Author Topic: Powder Coating Lead Bullets (Read 40274 times)

unfy · « **Reply #120 on:** May 11, 2013, 02:03:46 PM »

Quote from: DangerousDrummer on May 11, 2013, 11:39:24 AM

The high speed are going to have to be pretty precise for accuracy. My 285 gn came out sideways at higher speeds.

I think we should not call these bullets "powder coated" anymore. Instead let's call them "Jihadi Lipsticks" just to piss everyone off. Just sayin... After all it is not illegal to be politically incorrect... yet.

I still giggle at the pic ya posted under thread of same name

.

Was it BKOENIG or BRADKROLL that was supposed to be experimenting with this by now ? Mmmmm

?

Anyhoo, I'm about to go play with hollow point mold.

GOSH DARNIT! I forgot some matches. Haven't smoked the mold yet. RAWR. (doing this at work).

This means I gotta put everything inside the door here at work, go to wally world, buy some stinkin matches... come back to work, dig everything back out... etc. At least I haven't turned on the pot yet \o/

bkoenig · « **Reply #121 on:** May 11, 2013, 07:59:50 PM »

Quote from: unfy on May 10, 2013, 04:21:42 PM

BKOENIG ... have you gotten to fiddle with this yet ? Surely tax season is over by now ?

Haven't had a chance yet...got taxes paid, but now it's trade show season at work and planting season on the farm, plus a few weddings and other miscellaneous obligations. I haven't had a free weekend in ages and the weeknights have been just as busy.

SS_N_NE · « **Reply #122 on:** May 11, 2013, 08:17:35 PM »

Quote from: unfy on May 11, 2013, 02:03:46 PM

I forgot some matches. Haven't smoked the mold yet.

Disposable butane lighters (or similar) work as well to smoke mold cavities. Less messing around.

DangerousDrummer · « **Reply #123 on:** May 11, 2013, 08:35:53 PM »

Quote from: SS_N_NE on May 11, 2013, 08:17:35 PM

Disposable butane lighters (or similar) work as well to smoke mold cavities. Less messing around.

I use a map gas torch without any O2, it really smokes it good, almost too good as I had it so thick in one spot you could see it very slightly deformed on the bullet nose on the 420s. I think it is amazing that something as light as smoke, can stay in the mold in spite of something as heavy as lead. Must have something to do with molecular size and not molecular weight.

I also preheat my mold with a propane torch. Not too much on the AL but pretty hot on the steel.

unfy · « **Reply #124 on:** May 11, 2013, 09:07:13 PM »

Ran to wally world, 97 cent box of matches did just fine heh.

I've been tempted to start using stand alone electric burners to heat molds... but the lead pot seems to do just fine. Perhaps it's not as exacting, but it's free and works just fine.

I'm not entirely sure how the soot works... just know that it does. I'd have to guess it nestles in nicer ... so... molecular size is probable. Then again, is it the soot itself or some kind of liquid-ish-fume that does the lubrication ?

Never really considered a lighter... didn't seem to put out much smoke so discounted it immediately. Will have to give it a try if I have a lighter handy next time need to do it.

Some folks claim ya don't need to smoke your molds... particularly with hollow point molds. I dunno... it's easy to do and seems to work great... so... whatever. I'll continue to smoke'em

bkoenig: grrrrr

. Understandable, but grrrrrr

bkoenig · « **Reply #125 on:** August 31, 2013, 11:55:26 AM »

Ok, I FINALLY got around to picking up a powdercoat gun from Harbor Freight today. Used the 20% off coupon and got it for $48 before tax. Of course, my air compressor crapped out a while back so I needed a new one, and then I needed the powder, and a regulator, and.....

So for the price of a few thousand Berry's bullets I am now ready to start coating. Oh well, I needed a new compressor anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to give it a try yet this weekend, otherwise I'm on the road for work next week. I had considered just staying with plain cast bullets since they shoot pretty well and I really don't get much leading, but I've gotten tired of all the smoke from the lube.

GreyGeek · « **Reply #126 on:** August 31, 2013, 12:04:48 PM »

Another data point in the old axiom: "When it rains ... it pours!"

unfy · « **Reply #127 on:** August 31, 2013, 06:22:02 PM »

Hm, I picked up their little 3 gallon pancake compressor. I think it was 3 gallon ?

I dunno, but didn't need a regulator - has one on it... and it's been working fine.

I've been a bit busy with real life and horrible budgeting concerns (ie: haven't had internet at home for 6 months ?) ... so haven't played with SCIENCE much lately. I'm sure DangerousDrummer is looking for me to comment on his copper plating success hehehe.

I haven't made the sheath/bullet holding pin whatever things for the powder coating jig yet. For a moment, I thought I was gonna get away with just PoP nubbies on the metal tubing -- but forgot need an electrical contact as well. *sigh*.

Anyhoo, BK - ya should be able to grab an old cookie sheet or whatever sheet that comes with an old / cheap toaster oven - grab some aluminum foil (non-stick is better, and non-stick should face towards the lead... but regular will do too) - and that will give you an easy and quick intro to powder coat goodness that is still mostly effective

bkoenig · « **Reply #128 on:** August 31, 2013, 08:52:44 PM »

Yeah, I unboxed the compressor this afternoon and it had a built in regulator, so I returned the one I bought.

If I get time to cast some bullets tomorrow night I'll try to get them coated on Monday.

unfy · « **Reply #129 on:** September 01, 2013, 02:14:36 PM »

recap:

* you can prolly use freshly cast bullets without any concern, but a 2 min soak in acetone prolly doesn't hurt

* tray that came with toaster oven or similar, with a sheet of aluminum foil over it

* any aluminum foil will do but nonstick aluminum foil is best, with nonstick side facing bullets

* ground clamp from gun goes on tray / sheet with bullets on it

* you want 1.0 to 2.0 inches between bullets, prolly 1.5 is good.

