First Powder coats!
- Thread starter Spawn-Inc
- Start date
Hopping on the bandwagon...
Had no idea what colour or type to order so I ordered traffic red and signal blue that Auggie Doggie mentioned.
Giving them a go with 44 special loads in my Marlin 94 with Micro Groove rifling that seems to hate any form of cast bullet; even massively oversized ones (.435").
A single tumble coating didn't get good coverage and I had to run two coats on all of them. Brought the bullets from .430" to .431" to .433". One issue is they are almost all out of round now as each bullet measures .431" one way and .432" or .433" at a different angle (micrometer measurement, not caliper). I didn't want to size them back down to .430" as my bore slugs .4315" and my next sizer up is a .435" so the bullets just slide through without sizing.
Meant to fire them yesterday but my motorcycle broke down and needed some TLC which took priority. So maybe next weekend.
Had no idea what colour or type to order so I ordered traffic red and signal blue that Auggie Doggie mentioned.
Giving them a go with 44 special loads in my Marlin 94 with Micro Groove rifling that seems to hate any form of cast bullet; even massively oversized ones (.435").
A single tumble coating didn't get good coverage and I had to run two coats on all of them. Brought the bullets from .430" to .431" to .433". One issue is they are almost all out of round now as each bullet measures .431" one way and .432" or .433" at a different angle (micrometer measurement, not caliper). I didn't want to size them back down to .430" as my bore slugs .4315" and my next sizer up is a .435" so the bullets just slide through without sizing.
Meant to fire them yesterday but my motorcycle broke down and needed some TLC which took priority. So maybe next weekend.
There must be more paint on one side than the other. They drop .430" and are round. I tumbled them using f55's technique, 10min @ 375'F (manufacturers instruction), let them cool to room temperature, tumbled again, and bake again. After they cooled I measured them and almost all of them where out of round by about .001" to .002". Measuring with a micrometer that reads to .0001" but I'm rounding to the nearest .001" to simplify things. I don't think any of them where above .4330" but several where up at .4327" or so. Some of the smaller axis measurements where a couple tenths below .4310" (around .4308", will have to remeasure).
This is my first time powder coating bullets (or anything for that matter) so maybe I made a mistake somewhere. Even if they are out-of-round they are oversized for my bore so will swage down anyway. I've fired .435" cast through this rifle (terrible accuracy and bad leading) without any issues so I can't see any here. Worst case scenario they have terrible accuracy and I try a different method/bullet/powder.
This is my first time powder coating bullets (or anything for that matter) so maybe I made a mistake somewhere. Even if they are out-of-round they are oversized for my bore so will swage down anyway. I've fired .435" cast through this rifle (terrible accuracy and bad leading) without any issues so I can't see any here. Worst case scenario they have terrible accuracy and I try a different method/bullet/powder.
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I think it's just the nature of tumble coating them twice, if you can get them to be coated with 1 tumble they might come out more even. Or if princess auto would sell a cheap powder coating gun like Harbour freight does in the states I would buy one.
I would say my homemade lube (ben's red) is alot cheaper. I've lubed about 3k worth of bullets (mostly 50cal which take alot of lube) and I haven't even put a dent in the first batch I made. I payed about $50 which is enough for 3 batches. I made about 14 full cupcake sized pucks and have only used 2-3.
That being said this is alot less messy.
Here's an assortment of bullets I have powder coated now. The Tool Blue is by far the best result with a single coat, followed closely by the Traffic Red. The Phantom Wet White Gloss took two coats, as did the Kawasaki Green, although in future I will probably just do one.
I managed to recover some of the bullets after shooting them. The flat ones hit steel plates. The more intact ones were shot at paper and recovered from the berm. Looks like the PC stood up fairly well.
Auggie D.
I managed to recover some of the bullets after shooting them. The flat ones hit steel plates. The more intact ones were shot at paper and recovered from the berm. Looks like the PC stood up fairly well.
Auggie D.
Put 20 of my PC'ed 44's through my Marlin 94 with Micro Groove rifling using 44 special data in 44 mag cases (what I always do to not have to sort case lengths). Shot as well as jacketed bullets with zero lead in my bore (always a huge issue with my Marlin for whatever reason; Micro Groove barrels seem to be pretty hit-or-miss). Other than the no-leading there was no difference in accuracy from shooting the same bullets tumbled in Lee alox instead of PC paint. The no-leading alone is enough reason for me to continue using PC.
The bullets being out-of-round seemed to have no effect on accuracy.
Next is to try some with an intermediate load (half way between 44 special and magnum) and some full power magnum loads. I've never had cast or plated bullets not tumble and keyhole in this rifle at magnum velocities. Only regular, factory, jacketed bullets have worked in the past with full magnum loads.
The bullets being out-of-round seemed to have no effect on accuracy.
Next is to try some with an intermediate load (half way between 44 special and magnum) and some full power magnum loads. I've never had cast or plated bullets not tumble and keyhole in this rifle at magnum velocities. Only regular, factory, jacketed bullets have worked in the past with full magnum loads.
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Alright....I think I've done enough reading between here and castboolits to get a grip on this. SWMBO brought me home a new (tiny) toaster oven that was on sale @ China-Tire for $19.99 and an order of powder is on it's way from Powder365.....Phantom flat black, 3003 Ruby red, Silverado silver and Tool blue......
after having made a big batch of Ben's Red....
after having made a big batch of Ben's Red....
