Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Powder Coating Lead Bullets
unfy:
Been so busy :(
And lots of medical probs :(
Anyway - attempting some more powder coat. Solvent route.
1 QT Home Despot paint mixer cup
50 bullets (.40 - 175gr)
1 tablespoon lacquer thinner
1 teaspoon horror freight red powder
First batch is cooking now. Took a bit longer than expected to gel / evaporate things and seems a bit thick. But better than ancient attempts.
Gonna up it to 60 75 bullets on next batch.
addenum: yeah, 60 bullets was looking really thick as well. i think cause it's from a fresh mixing cup to one that already had LT in it. So I put it to 75 and it was still thick-ish.
Don't have pics just yet, but the coat is... well... plinking round style ugly. It's better than my first batch, but worse than bkoenig's.
I'll do 1tbsp LT, 1/2tsp pc, 75 bullets after the current 75 are done cooking. 75 also happens to be about the max bullets my tiny toaster oven can hold.
shooter:
From what ive read, even runs in the coating can affect accuracy. how do you dry them?
unfy:
--- Quote from: shooter on September 17, 2016, 08:06:14 PM --- From what ive read, even runs in the coating can affect accuracy. how do you dry them?
--- End quote ---
Dry ? I just swirl / shake them in the mixer cup until there's no more LT puddle and everything is very tacky looking. From there it's on to a wire mesh, manipulated with a nail to not be touching, then baked. No real "dry" time.
For pistol plinking rounds, I've not really seen any problems. Granted, I've not had alot of time at the range with them.
I think bkoenig has said he's given up powder coating either all bullets or given up on rifle bullets due to accuracy concerns.
Slightly off topic: there was a youtube video... I can't seem to find it at the moment. They took your typical cone / spitzer bullet and bent the tip. With a second bullet they filed a smalish notch in the base. Turns out the notch in the base was far more "evil" when it came to affecting the bullet trajectory. I wish I could find the video.... but alas, no such luck atm.
Is powder coat for match rounds ? Nope. Just like factory plated rounds wouldn't be. A properly jacketed rifle round or perhaps a nicely cast lead round for revolvers...
I'm using the powder coating only for pistol plinking rounds due to how inexpensive it is and how it has stopped leading in my Sig's barrel. With some bullets from MBC, I was able to work up a load that was "okay", but not the bees knees. Powder coating has left my barrel nice and clean.
Don't get me wrong, I've debated just getting a lubrisizer - but - PC has been fine for me.
275 bullets powdercoated today. Also pushed them through a lee press mounted sizing die (SFG: the little light Lee press from yesteryear!). I believe 75 bullets, 1 tablespoon LT, and 1/2 teaspoon of powder coat powder is what is gonna work out nicely for me.
For what it's worth, using a cheap stamped metal measuring spoon set heh.
Last thought - I do wonder if there was some way to do a LT vapor bath or something to help uniform the coating after the bullets have been placed on a rack (or something). Something to kinda gently re-"melt" the gel before you go about baking them.
I've done the vapor bath thing with acetone when making home made computer pcb's....
All of this is prolly too much work for 'plinking' rounds :D
jschenck:
Interesting way to coat bullets with very little equipment
unfy:
Not bad.
Tempting to try.
I'll admit to being happy with the solvent method.
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