Author Topic: Powder Coating Lead Bullets (Read 39768 times)

unfy · « **on:** March 28, 2013, 05:03:52 PM »

Quote from: bkoenig

Another alternative....powder coating bullets. I'm SERIOUSLY interested in this. They just look so purty.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?171403-Powder-Coating-Boolits

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/395802_Powder_Coating_Cast_Bullets_.html

Sounds like a lot of work for handgun, but for rifle bullets it has a lot of potential. I have a toaster oven sitting in the basement that's never been used...

So full kudos to bkoenig for this thread. He was going to try it out, but is waiting a few weeks possibly... I'm not that patient

.

Going from the castboolits thread (didn't read the ar15 thread...).... I figured sure, why not. I've always wanted to get a powder coat set up anyway. Do read the CB thread, it covers a lot of ground and is really handy.

So, went to Harbor Freight here in Omaha (90th & Maple) and gathered stuffs. Came out to around $190.

Powder coat gun: $60 (plus a 2 year warranty for $10-$20 or so).
3 gallon air compressor (oil-less): $70
3 lbs of different colored powder coat: $15
25 foot air hose: $9
air hose accessory stuff: $9

I picked up the air compressor cause I dunno where my little one went. I went oil-less so didn't need to worry about an oil separator / filter. This particular compressor also has pressure regulator which will be handy for getting the 15-25psi folks have reported the gun liking.

The hose & accessories: just because I dunno what all I've got at home for stuff. Well, I know I got cheap hoses, wanted something a little bit better.

3 colors: red/white/black. HF offers 4 colors (yellow being the other), but I didn't want yellow for whatever reason.

What's left to buy:

Some cheap aluminum baking sheets: I've got a plan on how to orientate the bullets nose down so that the base of the bullet gets a decent coat. Prolly $4-$8 ?

A cheap toaster oven that can do 400F for 20min. Variable temp might be kinda cool if it's necessary to pre-heat items. Anyhoo, $20-$40 walmart ?

Process:

Cast bullets, or clean old bullets with acetone. Dry completely.

Place on thick aluminum foil or something (basically conductive).

Powder coat spray a decent coat.

Carefully move to toaster oven and bake at 400F for 20min.

Peel off of aluminum foil.

Done.

You can size before PC and after PC just fine apparently.

Benefits:

Appears to eliminate leading.

Possibly slight velocity increase.

Issues:

Possible problems with accuracy, possibly more so on rifle rounds.

I'll be building a jig / plating tray thing that will hold TC bullets nose down so that the base of the bullet gets a good coat, and also eliminates "painted-stuck-to-something" issues.

Again, all hail bkoenig for discovering the CB thread. I hope to be trying this out friday night or this weekend.

whatsit · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2013, 06:29:13 PM »

Wow, I didn't think it would be so cheap to get into. I figured it would be a few hundred bucks, at least.

What do you use for a power source to charge the bullets so the paint powder sticks? Is that part of the special powder coat gun?

unfy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2013, 06:38:41 PM »

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-30-psi-powder-coating-system-94244.html

That's the HF powder coat gun. Needs an air compressor. Includes the charging / static system with it.

The CB thread mentions that crafstman might have a cheap electric only gun (ie: has it's own fan / air compressor built in ?) ... but i've not seen it and people complained about it being 'cheapy'. Granted, I doubt the HF product is 'quality' heh.

SS_N_NE · « **Reply #3 on:** March 28, 2013, 07:44:25 PM »

Here is the Craftsman system they mentioned in the thread: http://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Complete-Portable-Powder-Coating/dp/B004YEAYCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364517600&sr=8-1&keywords=craftsman+powder+coating+system

About $180.

Eastwood automotive also have some lower cost guns but require an air compressor.
http://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-powder-coating/powder-coat-guns.html

About $99 for cheap gun, $169 for a nicer one.

bkoenig · « **Reply #4 on:** March 28, 2013, 07:56:47 PM »

The Craftsman gun was on sale for around $30 for a while last year. They must have been clearancing them out. Sounds like they're not a very good gun, but work just fine for small pieces like bullets. If you plan on using it for anything else the Harbor Freight one looks like it's a better tool, and its still very cheap.

I'm thinking drill a hole in the baking sheet that's just slightly smaller than the diameter of the bullet in front of the first driving band, then set the bullet nose down and coat. You'll still get a little lip of powdercoat, but when you size after coating it should get knocked off.

Question: If you coat a boolit is it still a boolit or is it now a bullet?

unfy · « **Reply #5 on:** March 28, 2013, 08:13:31 PM »

Quote from: bkoenig on March 28, 2013, 07:56:47 PM

Question: If you coat a boolit is it still a boolit or is it now a bullet?

Ballet ?

bkoenig · « **Reply #6 on:** March 28, 2013, 08:55:13 PM »

Quote from: unfy on March 28, 2013, 08:13:31 PM

Ballet ?

No, that's where my money goes when it's not buying guns for me.

My daughter, not me, you sickos......

Hank · « **Reply #7 on:** March 28, 2013, 09:21:03 PM »

You guys got me interested in boolit casting...perhaps a morning boolit casting jam session, followed by a noon time BBQ get together? I wanna learn.
I keep a old stove in my small detached garage for the wife to do her canning. Lots of oven space and I have thought about a powder coat set up before...hmm

unfy · « **Reply #8 on:** March 28, 2013, 10:06:05 PM »

Quote from: Hank on March 28, 2013, 09:21:03 PM

I have thought about a powder coat set up before...hmm

Whatever you cure your powder coat in you never cook in again, muck like anything that touches lead is never cooked with again....

