7:26 am

I have had excellent results with Lee tumble lube when I have gotten the alloy mix and casting right.
If you are attracted to dazzling colours then you can mix in some laser toner powder with the lube.
Lee claim the lube is alox but I suspect they put some kind of varnish in it so it dries hard.
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by juststarting » 04 Oct 2017, 9:28 am

Heh, well, that doesn't simplify things :-| I was hoping to find something that only requires powder, rather than mixing with acetone, so, I am guessing I am after moly disulfide, just shake and bake... No1Mk3, do you mind sharing the the link to the article about it on Castboolits?
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by bladeracer » 04 Oct 2017, 10:07 am

juststarting wrote:Morning all

I have a question about powder coating (cast bullets)... I think I got pan lubing under control (thanks to noisy and OB), but now I am thinking I want to give powder coating a go. Especially with deep groove bullets designed for black powder amount of lube (and a new toy on the way, pic when it arrives)... Anyhow, I want to give powder coating a go.

The process seems rudimentary, no issues there. However, I am a confused about materials used to powder coat bullets.

What is it?

Is it something designed for bullets or something more generic like, say, airbrushing? Where can I buy it? What can I use and what should I avoid using? Basically, I am really unclear on the actual material that is used to powder coat and everything about it (what, where, how much, etc).

Any answers would be awesome.


Cheers



Same powdered paint as used on cars and other products, probably a polymer base I would guess.
Roll the bullets in a small quantity of powder in a dish and the powder sticks to them, then bake it hard in an oven for a short while and you're done. I have a pound of gloss black from Eastwood but I haven't tried it yet.
The advantage is no more lube and higher velocities.
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by reloader762 » 08 Oct 2017, 1:24 pm

You will need a plastic bowl with a snap or screw on lid of some sort I use a old cool whip bowl and use the shake an bake method,other will just put there powder an bullets in a vibratory tumbler and let it run till there coated.

Some people use black plastic air soft beads mixed in with the powder to help create static,I've done it with an without and can't tell much of a difference. An environment with low humidity that helps create static electricity is your friend when it comes to coating bullets. When I can't do it out in the shop on hot humid days I coat them in the house an toast them out on the back porch.

You will need a toaster over. You can buy a new one fairly cheap or see if you can pick a used one up at a local thrift store for a few dollars. People bake the bullets in different way but I line my toaster tray with non stick aluminum foil and stand my bullets up on the base using a pair of large tweezers,it's slower but I like the results I get.

As to powder many use the Harbor Freight powders Red works best for shake and bake followed by the Yellow. The HF Blacks seem to work much better if it's sprayed on with an ES gun as will the Red an Yellow the HF white is pretty much useless for PCing bullets,it just really grainy but it ok to add just a touch of the white to other colors if you like to add a speckle tone or lighten the color.

There are many companies online that sell powder coat by the pound or you can get it form Smoke over at Cast Boolits http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raying-bullets He has good powder,prices and shipping it's where I get my powders.

All my coated bullets are baked at 400 degrees for 20 min. if you buy online from a mfg. they will state what temp and time to bake there powders at for it to cure properly. It's a good idea to preheat your over before putting the bullets in an use a oven thermometer to verify your oven temperature.

Also of note if you water quench your bullets straight from the mold before coating the PC curing process with negate the first water quenching so you will need to re quench them after removing them from the toaster oven even then they still want reach a final BHN as close to the original quenched BHN but it will be fairly close an they will harden further over the next couple weeks.

Here are a couple samples I done.
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by Oldbloke » 08 Oct 2017, 4:35 pm

Sheesh they look Perrty. Do they shoot better?
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by bladeracer » 08 Oct 2017, 5:05 pm

Oldbloke wrote:Sheesh they look Perrty. Do they shoot better?


They shoot faster :-)
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by reloader762 » 08 Oct 2017, 11:57 pm

Sheesh they look Perrty. Do they shoot better?


They shoot faster :-)


Basically the only reason I PC bullets is that they are better for long term storage and they keep my hands and dies cleaner,I just treat the powder coat like another form of lube that just has some added advantages over the traditional Lee Alox or LAR's Xlox tumble lube.

As to whether they shoot better or faster I haven't really done any side by side comparisons of the same bullet with an identical load as far as velocity goes I just use my chrono for load development mostly an work up accurate loads with whatever bullet using whichever lube process I'm using at the time. Leading in any of my handguns and rifles has never been an issues so PC'ing the bullets didn't have to solve any problems there.

I don't PC all my bullets mostly all the handgun and a few rifle bullets that have tumble lube grooves. I have found that some of my rifles just like plain old cast lead that I lube in my RCBS Lube sizer,and if a bullet would normally take a gas check for the alloy and load pressure I'm using I still apply the gas check as well.

Here are a couple targets I shot with PC bullets one is the Lee 452'' 200 gr. SWC I cast it from 50/50 PC it and shoot it in my Hi Point 45 ACP carbine.
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NOE 452" 220 gr. HP
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Alsop the Lee 170 gr. RNFP I normally shoot in my standard 30 cal. rifles. After PC'ing some they were fat enough to shoot out of one of my Mosin's so I tried a few to see how they would do. I need to bum the velocity up a bit.
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Re: Powder coating cast bullets - what is that powder?

Post by wheedle » 10 Oct 2017, 2:30 pm

Oldbloke wrote:Sheesh they look Perrty. Do they shoot better?


They look like little ceramic sculptures like old nanna would have on her windowsill :lol:
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