Powder coat questions and information:

Gentlemen:

I have spent a few months in the Alaska winter casting, sizing, powder coating, and shooting for some of my double rifles. Soon I will order moulds for some nitro express doubles I also enjoy shooting.

1. Questions.

How do you gents cover the bullet so completely with the powder? When I put the bullets and powder in a plastic container and cover, then I shake, they come covered about 50% and I can still see lead. I notice from the bullets posted here on AR the covering is complete and the color rich after coating. How do you do it?

I shoot in the winter through targets and into a snowbank. I recover the bullets when the snow melts in spring (May). I notice the equator of the spherical balls and the shank of the conical bullets does not have any coating material remaining--i.e. is seems to be scraped off when the projectile travels down the bore. Is this normal and what, if anything, needs to be done so the coating material remains on the bullet or ball? Notice there is no coating remaining in the grease grooves, also.

Can any of you gents post a photo or two of your coated bullets after they have been fired?

2. Information.

If this coating works, I will retire my RCBS lube/size machine. For most of the projectiles, I use push through sizers from Lee Precision (for .500 and smaller) and CH Tool sizers for .577, .600, and the bore sizes: 12-10-8-4- bores.

In my limited experience, I notice absolutely no difference in how the bullets print on the target (25, 40, 50 yards) nor do I notice any signs of high pressure. Leading is definitely down in the bores but if I can get the coating material to stay on through the bore, then it should be zero. This summer I will chronograph to see if there is any change in velocity.

I "shake and bake" the bullets at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, but, as noted, the powder does not completely cover the projectile and when I place them on the tray with tongs, I lose even more coverage.

Thanks for the info, guys.
Cal





Bullets are
left: 1900-grain 4-bore
center: 900-grain .600 nitro
right: 1620-grain 8-bore

Cal, I've done a bit of shake and bake but for anything bigger than .35 cal. I spray with a cheap PC gun. It coats the big bullets much better.
Just make sure your bullets are totally clean too and get a forcep that can grasp in the grease groove to avoid wiping off any powder.

Also, are you adding anything into the plastic container to build up static electricity?
I have found a red solo cup with airsoft BBs added builds up some pretty good static and helps the powder to adhere better.
Some containers are better static builders than others.
If your bullets are splotchy after baking, there is no problem recoating and baking again.
For your big bullets I think the PC gun will be far and away the best method.

Thanks and I will look into a PC gun.
Cal

Try adding some of the 6mm plastic soft air pellets to your shaker.. That is what was recommended to me over at Cast Boolits and it seems to work. I get good coverage. Why it works I do not know.

CAL
have not had any issues such as you describe.....not being able to cover the bullet with coating...im not sure what container you use....but some containers create more static then others ....throw a few BB balls in there and see how it goes

Also i have found that powder coating is much thicker when applied then HI TEK coating, and causes real problems when sizing

I feel hi tek coating is a better coating , very tough and a lot easier to apply then powder coating...not as messy and does not stick together

if your intent on going down the PC path, try putting on a very thin first application and then a thicker second coat, and size after the first and second coating

My suggestion is try HI TEK !!!!!!!!

Daniel

Cal, I ave a vibratory tumbler dedicated to powder coating. Works well. A few minutes then I dump them into a collinder and shake excess off in a container. I am finding the powder coat I use seems to be sensitive to humidity. The more moisture it absorbs the harder to get it to stick.

just give them a second coat

The proper plastic container ( increase static charge). The recommended container for the "shake-n-bake is the #5 ( the #5 inside a triangle) plastic container that many food products are sold in! Add the airsoft pellets , and your coverage should improve. Some folks will do a second coating after baking for a "really" complete coverage. Those pushing to high velocities, seem to often use the "two" coat method! memtb

Gents:
Your information is well received and appreciated.
Cal

If you look at the bullets I post, you will see that the tips are not covered.

That part does not touch the barrel, as we all know, so it makes no difference.

What I did was buy large plastic chopping boards, and I drilled holes in them of different sizes to suit different caliber bullets.

After I make the bullets, I put them in a degreaser and dry them.

Then I put them point down in the holes drilled in the chopping boards.

That way they stand up straight, ready to be sprayed.

I spray them from 4 directions, that covers all the surface of the bullets.

