New bullet coating

[Wobbly]

Can't stand one-color black.  I'd want pin stripes on mine. 

Maybe Painter could come up with a way to do a 1950's flame job.

 

[jameslovesjammie]

I stumbled across a thread on another forum that also was about coating lead. I never got to read the whole thing.
If anyone is interested here is the link : http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?184-Coatings-and-Alternatives

Yup!  That's where I found out about it!  Armoredman, ReloaderFred, ThompsonCustom and I are all members there (I'm sure there are others, too!) The "Coating and Alternatives" section is where much discussion of powdercoating, Hi-Tek, and enamel bullet coatings has taken place.

Maybe Painter could come up with a way to do a 1950's flame job.

If I was as good as Painter, mine would have scallops on them!  Everybody knows scallops are faster than flames!

[jameslovesjammie]

I suppose you guys would like some results, huh?!?

Ballisti-Cast 931 125 grain RN
1.110"
5.0 grains Ramshot Silhouette
Speer once fired nickel plated brass
CCI 500 SPP



The cartridge on the left has the bullet powdercoated with Sherwin Williams Mirror Black #2, the cartridge on the right has the bullet lubricated with White Label Lube's Carnauba Red.  I loaded 10 rounds of each.  Normally, I can load this bullet to 1.125", but the dimensional difference in coatings required a shorter OAL.  To keep the tests as apples to apples as I could, I loaded both to the same reduced OAL.

I packed up my wife's Duo Tone 75B for the Duo Tone bullet test and headed to the farm.  It seemed like the most appropriate firearm in the stable for this test.



Chrono Results

Standard Lube
Avg 1,145 fps
SD 11.6 fps
ES 37 fps

Powdercoat
Avg 1,125 fps
SD 9.0 fps
ES 34 fps

So the Powdercoat is losing 20 fps.  SD and ES are on par with standard lube (maybe a little better even).

How did it act in the barrel?

After shooting the conventionally lubricated bullets, there was a slight gray haze in the barrel.  This is not leading, but antimonial wash from the antimony in the lead alloy.  It came out with one push of a brass brush.  The bore was clean and shiny, which is typical of Carnauba Red.



After shooting the PC bullets, I pulled the barrel and inspected the bore.  There was a light blackish fouling in the barrel.  Just like the fouling from the lead bullet, it came out with a single push of a bronze brush.  Again, this wasn't scrubbing.  It was a single push in and a single pull out.





Smoke?  Nonexistent.  I didn't notice it at all, but there was also a 20 mile per hour sidewind.

So now we're down to the big question...accuracy.  I have two targets from today, but I don't think they are truly representative.  I don't want to make a claim one way or the other without more testing.  I'm sorry if this is a letdown to some, but I don't want to create bias one way or another.  I'm trying to stay as neutral as I can during testing.  I think it would be a disservice to forum members to produce a conclusion based on 20 rounds.

So what's next?  I'm going to load more rounds and do a little more testing.  Mainly for accuracy and fouling. 

I'll post my results as I get them.

[1SOW]

If those two are the 'same' bullet,  that powder coating really added thickness/bluntness to the bullet nose.  Is that what drove the need to shorten the oal?
I wonder if that light residue with 20 rds fired would continue to accumalate with 40, 60, 80 rds;  or is it loose enough to be blown out of the bbl past a certain accumulation point.?

Looking forward to your next tests with accuracy.

[jameslovesjammie]

It was not solid or attached to the bore in any way.  I would liken it to unburnt powder.  It reminded me more of when you erase pencil and have the left over eraser rubbings (best description I can think of) and how you can brush or blow them away with little to no effort.  A single dry patch would have cleaned just as well as the brush did.  There was zero effort required to remove the fouling.

[painter]

Maybe Painter could come up with a way to do a 1950's flame job.

If I was as good as Painter, mine would have scallops on them!  Everybody knows scallops are faster than flames!

I'd have scallops too James.

[Wobbly]

I suppose you guys would like some results, huh?!?

Ballisti-Cast 931 125 grain RN
1.110"
5.0 grains Ramshot Silhouette
Speer once fired nickel plated brass
CCI 500 SPP

Yea, but we want results WE can replicate.  Although we love JLJ, he's tried to pull a fast one on us, boys.  Did you see it? 

