New bullet coating

[jameslovesjammie]

The powder that has been discussed as POSSIBLY wearing the barrel is flat black.  There have been literally hundreds of pounds of it shot by the guys at castboolits and noone has reported any barrel wear.  That doesn't mean it shouldn't be something to keep an eye on.  If you make your own aluminum gaschecks, it is advisable to keep the painted side out, as the interior will oxidize.  As you mentioned, aluminum oxide is harder than diamonds and could damage the barrel.

My first attempt with powder coating was with the tumbler method.  I would say my results were acceptable, but not as good as Shake and Bake BB Dry Tumble.  It could be that I didn't have enough powder in the tumbler, but it seemed like the vibration would knock the powder off.  To be fair, I haven't tried the Tumbler method with BB's, just powder and boolits.

So far I have used Mirror Black, Transparent Candy Red, Kawasaki Green, and Wet Orange. 

My last coating session, I did some Lee C270-110-1R for use in my 6.8.  It was much more humid this session and I did not get as good of coverage as I have been getting.  Anyone else notice that humidity affecting adhesion?  It makes sense that it wouldn't have as much charge, but my results with the Orange were less than good looking.  I gave them 2 coats.  They are definitely shootable, but are no where near as visually appealing as previous efforts.

[ThompsonCustom]

Ya I don't know if the BBS make all the difference or not but I would think the humidity would really kill the adhesion if it got to high.

If I had any more cast up I would try it my humidity runs 30% most the time but my ac/furnace motor died so right now its 60% and wet felling if it works right now it would always work. I think the BBS help build up the static electricity super fast in the electric tumbler. Can't wait to try this out in the winter time after the humidity is down to nothing.

But at 30% I get 100 percent coverage minus where I grab on with my vise grips. As I pull them out I grab the nose with the vise grips and smack the base hard against the tumbler to knock off all the extra powder and if anything isn't covered the extra powder fills that in as well.

I started with a number #5 container but for me this seems to work better and fast.

The only other thing I might try sometime is different way to raise the static levels even more. I've been running white BBS and I hear black work better.

[jameslovesjammie]

The only other thing I might try sometime is different way to raise the static levels even more. I've been running white BBS and I hear black work better.

I use a layer of black BB's (already had them for my KWA KZ-75 CZ Clone) to cover the bottom of the Cool Whip container.  I think the BB's work two-fold.  I believe they both create more static electricity and also help keep coating more even by rolling off excess powder AND slightly impacting the powder onto the bullet.

I have a 90 pint dehumidifier in the basement that runs nearly all the time and the humidity is still about 60% right now.  When the humidity was about 40%, my coating was much more even.

[ipijohn]

i have been Powder Coating for about 18 months now. I got into the game with a Harbor Freight Electrostatic paint gun. Haven't tried the shake and bake process with cool whip container since i have had such great success the other way. I have painted over 20K projectiles in .380, 9X19, 9X18, 38 spec, 41 mag, 44 mag, 45 ACP, .225 for AR and .309 for AR BO and other 30 cal uses. I have shot 7 or 8K of these with zero leading in any gun. Accuracy is the same as conventionally lubed lead projectiles. They chronograph about 20 fps slower than conventional. There is a lot less smoke when I shoot indoors. The only problem I had was that the PC added too much to the diameter of the bore riding section of the .225 and 300 BO projectiles causing them to not go into battery. A redesign of the jig  I used to paint them on to shield this area from the PC and all is good.  It is fun to have the ability to shoot 5.56 AR, 300 BO and 30-06 reloads for about $11.00 / 100 and get 1.5 MOA at 100 yards.

[jameslovesjammie]

Alright John, you're going to be our voice of experience!

With your rifle rounds, are you using a gas check?
How fast are you pushing them, particularly the 5.56, .308, and .30-06.
What alloy are you using at different velocities?

I've noticed the same 20 fps difference between QUALITY lube and PC. 

I've had such good luck with BBDT that I doubt I will go away from it for pistol bullets.  For rifle rounds, I may yet get a ES gun, just because tolerances are so much tighter for what I want to do.

[ipijohn]

I am using aluminum gas checks on both 5.56 and 30 cal (made a couple of dies and make my own). I am using a Mihec 70 grain mold for 5.56.  A Lee 312155  and Lyman 200 grain for Blackout, 30-06 and .308. I use COWW +2% tin water dropped out of the mold.  My 5.56 sweet spot is at 1950 fps out of a mid gas 18" chrome lined bore.   155 grain Blackout shoots best at 2050 fps out of a carbine gas SS barrel. My Mod 70 Remington .308 likes 1950 fps as does my custom Shaw barreled 30-06. The Blackout shoots the 200 grain well at 1650 fps.  As I said before they are all over painted by ESPC (except for the bore riding surfaces on the 5.56 and 312155) before installation of the GC. My grand son is getting better than surplus ammo groups shooting the 312155 unsized and ESPC'd over 10 grains of unique out of his 54R. I use Lee push through sizers before and after PC (except that I don't post coat size the ones that are going to the 54R)

[ThompsonCustom]

I just ordered some more powder.

Teflon slip, a Teflon based powder coat hoping to get more fps with this powder.

Impact black, supposed to be a softer powder made to take impacts without cracking or flaking. I'm thinking this one might work good with pure lead.

Last one I ordered was the super durable wet black. It a good tested glossy powder.

I'll report back and let you guys know how they turn out. I need to find some pure lead now.

[Utah Shooter]

I have some of you have not found any.  I am curious if you can get away with pure.  If so i believe i have a lifetime supply. 

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[hking]

Might have to use this coating for my 9mm major PF loads if I ever get my hands on a czechmate.

[armoredman]

Powder coating is a fun thing to do, but shake and bake method doesn't give a perfectly even coating, have to use the sprayer for that, which is a much larger investment. My investment in powder coating is a $5 toaster oven,



A buch of various powders I had dontaed to me from a good friend, which I've used in various ways,





I get pretty good accuracy of of PC in 9mm. 7.62x39mm is still up in the air, because PC bullets don't fit well in the CZ 527CSR, even AFTER being sized. Why, not sure, but they don't.
One thing I have notice with PC is the bore ends up cleaner than when I started. Wipe out the dust and powder residue, and it's squeaky.

james, this gun need to be in a Bond movie!