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I was under the impression that the plasticised carrier in the paint, was the reason it was able to stick so well after heating and act as a lube/barrier, along with being able to react to static the way it does.

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I having been fooling with this stuff the last couple of days. It didn't go so good, mostly explainable as i cast some 45colt bullets where the cheap lee die was not closing completely, and through the diameter off. This had an effect when i ran them through a lyman 450.
I first bought some hi temp engine paint, sprayed them and baked. This seemed to add a couple thousandths diameter to the bullet. I sized them after the paint, and it didn't work so good. Scraped paint off etc. I then stuck some harbor freight paint in a container, and tumbled with the airsoft pellets. it seemed very uneven coverage on the first go around.
didn't bother to bake them, and was reading on cast bullets forum others using different ingredients in the mix, which i haven't tried yet. I think i need to order some better powder, and try again.
Somewhat unrelated, but regarding .45colt. The prewar colt was sized to .454 or even bigger, the postwar colt standardized at .451 or .452. Although i have one smith that the bullet would drop through the cyclinders if sized down that low. I read some stuff last night where people are just sizing to .454 and letting it go at that. Any thoughts from anyone on this? One of my early lyman cast bullet reloading books suggested this as an ideal diameter.
If one were to carry this thought a little further, the nominal diameter today would be around .452. Sizing to .454 and a couple thousandth more for at least the painted/spray version, would get it up there to far i am thinking.


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I must have missed where the airlift pellets are added. How many? And when? For the tumbling part?


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I have read it both ways the airsoft pellets are not needed, and that they are.
I filled the bottom of the container with them to where they covered the projectile, right or wrong. But didn't like the way they turned out. Blotchy wasn't aware that you coated them more than once.


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RoninPhx, don't waste your time with the Hobo Freight powders. Buy the green powder I listed in the OP from Powder Buy the Pound, and you'll have good results following my process. You won't need airsoft BB's, unless you just like making more work for yourself.

Don't bother with the epoxy spray paints either; it doesn't work. If it comes off in the sizing die, it comes off in the barrel too.

Coat before sizing, not after. Use the sizing die to smooth out inconsistencies in the coating.

You need to slug the bore and cylinder throats of your revolver to determine how to size your bullets. Don't just guess or go by someone's standard. Some guns have really large throats, some are very tight, and you wont' know without measuring.

Also, I really recommend a push-through die, like Lee makes, instead of a Lyman 450. The Lee dies do need to be polished inside, but when that's done, sizing is easier and straighter than the Lyman, and faster too. I still have a couple Lyman 45's on my bench, but rarely use them for anything except seating gas checks these days.

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i don't have that powder in yet from the place recommended, but i did spray some bullets with the vhs engine block spray.
This increased diameter of the lee .309 170grain flat nose that had come out of the mould at .309 to .311.
I will confirm they went through my sizer die on a lyman bringing them back down to .309 slicker than owl sh*t.
Applying gas checks were easier to.
I can sure see why people are doing this.
If it wasn't that i wanted uniformity in the size, multiple .308 type things to put them in, I don't think i would have sized them either.
Next is to stick them in some 30.30 brass and load not at max but on the upper end and see what they do.
I can SURE see using this powder coat application or the spray paint for that matter, on pistol bullets.
I think that better grade of powder will work quite well.
with the vhs spray, i didn't seem, to have any issues with it coming off.
Traditionally i have used blue angel, alox, or lyman "bug snot" as a lube. Alox works but i have to clean the noses of the bullets after loading. It's hot in arizona. I went in some cases to hitemp lube, it works, but that is a different issue.
I think at this point the paint is an answer in ore than one area.
Let you know when i get that yellow/green paint in and applied on some.

I showed one of the painted projectiles to a 80 year old friend of mine yesterday, that has been casting and reloading for probably 50 years, he got bugeyed and said he had never thought of that. Now at one time he was a IBM engineer assigned to NASA working on the manned space projects. I was thinking, don't they use certain types of paint on the shuttles, and some of the airforce hardware? Same thing.

Last edited by RoninPhx; 07/30/15.

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I took yonderings advice, these are a few after using the powderbuythepound.com yellow/green. Pretty good coverage for just tumbling them in a cup with a lid, doesn't take much and it is better to use less rather than more per coating.
adds about 2/1000th to bullet diameter prior to sizing.
these are lee 310grain gascheck prior to sizing and gas check.
While they are designed for gas checks, i am not sure i really need to size or gas check them. [Linked Image]


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Yondering, what mould (mold?) make for the hollow points? NOE?


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The 9mm and 10mm bullets in the second post are Mihec molds (modified pin on the 9mm), the rest are modified Lee molds. I hollow point my own molds and make the pins to match the application. In my experience, most commercial hollow point molds don't have good hollow point pin shapes.

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Originally Posted by RoninPhx

While they are designed for gas checks, i am not sure i really need to size or gas check them.


Looking good!

I would still size them for best results, mainly to make sure they're all the same size, and to iron out inconsistencies or defects in the powder coating layer.

Last edited by Yondering; 08/03/15.
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I see the Mihec mentioned now. For some reason I wasn't thinking of them.

I've really enjoyed this thread.