That's right.  Who among us has any "once fired brass" ??   


Good stuff, JLJ.  Very interesting.   

[jameslovesjammie]

After 250 rounds down the tube, I have come to the conclusion that these powder coated bullets are every bit as accurate as my traditional grease lubricated boolits.

I started the night off with a 10 round rapid fire group, followed by 180 rounds of casual plinking, then a final 10 round rapid fire group to test if any buildup of "residue" would cause a deterioration of accuracy.

These rounds were mixed brass with multiple firings and all charges thrown from the measurer.  Load data is the same as previously tested.

Shooting technique was 10 rounds fired seated from the bench with wrists supported by a sandbag.  Rounds were fired rapid fire, as all 10 rounds were fired in under a minute for both tests.

These are my test targets and range results:




As you can see, for all intents and purposes, the groups are roughly the same.  I'll try and get some pics tomorrow of the bore condition.

I do have another powder on hand to try, and another variation on application method that may or may not work with the new powder.  Worst Case Scenario: I drop $60 on a powdercoating gun. 

With tomorrow being Mother's Day, I'm not sure how much I will get accomplished, but I will do my best to get an update.

[moonman16]

Some who are using the COOL-WHIP container to TUMBLE powder coat (not to be confused with the HI-TEK coatings)
are tumbling with AIR SOFT PLASTIC BB'S also in the Cool-Whip container.

This supposedly aids with a better coating of your projectiles.

[1SOW]

Welcome to the forum moonman 16.
Looking forward to your inputs.

[jameslovesjammie]

Some who are using the COOL-WHIP container to TUMBLE powder coat (not to be confused with the HI-TEK coatings)
are tumbling with AIR SOFT PLASTIC BB'S also in the Cool-Whip container.

This supposedly aids with a better coating of your projectiles.

I need to update this thread when I get on break.

I am currently using the airsoft BB dry tumble method with polypropylene (recycle number 5) containers.  These are mostly Cool Whip and butter tubs in my fleet.  I'm using a few different colors now, but haven't had much time to shoot yet this Summer.

[jameslovesjammie]

85 more rounds down the tube.  Current round count is ~335 through the barrel without cleaning.  While I realize this is far less than some members shoot in an outing, I think this is a fair representation of how the coating will react over an extended shooting session.  I've done magazine dumps and shot targets for accuracy.

This was my final 10 rounds today.  As you can see, accuracy has not deteriorated with extended shooting.



I wanted to keep putting rounds down the same barrel, but wanted to shoot my RAMI.  So I put my wife's 75B slide on on RAMI and fired away.  I am fond of this RAMI Longslide!  It's amazing how much tamer recoil is!  These have been the same 140 PF loads I've been shooting since beginning this testing.

[ThompsonCustom]

Really loving the rami long slide....sexy


I also coat all my bullets started with HI Tek, Tired Epoxy, and now using Powder coating for the most part. It is the strongest method and more resistant than the others. I still have a lot more testing to do but it's my Go To for my 9mm carbine.

As Far as the tumble method goes try putting them in a electric tumber with ohh 100 or two airsoft bb's for 4 to 5 mins. All will be coated wonderfully and you can do 200 at a time.

I've been talking with all powder paints about some other there products and when I get the time I'm gonna try some different powders, they also sell one called mirror black, an impact black which is suppose to be softer but bend easier and a telfon powder coat which interest me the most.

[dsa]

I explored the powder coat option and went to the local paint store to purchase some and started a conversation with the salesman there and informed him  about my intended use.  He asked why I would want to put powder coated bullets through my barrel and accelerate the wear of the barrel.  He explained that aluminum oxide is an ingredient in powder coat and that it is one of the hardest compounds in existence.  I went with the Hi-Tek coating and have been very pleased.

[ThompsonCustom]

That's a good point and has been decussed a lot over at the cast boolits forum and no one at this point has had any additional wear measuring the bores.

Tho thousands of rounds of PC have been shot there its enough data out there at this point to say if it does or doesn't wear faster.

At the same time if my barrel wears out at 50,000 rounds instead of 65k I don't think the price of the barrel will put a dent in the price of ammo.