Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Yondering, Powder Coat Question

I have been getting a good thickness on my coating, around 0.002 to 0.003" and bake up to twenty minutes on the heavier bullets but I can still scratch off the PC with my thumb nail. Is this normal or an I doing something wrong?

My thoughts are two possibilities...either contamination of the bullets or that your oven temp isn't high enough to allow the PC to properly cure.

My oven is off by 50 degrees low from what the dial is set at, so I use an internal thermometer...actually a couple of them for zone verification because oven temp is critical.

The coating needs to cook for a minimum of 10 minutes after the bullets have reached 400 degrees. When the oven is at a verified 400 degrees I have no issues.

When the bullets are cold they should be hard, but you might check the coating after 24 hours just to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks. I have checked my oven and it is 400. Powder is clean and kept bagged up and stored in a rubber made tub with desiccant beads. The bullets have never been touched except with disposable gloves.

That's definitely not right, and I wouldn't expect it to shoot well. What is the powder, and where did you get it?

With the powders I use, the final product is slick, and while not really "hard", it's harder than my thumbnail and I can't scratch it. I can hammer a powder coated bullet down to the thickness of a quarter and the coating won't come off. It will split where the lead expands, but it stays attached.

I do have some powder that is definitely not as tough as the others though. It's nice because the bullets break apart really easily, but it comes off in the bore if I push the loads very hard. I use that one for subsonic loads only.

The point about verifying your oven temp is important. I bake for twenty minutes with all of mine, under the reasoning that the powder needs 10 minutes at 400, and the bullets will take some time to reach that temp.

Check the temp on the oven, with an oven thermometer. Sounds like your temp is off.

Thanks all. I am using several powders for Powder By The Pound. I will check my oven temp again but I I think I may need to bake even longer. Let me see if that helps.

If you've eliminated contamination (bullet lube, oils,etc) it's likely a temperature issue.
I preheat my oven until it stabilizes around 425F according to my oven thermometer. Then I put my first batch in.
You want to watch the first batch, to see when the bullets first appear "wet" and shiny looking. That's when you start the 10 minute timer. I do at least 15 minutes after the wet and shiny stage.

I went the same temperature and baked for 20 minutes today and got good coatings. Ran around 700 through the oven and am happy with all of them. Got lead melting now so I will have more to coat tomorrow. Now is the weather would turn nice on a day I. Cabstand up and walk without help I may get a chance to shoot some.