Looking for high adhesion shake & bake powders

T

ted_dent

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S. Ontario
Before anyone jumps in and says "Tool Blue!", yes, I use that one extensively as well as Gloss Black and Clear. What I'm looking for are a couple of other colours that are going to give me similar 95-100% coverage using 'shake & bake' one coat. Ideally a nice red and a green would suffice but I'm open to other suggestions. I don't need any of the fancy schmancy Candy Apple Primrose stuff, just straight, old fashioned colours that are going to stick. I tried Harbor Freight red and it was crap. Tried a lime green, also crap. I know yellows are a one coat waste of time.

How about it, buds? What have you used that really sticks well, is glossy and doesn't cost an arm & leg? Help a bro out. :giggle:
 
boxhitch said:
$0.02.... Eastwood powder from KMS Tools is popular, even there some colours are reported better than others. HF gets no luv
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I'm trying to find out which ones. I live near the border so I can even order direct from Eastwood if I have to but I don't want to end up with powders that only give 50-60% coverage. Been there, done that, not happy. :cry:
 
ted_dent said:
I know yellows are a one coat waste of time.
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I have a pail of JD yellow that works excellent , unknown manuf as it was given to me by a commercial PC shop...actually, from your original post I think there is something wrong in your own methods, or weather environment. I dont think I have a color that doesnt give 100% coverage. Some powders will give a thicker or thinner covering but always 100%. I can even vary the covering thickness of a specific color by using a spray gun or shake& baking (spray gun is always thinner)
 
eastwood clear works very well for me, you can actually get an excess of coating on the bullet. after doing a little 30 second shake in a tupperware tub, I dump the bullets on a mechanics cloth tray and carefully shake them until I see the coverage I want. clear really sticks well to my bullets, 100 % coverage, and very uniform coating after baking.
 
fingers284 said:
I have a pail of JD yellow that works excellent , unknown manuf as it was given to me by a commercial PC shop...actually, from your original post I think there is something wrong in your own methods, or weather environment. I dont think I have a color that doesnt give 100% coverage. Some powders will give a thicker or thinner covering but always 100%. I can even vary the covering thickness of a specific color by using a spray gun or shake& baking (spray gun is always thinner)
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I see you're in Alberta so I suspect you don't have the humidity issue we have in S. Ontario which can impede adhesion. That being said, I have also tried most every suggestion made, swirling with airsoft BBs, in a plastic bag in a vibratory tumbler, pre-heating (works great with Tool Blue, black & cleart but is terrible with other colours), etc. I have come to the conclusion that it has to do with the pigments that create the various colours. Some just don't react well to the static created by swirling. They are probably OK with a PC gun as the current generated is higher but I don't want to go down that rabbit hole.
 
Pre-covid, I posted a photo of some bullets coated with a pale green powder, that looked absolutely wretched. They were very blotchy in colour, with messy streaks. However, they shot very well with good velocity.
Apparently, the underlying powder went on smoothy and it was the colored pigment that was blotchy. For the past several years, I've used nothing but clear powder. I have a bit of black, in case I want to increase bullet diameter with a thicker coating powder.
 
ted_dent said:
I have also tried most every suggestion made, swirling with airsoft BBs, in a plastic bag in a vibratory tumbler, pre-heating (works great with Tool Blue, black & cleart but is terrible with other colours), et
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I will also offer up that I do notice a better/thicker shake n bake covering if I use a deeper straight wall shaker such as a dream whip tub instead of a more rounded bowl type shaker such as a margarine tub
 
slug said:
Pre-covid, I posted a photo of some bullets coated with a pale green powder, that looked absolutely wretched. They were very blotchy in colour, with messy streaks. However, they shot very well with good velocity.
Apparently, the underlying powder went on smoothy and it was the colored pigment that was blotchy. For the past several years, I've used nothing but clear powder. I have a bit of black, in case I want to increase bullet diameter with a thicker coating powder.
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I actually double coated some .450 slicks the other day, the second coat went on when the bullets were still very warm.
HOLY SMOKES that stuff went of thick!!
Two coats brought them out to .461!
Cat
 
First time casting bullets and I'm wondering,
Is a lead thermometer useful or necessary, should I get one?
Are Lee aluminum molds difficult to fill properly?
Are the steel molds inherently easier to use?
Can I just lube and shoot at less than 1600 fps?
With the 160 gr the lack of fill is like bug tracks under tree bark, will they shoot?

