Powder coating bullets

[Maximumbob54]

Finally getting around to trying this project. On the Castboolits forum they have taken to calling this the "Piglet Method" I assume because the first guy to try this was called Piglet or something. I have no idea and I haven't found his posts yet. Pics:

Cheap Harbor Freight powder coat, Kleen Strip lacquer thinner, and a cheap bucket from Home Depot:


I added some thinner over the bullets and swished it around and then dusted on some powder then shake a little add more powder and shake a little and continue until even:


I made a screen with a couple of layers of hardware cloth and rolled the edges to prevent any bullets rolling off:


Bake them at 400 degrees for thirty minutes but make sure the thinner has all dried first or they go boom in oven... Ask me how I know. No wait, don't...


After the first coating and baking:


And after the second coating and baking:


I won't lie, they are ugly. I'm guessing a round nose bullet with less SWC shelf to allow build up would have less road rash look to them. But I still plan on shooting them and doing further testing. Maybe I added too much powder the first time and again the second. The good news is they were easy to push through the sizing die and the coating didn't break down at all:


They are currently being loaded over 7.0 gr of Unique and I think they look like actual zombie bullets...


Zombie closeup...

[akuser47]

Cool I can make some green bullets for zombies lol love it.

[Maximumbob54]

I did a second batch with both coats a little lighter this time:

[Maximumbob54]

Trying a new source of powder:



This seems to be working much better. I must admit I'm standing on the shoulders of giants here. Others on the Castboolits forum are trying all sorts of things and I'm mixing and matching a little here and there.

You mix the powder with the lacquer thinner in about a 1:4 powder to thinner and shake shake shake until the thinner is dry and the bullets are coated:



Initially you may think you don't have enough powder but just keep shaking until everything dries. Once dry bake in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes just like the label says.



That's the first coating and I plan on doing a second one tonight. These will be loaded for shooting tomorrow. The previous HF batch will also be tested.

TBC...

[Ranch Dog]

[Maximumbob54]

I failed to mention something that I find to be a HUGE WIN for powder coat so far.

Since you have to shake the bullets in the bucket until the thinner evaporates off that means the bullets are dry. For whatever chemical reasoning the baking and cooling of the finish does next to nothing to make the bullets stick to each other. I just did a rather large batch just to prove this to myself. The Powder by the Pound powder is polyester based while the HP powder is epoxy based. Go figure the HF bullets stuck together a little more but still not as bad as the two part paint tumbled bullets. The HF powder may only be $5 a pound but the PBTP is so far around $10 to $20 and seems to be coating much better and isn't sticking really at all. I'm calling PBTP for the early win as long as it performs and .40SW should push this for a good pressure test for leading.

Oh, and yes I saw some of the bullets are fragged. I plan on culling as I drop them in cases during loading tonight. I didn't want to look at each of them right now while I'm trying to cook everything and coat a second time. I see no need to handle twice when I have to handle them during loading anyways.

[Maximumbob54]

The good, the bad, and the ugly... Just not in that order...

Ugly first:

The Colt barrel looked like a sewer pipe after shooting the lighter coating of the HF powder coat.


The M&P 54c got the heavier HF powder coat.


The M&P 40c got the PBTP with a thin coat.


The good is that everything seemed to perform. My poor shooting skills demand that at some point I buy a shooting rest for true accuracy testing so I didn't take pics of the targets. As usual I did my best with the Colt and the two M&P's were at best a fist size group. All testing was done at the seven yard range because I can't shoot the M&P's well enough for grouping at the twenty five yard range and the fifteen yard range is still closed for upgrades. Everything fed from the mags, the guns all ran fine, and there were no troubles.

The bad...

I wanted to clean with the most generic cleaner possible and not use anything fancy or abnormal. My choice was Hoppes #9 as most people have it on their bench already or it's carried in just about every gun store I've ever seen and most sporting goods sections have it in stock. I swabbed the bores with a big of rag and allowed it to set for about half an hour. I made a sammich and ate it so I guess about half an hour of goofing off sammich making and eating.

Colt


45c


40c


From some reviews I've read about this I've heard of some that had bores that seemed cleaner than before. Mine looked terrible after shooting and I think I may need to bronze brush them to get them spotless again.

Summary...

I am not declaring this a fail. The next batch of cast bullets will have more coatings applied but thinner each time. The HF is the hardest to work with but it does work. It's the hardest to apply in a thin layer only because the epoxy based powder is the hardest to break down in the thinner. It seems to want to clump and not apply even. The PBTP being polyester breaks down in the thinner with ease and applies very even. The .40SW bullets had two very thin coats and I really should have loaded some of the bullets that the second coat went on a bit thick and I wanted to know first if this was going to work at all. My only negative is that while leading didn't happen, the coating seemed to leave a residue behind. I don't think anyone else has mentioned this. The residue caused no loss of accuracy nor did it cause any failure to feed or other problems. If nothing else I feel like the PBTP powder is far and beyond the winner of the two. I have two more PBTP powders to try and may try them this weekend but I need to cast more boolits!!!

[Ranch Dog]

Is any of this stuff coming off up in your bullet seating dies?

[Maximumbob54]

Is any of this stuff coming off up in your bullet seating dies?

Not in the slightest. My first test is the sizing die. If it sizes without any negatives then it passes. Then I loaded a few dummy rounds of each. Nothing rubs off in the die and the seating and crimping doesn't break anything.

The more I think about it the more I think I went all wrong with the harder alloy. If I compare this at all to copper plated swaged bullets then I have to figure that the plating is super thin and the lead is super soft. The copper doesn't shear off from the lead being too soft unless the bullet is pushed too hard. So the next batch will be a softer alloy.

[Maximumbob54]

On a whim I decided to give the cheap HF red another chance. Turns out once again less is more. I was using way WAY too much previously and now that I'm not trying to fully coat them they look far better. I poured just a tiny bit into the bucket and then poured the thinner over that and swished it around. I end up with what I can best describe as a bit of red slime booger that is rolling around in the lacquer thinner. I then add the bullets and shake them. And then shake them some more. And when I'm done I shake them some more. You get the picture, shake them and keep shaking them.

Then following the instructions on the bottle I bake them at 400 for 15-20 minutes and end up with this:



The irony is the HF powder is epoxy based so it's almost the same thing as the Klass Coat... Whatever...