Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters powdercoating cast bullets

yeah, i realize you can avoid using lube, but i have been reading as much as i can about this process.
Seems like a lot more work than the traditional methods.
Anybody doing this?

Been doing it. Won't go back to the other way. To me easier and faster.

I am experimenting with this. A question, do you size your bullets before coating, or after, or size them both before and after?
I have some hitech engine paint that has epoxy in it. Was thinking of sizing some bullets a little smaller, then spraying them with the canned stuff to get about where the actual diameter should be.

If you are powdercoating, are you using a spray gun, or the shake and bake method?

it would seem that it's greater benefit would be in the higher velocity area to avoid leading.

What bullets have you been coating? And easier and faster than which "other way"?

Just curious, as have been thinking about trying powder.

Head over to the reloading/cast bullets section of the Single Actions forum, www.singleactions.com There are detailed threads on the subject.

I haven't started powder coating myself, but I have bought PC'd 250gr Keith bullets from one of the members over on Singleactions, and they are just as accurate--and a whole lot cleaner--than the conventionally lubed cast bullets I was shooting before.

Your question was not to me, but it is fascinating stuff. Seems they have been doing this for years in aussieland. And they were painting bullets as far back as the 20's and 30's here.

Oregon45,

I've read about it considerably already. What I'm asking is which "other method" (or "conventionally lubed") method is involved.

I cast quite a few bullets but like to keep the whole process as simple as possible, so don't feel compelled to drive them at velocities above 1500 fps or size them if it's not needed. Have done considerable experimenting and have found a lot of bullets don't need sizing (which can actually degrade accuracy) to shoot well. In fact many shoot better unsized, and lubed by rolling around in Alox.

This seems to be a very easy method of gettingt cast bullets to shoot, so am wondering which "other" or "conventional" method you two are talking about.

Over on singleacitions look at this thread.
http://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/13565/pc-bullets
Every one has different ideas on how to coat, I hope to start powder coating soon,
Ronnie

I can't speak for the OP, but when I read the words "conventional method" with respect to lubing cast bullets, I think of a wax-based lube forced into the grooves of a bullet using a press-type device such as a Lyman 4500 lube sizer, usually during sizing of the bullet but not necessarily so.

I agree with you that quite a few bullets need no sizing; for my own guns, I've measured the bores and simply cast to fit that measurement without additional sizing. The less work I have to do at the bench the better

Oregon45,

That's what I guessed, but wanted to make sure.

Agreed, for me casting bullets is mostly about speed and ease. If I can just cast 'em, roll 'em around for a few seconds, then load 'em, then that's fast and easy!

I messed around with powdercoating briefly. Didn't have the best of luck, but didn't give myself a lot of opportunity to perfect my technique. I'm pretty happy with tumble lube, so will probably just stick with it.

I cast up some 170 flat nose .308 out of a lee mould today, i think tomorrow i am going to size some of them to .308, the mould is .309 and gas check a few. Then powder coat a few, and also spray a few with that hi tech engine paint.
Curious to see what happens.

I think i probably should of cast some .375 in 250 grain for a .375 winchester. Running them up around 2000fps would be a could test.

I followed the instructions on this thread:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/9348007/

. . . and got wonderful results loading for 357 Mag and 35 Whelen. My first batch, I made a couple mistakes.

1) I used airsoft pellets, to tumble with the bullets. They were unnecessary.
2) I lubed with Alox after sizing. This was also unnecessary.

My last batch looks great and shot great. I'll still tumble lube the slower pistol stuff, but I'm sold on this method for centerfire rifle.

Try this link, will probably answer any questions you have.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?184-Coatings-and-Alternatives

Please tell me what "shot great" means.

Ok. This is my take on it. Ive been casting for a long time, prob 20 yrs. I shoot a lot of straight walls and am a 45/70 freak. To date and have been powder coating about 6 months. I read about this and since I am a tinkerer just had to play.
I have dedicated a tumbler to applying the powder. I just throw the cast bullets in and a tablespoon or two of the powder. Doesnt take much. Tumble for just 5-7 minutes. I then put them base down on a pan lined with non stick aluminum foil. Yes it does exist. You want it on the pan. I then put them in a toaster oven at 350-400 for about 18 minutes. Don't go extreme on this. I do have some I think actually slumped so just enough to cure the powder.
I use the Lee push thru sizers for speed and ease. So much better than my old Lyman. I can also modify the Lee sizers easily with sandpaper and a dowel rod if needed.
I know some might think this is more work but I don't see it that way for me. For years I have made my own lube and actually enjoyed the whole procedure. I'm finding this to be a cleaner and easier way. I have even had clean barrels on guns with rough bores. Just my thoughts.

I shoot mostly cast bullets in all my centerfires anymore. I cast/size bullets to match throat diameters and am fortunate in that after years of mold selection I now mostly have to only run them through the lubrisizer to seat gas checks. Since I'm doing that step anyway, why not just add a squirt of lube at the same time? PC'ing is indeed an interesting procedure, but since I'm nowhere nearly done finished experimenting under "old school" protocols, I'll leave that to others to investigate.

Anybody know if there's any risk of increased bore wear with PC'ing? A diet of tens of thousands of soft lead "normally" lubed bullets at modest velocity won't wear a barrel appreciably. Just wondering how that would be after a similar number of PC'ed bullets?

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.

Seems to be kinda silly. I wanna make holes in paper and kill stuff, not have purdy boolits. Cast, size and lube and I have no leading in 44 Special, 44 Mag and 357 Mag. Gas checks go on the 358 Win.

Let me just chime back in here. Yondering and gnoahhh, I am a fan of both of you, and I've taken both of your advice over the past year in my quest to do cast bullets.

I cannot say if there is or is not barrel wear. What I can tell you is that I did see some people on the various forums I haunt mention barrel wear. I think some folks saw a hazing of otherwise bright bores that they attributed to abrasion. Whether or not this is accurate, this comes from a minority of people trying the powder coat method. That hazing could be a bunch of things.

Hypothetically, there might be abrasion. However, it probably would not come from the polyester base, but from the colorants. Yondering, you pointed me towards a green paint. I found out the main ingredient in the color agent is Titanium. Running Titanium-impregnated paint down a bore? I dunno. However, it has not stopped me. If I do find my barrels getting hazy, I may change my mind, but I have not seen it yet.