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These are .375 winchester. Gulp, using new winchester brass, with a lyman 248grain bullet. They were not powder coated but sprayed with vht engine block paint. I am experimenting so this is just me trying to figure it out. Paint adds about 2thousandth in diameter to the bullet. I sized these bullets naked to .376, would have rather had a .375 die, then painted and cooked. I then resized them to .376, and didn't have any issues with the paint coming off. Went right through the die easy.
I have been messing with some .44 310grain bullets, I did not size them before powder coating, and the sizer die to bring them from .434 or so back to .431 was rubbing some of the paint off.
I should have sized them from the mould to .429, applied paint, cooked, and sized again to .431 which is what i wanted.
I still don't have it down right on the right quanity of powder to tumble with, and i am either getting too much paint, or blotchy . [Linked Image]


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Can you fire those into something where you can recover the bullets? You can learn a lot from recovered bullets that you wouldn't know otherwise.

BTW you seem to be using "powder coating" and "paint" interchangeably; they are not the same thing.

I had paint rub off my bullets during sizing, when I tried that, but if you have powder coating rubbing off, you either have a rough sizing die or bad powder coating. You should be able to easily reduce the diameter by .010" or more without damaging the powder coat.

If you're using a Lee push through die, it MUST be polished inside. If you're using a luber-sizer press, both Lyman and RCBS dies benefit from a larger bevel leading into the die.

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i probably do use paint interchangeably, do know the difference. The paint didn't rub off, the powder coat did.
using lubersizer press and lyman die. I think one of the isssues with my powdercoating is i am getting too much of it on the projectile. translated, i don't have the powder coating application quite right yet. I was bringing the powder coated ones down from around .434 or higher, to .431, definitely more than one thousandth.
I think i am going to fire some of them into some gallon mild jugs which should allow me to capture the bullets.

Last edited by RoninPhx; 08/04/15.

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Some credit to yondering, when you are right you are right.
I took out two cast bullets to fire today.
first one was a 375winchester Lyman mould 375248 at 249grain.
It cast right about that so it was close to lyman no two allow.
I fired this in a marlin several months ago using 23grains of 2400, velocity was right around 1900 fps. Today i used 21.6grains, velocity around 1850fps. First time was a lyman lube, today i had the bullets sprayed with vht red spray paint. I do think it was cleaner, as the barrel is ported. Some months ago got a bunch of powder and debri around the ports, today nothing. I wish i could have recoved the bullet, it went through nine milk jugs and a piece of plywood and kept on going. But there was some mild leading that easily came out. Not totally satisfied, wish i could have found bullet.

The we come to the 44magnum 310grain lee bullet. I powder coated these with the yellow green yonder recommended. I wish i had that part down a little better. However I have a
lyman no 48reloading guide, calling for 2400 on a 300 grain bullet, and minimum of 14grains at 857fps, and max of 15.7 at 1001fps. I loaded some at 15.4grains. was using a thompson contender with ten inch barrel, and a s&w model 29 4inch. I loaded these bullets both with gas checks and no gas checks. It didn't seem to make any difference. The thompson was running faster than the smith, barrel difference. I checked the barrel after firing a number, pretty clean. Later when i officially cleaned the pistol no leading, and very little fowling, extremely easy to clean. needless to say with the ten inch barrel i was getting an easy 200fps over the smith.
the smith ran the same bullets, gas check and no gas check, average velocities right around 1000fps. In the field it looked clean. I fired after these some 44special swaged lead and cast lead and it did lead up at that point as i expected. Below is the gas check bullet as fired through the smith and wesson at around 1000fps. I was pretty hapy with it. It also penetrated nine filled milk jugs and bounced off the plywood backstop. The first three jugs just exploded. The others were ripped until you just got wholes at the rear of the chain. I would hate to get hit with one of these pills. I think it would go through most everything [Linked Image]

Last edited by RoninPhx; 08/06/15.

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Looks good! It's hard to recover those flat nose revolver bullets, they penetrate forever. I haven't used the .44/310, but used the .45/300 (which cast at 310) a lot. Great bullet design.

A couple observations:

- That .44 bullet pictured looks like a pretty heavy coat of powder, although it could be just the pic. Try for two thin coats, you don't want too much buildup, more powder is not better.

- That fired .44 bullet collapsed the lube and crimp grooves, and looks like it happened in the barrel not on target. Not necessarily a bad thing, if it doesn't cause problems, just something to be aware of. Your alloy may be a little soft for the pressure of that load.

Did you recover any bullets fired without gas checks? In my experience, they show gas cutting when fired from revolvers (happens when passing the cylinder gap) but not from long guns.

Last edited by Yondering; 08/07/15.
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i am sure you are right that they are too thick on the coat. chalk that up to my in experience, didn't recover any of the non gas checked, but both guns were pretty clean prior to me firing the 44special. I will do it again and catch the non gas checked ones. I didn't measure the brinel rating of the alloy, but can. have to think around lyman no 2. I do think i am going to reduce the load next time i load some up.


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If they shoot accurately, they are fine. If you want them harder, quench them in water right out of the powder coat oven after the last coat, then wait a couple weeks for age hardening.

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I use cool whip containers and no pellets...works great. I just swirl them vigorously for about a minute, dump them in a collator, shake of the excess, dump them on a pan and bake them.

Been doing this for a long while now...have been completely sold since the first batch...and this comes from a LONG TIME conventional luber, but I will not shoot conventional lubed bullets in my guns, again. Matter of fact, I have a lot of them loaded...but they will stay in reserve as a last ditch ammo source.

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