I powder coat all my cast bullets these days; it takes about the same amount of time as tumble lubing (they get tumbled in either lube or powder, one way or the other) and mostly eliminates any velocity restrictions on cast bullets.
When I shoot something like a 308, I want it to be a 308, not watered down to a 32-20. I don't want to restrict my cast loads to 1500 fps, when there is a lot more potential there. Powder coating lets me push my cast rifle bullets to regular jacketed bullet speeds, and for the pistol bullets it eliminates all leading completely.
gnoahhh, unless you use a powder coating that has some sort of abrasive in it, there shouldn't be any perceptible barrel wear. The coatings I'm using are polyester, not epoxy. This is basically a thin flexible plastic coating; it's not very hard, as some claim.
One other comment - guys, you need to use an oven thermometer. If you have to limit the oven time to keep bullets from slumping, your oven is too hot. You should be able to leave bullets in the oven for hours at 400* without slumping. You can over-bake the powder coat if you leave it too long, but you should never see damage to the bullets.
Last edited by Yondering; 07/27/15.