I use commercially available Molly spray - not from any of the gun accessory manufacturers, as they are far too expensive.

The ones I use we get from the local market.

Many types are available, but make sure you get the one that dries hard quickly.

You can see some bullets in my Hunt Report of last year on the African Hunting Forum.

Works great.

We have a man that hosts this site and has for years, goes to Africa and shoots bunches of buff and everything else and takes his friends as guests and toured Canada in a helicopter and posted bunches of photos of the trip, has pet cheetahs and birds of prey, now he is saying that molly spray from gun accessory manufacturers is too expensive. If it scares Saeed off I know it aint for me.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
We have a man that hosts this site and has for years, goes to Africa and shoots bunches of buff and everything else and takes his friends as guests and toured Canada in a helicopter and posted bunches of photos of the trip, has pet cheetahs and birds of prey, now he is saying that molly spray from gun accessory manufacturers is too expensive. If it scares Saeed off I know it aint for me.

What I found was that the Molly offered by Outers comes in small cans.

And when left for any length of time, it looses all the pressure and will not spray.

This is in addition to the fact that it costs several times more than the commercially available Molly spray.

The cans are 3ctimes the size, and actually cost less per can!!?

I do not mind paying for quality, but I hate to be taken for a ride.

Saeed--It is obvious you like quality. Most of your rifles wear a gold ring scope. Your photography reflects quality. I doubt that you buy the $1000 cupcakes at Bloomsbury's there in Dubai.

Saeed,

You don't happen to know the brand of moly spray that your using do you?

I will tell that once I am back home.

Buy a piece of 3-4 inch ABS pipe and 2 caps, cut the pipe about 4-5 inches, put a cap on one end with glue. Add 6mm pellets bullets and powder, shake well, the ABS pipe and fittings create a lot of static.

All good info.

BUT: when and where is the MEK solvent used so many promote?

Thanks much,

George

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
All good info.

BUT: when and where is the MEK solvent used so many promote?

George

I'm not sure unless it is used to clean the bare bullets prior to coating, especially if they have residue from sizing. MEK is a good grease/wax solvent.

Perhaps making a slurry of color and MEK and dipping the bullets wet - don't know...

Thanks for the reply but: ME either!

George

I've been powder coating off an on for a couple years, more so the past year. I start with a #5 plastic tube like this that I get at the local Chinese restaurant.



Into the tub, I put enough of these multicolor plastic beads to fill it about 1" deep. You can get them at about any store that sells craft items.



I add about 1 tsp of powder and give it a good shake for about 30 sec. to mix the powder and beads and if all is well it should look like this. I only coat when the humidity is around 40% or lower outside in the shop or in the house and bake on the back porch. The lower the humidity the better the static charge that is created.



I add about 25 to 50 bullets depending on size and weight and shake for about 30 sec. or so, open the container and check the coverage sometime you may need to add more powder but I only add about 1/2 tsp. too much powder can clump on the bullets and not leave a nice smooth finish once they are baked.

If all goes well the bullet has a nice fine coating on them and I place them on nonstick aluminum foil base down and bake for 20 min at 400 degrees in a convection toaster oven an this is the end result.



Here are a few of my NOE clone of the Lyman 358156 HP's I did in Carolina Blue and Yellow Green as well.

What is the powder you gentlemen use to coat your bullets?

What other purpose is it used for??

Ok I think I got it.

It is just normal powder coating paint.

Anyone has any idea how this affects the bore??

Does it require anything special to clean??

Well, I can only speak for myself but in my rifles and handguns, my bore is always nice and shiny like it's never been fired. About all, I have to remove is some powder residue on occasion. It's really no different than when I shot regular lubed cast bullet as I never had leading issues with those either.

cured powder coat is slicker than naked lead.
about the only time you have any residue problems with it is if you don't cook the coating long enough or hot enough.

I use an internal thermometer in the oven.
when the powder goes 'wet' from the heat in the oven getting up over @350-F.
I set my timer for 20 minutes and make sure the oven temp doesn't go over 410-F.

A friend showed me some of his pistol bullets that had been fired into rocky ground and still had the coating on the ripped up areas. A few chips gone of course but most of it was still on.

Iv'e read on castboolits gunloads site to not use black as it won't coat very well. Colors do real well as you can see above.

I have the stuff, just haven't got off my arse to do it yet.
George