I'm using
Lee bottom pour furnace
Lyman .309 160gr gc aluminum mould (poor result)
For 308win and 7.62x39 bolt
Lyman .311 130gr steel excellent result
For 308win but mostly 7.62x39...
Rcbs .225 55gr gc steel excellent result
For 222rem
 
I use Lee molds in several calibers a d configurations
ghughes said:
First time casting bullets and I'm wondering,
Is a lead thermometer useful or necessary, should I get one?
Are Lee aluminum molds difficult to fill properly?
Are the steel molds inherently easier to use?
Can I just lube and shoot at less than 1600 fps?
With the 160 gr the lack of fill is like bug tracks under tree bark, will they shoot?

I'm using
Lee bottom pour furnace
Lyman .309 160gr gc aluminum mould (poor result)
For 308win and 7.62x39 bolt
Lyman .311 130gr steel excellent result
For 308win but mostly 7.62x39...
Rcbs .225 55gr gc steel excellent result
For 222rem
Click to expand...
I use several brands of molds, Lee included.
As long as the mold is hot enough and the lead properly fluxed I have no issues with casting with molds made of brass, steel or aluminum.
You can certainly just lube shoot under 1,600FPS, however I have found with powder coating I get less build up .
Cat
 
iron cat said:
however I have found with powder coating I get less build up .
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Ok, that's the plan here as well. I've seen the recommendations of Emerald but considering the potential PO strike does anyone know of any retail sources of pc paint in Kingston ON? That I could pick up tomorrow? Does PA have any anymore?
 
ghughes said:
First time casting bullets and I'm wondering,
Is a lead thermometer useful or necessary, should I get one?
Are Lee aluminum molds difficult to fill properly?
Are the steel molds inherently easier to use?
Can I just lube and shoot at less than 1600 fps?
With the 160 gr the lack of fill is like bug tracks under tree bark, will they shoot?

I'm using
Lee bottom pour furnace
Lyman .309 160gr gc aluminum mould (poor result)
For 308win and 7.62x39 bolt
Lyman .311 130gr steel excellent result
For 308win but mostly 7.62x39...
Rcbs .225 55gr gc steel excellent result
For 222rem
Click to expand...
buy a cheap little hot plate so you can preheat your molds, saves a lot of time. also make sure to do a really thorough job of degreasing the mold blocks before you use them. then take a bit of sandpaper and "break" the edges of the sprue plate so it doesn't have any burrs or rough edges. get some synthetic 2 stroke oil and use it very sparingly on the pivot pin and alignment pins, don't get it in the cavities. you can use powdered graphite on a q tip to coat the cavities, it helps release the bullets.

you can use a cheap thermometer to help you figure out where the sweet spot is for casting cadence and bullet diameter.
aluminum blocks heat up faster and cool faster than cast iron blocks. once you are at casting temp, no difference.
lee aluminum molds are generally good but you must be gentle with them, keep the bottom of the sprue plate clean of lead buildup, and do not overtighten any screws.
water drop the bullets out of the blocks if you are using wheelweight alloy for harder bullets, keep the splash zone well away from the pot.
go to cast boolits.com for info on lube/powdercoat/ shooting bullets as cast. tons of experience and knowledge on that website.
bullets with flaws will disappoint you with less than stellar results, especially out of a rifle.
good luck, you may not get perfect bullets the first time, but don't give up. after a few sessions you will quickly learn what works.
 
Turn the heat up a notch or 2 on your furnace for the alum molds...they will drop equal to steel when temp is right..

as for powder coating powder, google the local commercial powder coaters in your immediate area and spend an afternoon visiting them, ask for any solid color (nothing with metal-flake additive)over-runs they may have kicking around that they will never use...guaranteed you will go home with a lifetimes supply of powder.
 
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