Picked up a cheap toaster oven, some tools, and something else for the PC rig I wanna build. I'll be cutting, drilling, and all that other tool stuff tonight hehehehe

.

Although I *can* simply use the aluminum foil method and get started ASAP if I really wanted to.

I'd rather get the rig built, though heh.

bkoenig · « **Reply #9 on:** March 28, 2013, 10:19:25 PM »

I've been going back and forth whether it's even necessary to coat the bottom. FMJ's typically have an open bottom, and as long as the full bearing surface of the bullet is coated you shouldn't have any leading.

Now for bullets you want to expand, I think putting them nose down and coating the base is a good idea. You could then leave the nose uncoated which would facilitate expansion. I shoot truncated cone bullets almost exclusively in my 9mm's so that would be easy to do.

But, going back to the "fillet" of powder coat that forms around where the bullet rests on the foil.....if they're bottom down that little nub will pop right off when you run them through a sizer. So that gets me thinking again that a bare bottom

is the way to go.

What I would really like to find is a good way to make cheap bullets out of soft lead for my 300 Blackout subsonic loads, that will expand when they hit and not be so dirty. Right now I'm shooting a pretty hard alloy for my subs, and while I don't get any barrel leading they introduce a lot of crud into my gas system, enough that if I don't lube the heck out of it my bolt carrier group will cake up and start malfunctioning after 50-75 of them. I think a lot of that is due to bullet lube, and I could get rid of that by powdercoating. Expansion would also be nice - last fall I shot the subs into a sandy hilside, with a 5 gallon bucked at 100 yards. They started tumbling as soon as they hit the front of the bucket and entered the berm sideways so they would still do some nasty damage, but they didn't expand. I'm hoping a pseudo jacketed soft alloy will.

Or maybe I'll just wait for Unfy to experiment and find the best way......

unfy · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2013, 10:27:14 PM »

It's 22:30 ... my neighbors will be asleep and I'd rather not run my air compressor in the dead of night in an apartment (kinda rude). So tonight will be mostly construction, and possibly bullet casting

. Spare bullets for the copper plating experiments is getting a little low... need to cast a bunch more heh.

I'll undoubtedly aluminum foil it up and load some and take'em to the range ASAP. Who knows, with pistols the bottom might not matter at all. Of course, this all assumes that I *don't* get the rig built tonight heh.

bkoenig · « **Reply #11 on:** March 28, 2013, 10:33:58 PM »

Honestly, I wonder even with rifles if an uncoated bottom would help with accuracy. It might let the bullet bump up to bore size.

bkoenig · « **Reply #12 on:** March 28, 2013, 10:34:59 PM »

Quote from: Hank on March 28, 2013, 09:21:03 PM

You guys got me interested in boolit casting...perhaps a morning boolit casting jam session, followed by a noon time BBQ get together? I wanna learn.
I keep a old stove in my small detached garage for the wife to do her canning. Lots of oven space and I have thought about a powder coat set up before...hmm

Where do you live? A group casting session followed by BBQ sounds interesting.

Except usually when I organize something like this everyone just ends up standing around the garage drinking beer and not doing any actual work.

unfy · « **Reply #13 on:** March 28, 2013, 10:38:30 PM »

We've got Lincoln, Omaha, Nebraska City.

A triangle heh.

unfy · « **Reply #14 on:** March 29, 2013, 03:02:13 AM »

The small toaster oven i picked up can handle a tray of about 7.5 inches by 9.75 inches.

At one inch spacing on centers (i have no idea if that's enough ?), this tray will handle 80 bullets at a time and leaves about half an inch between boolits.

I'll prototype it on aluminum foil first to see how it coats at that distance.

DangerousDrummer · « **Reply #15 on:** March 29, 2013, 06:26:38 AM »

I read all of the pages at castboolits. Looks perfect for my needs. I had just ordered a 1.2 to 35 v variable dc power supply ($15) that will handle up to 5amps in order to start copper plating. PC might just eliminate copper plating if the application problems can be overcome. I have a 9x20 lathe and cheapo milling machine so building jigs and fixtures is pretty easy. I should be able to get started powder coating this weekend after a trip to harbor frieght and Wallyworld today. There is also a company that sells larger quantities of paint in some really cool colors, most prices run $15-$20, but the number of boolits that could be coated is very high.

unfy · « **Reply #16 on:** March 29, 2013, 06:49:03 AM »

For pistol plinking PC might be totally awesome.... we shall see.

I'll continue the copper plating experiments, but this is a nice diversion

bkoenig · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2013, 07:45:13 AM »

Someone on another board pointed out something - don't coat them blue, since that's the color used for simunitions.

bkoenig · « **Reply #18 on:** March 29, 2013, 07:51:09 AM »

Quote from: DangerousDrummer on March 29, 2013, 06:26:38 AM

I have a 9x20 lathe and cheapo milling machine so building jigs and fixtures is pretty easy.

I think Unfy and I have found a kindred soul.

GreyGeek · « **Reply #19 on:** March 29, 2013, 09:17:29 AM »

Quote from: bkoenig on March 29, 2013, 07:51:09 AM

Quote from: DangerousDrummer on Today at 06:26:38 AM
I have a 9x20 lathe and cheapo milling machine so building jigs and fixtures is pretty easy.

I think Unfy and I have found a kindred soul.

I have a book that contains plans for a 9mm machine gun that can be made in a home work shop using parts from a hardware store. Milling machine not necessary. The guy who wrote that book spent four years in a British prison for doing so.