* rotate the tray a time or two to try to get more complete coverage while coating

* regulator on the tank should be putting out ~20lbs (i think! check prior in thread!)

* regulator on the gun works surprisingly well, too.

* it's messy, especially while learning, don't powder coat on any 'serious' floor

* i used a 3 sided (plus bottom) card board box as a cheap "paint hood" to good success

* don't use a tray or a toaster oven you'll be using for food ever again

* don't use kitchen oven

* don't bake indoors - fumes will kill you (possible exaggeration)

* bake at 400F for 20min

* my coatings are typically on the heavier side (prolly due to inexperience heh) but don't seem to affect things

* i don't pre-size the lead, i size it after baking (and cooling heh)

* i have a couple large plastic store bags that I keep the gun in after use ... cause it will still get powder everywhere when trying to store it etc heh

Most important:

take lots of pics, and post updates to thread!

bkoenig · « **Reply #130 on:** September 01, 2013, 04:55:33 PM »

Yeah, I'll definitely take some pics.

Interestingly enough, I was at the USPSA match in Louisville today and I found a round laying on the ground that had a powdercoated bullet.

bkoenig · « **Reply #131 on:** September 02, 2013, 07:39:47 PM »

Well, I tried it tonight and it was an utter failure. I couldn't get the powdercoat gun to apply evenly. Apparently even if you have the feed turned way down you still have to feather the trigger, or it initially dumps a whole bunch of powder all over your work before it starts spraying. I ended up with about a 1/4" layer of powder on top of my bullets. I'll try it again when I get back from my trip.

I did read of another method which seems to be much less labor intensive - just mix the powder with some acetone and tumble lube like you would with Alox, let them dry, and then bake. This would be no more work than my current process, so I'm seriously thinking of going that direction.

Edit: Here's a thread on TN gunowners about coating with powder + solvent. This guy says lacquer thinner is the way to go, and from looking at his pics it really doesn't take much powder or solvent. After reading some more I'm really wishing I hadn't spent the money on a powdercoat gun. I'm definitely going to try this. Oh well, I have a new tool now, and a man can never have too many tools.

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/66713-powder-coating-the-easy-way/

unfy · « **Reply #132 on:** September 03, 2013, 02:30:16 PM »

Did... hm

You're kind of sifting powdered sugar over donuts. Not really spray painting. letting the static charge pull the powder to the bullets

Does that description help ?

Is your powder damp ?

Are you holding the gun upside down (unlikely) ?

Did you over fill the powder container ? And tell me you didn't directly hook up new can of stuff to the gun directly ? I typically have about 2 inches of powder in the canister.

There will be a spurt at the beginning or whenever it grabs a clump, but it shouldn't be catastrophic.

edit: If ya were in Omaha I'd come over and take a look at what you're doing to see if I could help

bkoenig · « **Reply #133 on:** September 03, 2013, 04:52:10 PM »

I dumped about half the container into the gun, so maybe it was overfilled. Once the initial clump of powder came out it did dispense evenly, but that one time was enough to make a huge mess.

I'm really excited to try the acetone method. I think it will be a significant time saver.

unfy · « **Reply #134 on:** September 03, 2013, 06:55:13 PM »

too much in the container then yeah.

curious how acetone works out!

bkoenig · « **Reply #135 on:** September 06, 2013, 11:41:23 PM »

Results are looking good! I followed the instructions from the TN Guns site and used lacquer thinner. Just dump a little in a bucket along with some powder and tumble around for a couple of minutes until the solvent evaporates, then dump out onto some wire mesh and bake. I'm waiting for the bullets to cool down but so far they look good. Not as shiny as when applied from a powdercoat gun, more of a flat black. Pics coming tomorrow.

bkoenig · « **Reply #136 on:** September 07, 2013, 08:27:29 AM »

Ok, here we go.

Tumbling in the lacquer thinner / powder mix:

Dump them out onto some mesh and let them dry, then bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Baked and sized:

The finish is definitely rougher than when applied with the gun. It's also not as even. We'll see how they shoot, either later today or tomorrow.

bkoenig · « **Reply #137 on:** September 07, 2013, 03:20:14 PM »

I decided to give the powdercoat gun another try this afternoon so I coated about 50 bullets and I have them baking right now. It's definitely a lot more labor intensive than the solvent method, and a lot messier. The upside is that the bullets have a nice smooth coat. I'm going to test both and if I get acceptable accuracy with the solvent coated ones I'll stick to that method.

I'm thinking for rifle bullets the gun method might be the way to go. I'm interested to try this on some of my 7.62x54R / .303 Brit and 300 Blackout bullets.

Also, I tried the speed casting method that Unfy posted a while back and with a 6 cavity mold you can really crank out the bullets

bkoenig · « **Reply #138 on:** September 07, 2013, 05:58:25 PM »

Last update for today. Here are the bullets that were coated with the gun - much smoother looking.

I plan to get to the range tomorrow so I can try them out.

GreyGeek · « **Reply #139 on:** September 08, 2013, 02:04:19 PM »

Quote from: bkoenig on September 07, 2013, 03:20:14 PM

.....
I'm thinking for rifle bullets the gun method might be the way to go. I'm interested to try this on some of my 7.62x54R / .303 Brit and 300 Blackout bullets.

So, am I right in assuming that powder coating the bullets is a way of replacing Copper with a plastic in order to avoid the cost of Copper and to prevent lead fouling of the barrel?