Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Shake and bake

Decided to try the powder coat thing to cut down on cleaning bullet lube out of guns.









Just need to run them through the sizer once they dry off.

Have you tried it without the airsoft BBs? You really don't need them, and it makes the process a lot simpler.

I don't bother standing each one up by itself either. Just dump them on a screen and bake. Literally shake - dump - bake, I never have to touch them until after they're baked.

I need to bend up some screens to hold them in. No I haven't tried it w/o bb's, that was my very first time powder coating.

I just lay a flat piece of screen in the pan or tray. It's not critical, just something to keep them off the bottom. If it's a non-stick tray, you might not need it at all.

I'm just using the drip pan that came with the toaster oven.

I took Yondering's advice over the summer and dropped the bb's-- great improvement. It does make things a lot easier, and I still get good coverage.

Do you get flat spots where the bullets contact the screens, or do they come out smooth and round?

No, you end up with little pucker marks where they touch the screen, but it's not as pronounced as flat spots from laying on a pan. The marks don't seem to affect anything, and get smoothed out when you size them.

Thanks. I've been meaning to try this, but I can't find the time. Anything I can do to speed up the process sure helps.

No beads - bullets are tumbled in a RCBS sidewinder tumbler. I simply shake off the excess powder coat powder in a colander and dump them out on to non-stick aluminum foil. I just make sure that the bullets are not stacked on top of each other (single layer) and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

You can probably ditch the tumbler and colander too if you want. I use plastic yogurt tubs, and shake by hand for about 20 seconds. I try not to put in enough powder to have much excess.

I haven't tried aluminum foil. Does it work pretty well for you?

The non-stick foil works great. I use it for four of five batches and then replace. Just make sure the dull side is up.

Non stick is the way to go!

does one color work better than others ? how does accuracy compare to alox type lube ?

Ed

You guys have finally piqued my interest on this. Assuming this is just run of the mill powder coat you get at harbor freight or likewise?

What are you guys doing for sizing? Lee push-thrus? What about guns that do better with oversized bullets? One of my .44s does best with .434" bullets.

Harbor freight,powder by the pound, size with Lee or Star.
Ronnie

No, don't use the Harbor Freight powder; it's crap compared to the good stuff. Most of the people who say the shake n bake method doesn't work or needs BB's, tumblers, etc are using junk powder like Harbor Freight.

Don't assume just any old powder works. Personally I've used at least 10 different powders, and every one acts different, even just different colors of the same brand. My personal favorite for good coverage, toughness, and easy coating is still the RAL 6001 Yellow Green from Powder Buy The Pound.

Size with push through Lee-style dies, but polish inside the die. Or use custom dies that several members on castboolits sell.

If your gun likes larger bullets, stick with that for powder coating too. Coat first, then size.

I appreciate the info on the powder. After posting my question I did some reading last night on the Castboolits forum. I will definitely be dipping my toe in shake-n-bake powder coating after the holiday.

I also found where NOE has a push-through die body that accepts body bushings of whatever size you need. Pretty slick setup that would definitely work for a few of my oddballs. The die body is ~$40 and the bushings were about $9 or $10 each. I will definitely have to give this a shot.

The powder I used is sold by smoke on castboolits. The shipping is more reasonable when ordering two pounds

Yep. Looked him up and did some more research. Going to order some Jet Black from him and give it a shot next week.

I just cast up a bunch of RCBS 45-201 SWCs and 44-250Ks Saturday in anticipation.