Powder coat 45acp.

dam you, now i want to try it! toaster ovens are like $10 on kijiji, and the powders i was looking at would be about $50 shipped for 2.5lbs of powder.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
dam you, now i want to try it! toaster ovens are like $10 on kijiji, and the powders i was looking at would be about $50 shipped for 2.5lbs of powder.
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If you do try it, use parchment paper not foil, I ended up wasting a bunch of 300 blackout bullets because i used foil.
 
f55 said:
If you do try it, use parchment paper not foil, I ended up wasting a bunch of 300 blackout bullets because i used foil.
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ya i read that in your post, i was also thinking of just using sheet metal (i do HVAC and can get it for free) but i suspect it would build up over time and mess with things.

after you tumbled the bullets, did the powder make a mess of your tumbler bowl?
 
Spawn-Inc said:
ya i read that in your post, i was also thinking of just using sheet metal (i do HVAC and can get it for free) but i suspect it would build up over time and mess with things.

after you tumbled the bullets, did the powder make a mess of your tumbler bowl?
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It did make a mess, i am going to try put the powder in a old tupperware then tumble or get a second hand tumbler just for this pc.

You only need a thin coat, when i first tried it the coat looked so thin but cured fine. I left the bullets to cool for 30 min and then applied a second coat which gives the gloss look of the bullets in the link.

Use a siv to get rid of the excess, otherwise you end up with powder all over your gloves and not the bullets. I siv and just drop them on the parchment paper. The poweder i used states 400 for 10 minutes minimum, after 5 min i take the tray out and shake for few seconds so they dont stick to each other.

I cleaned the tublmer of most of the powder by running it with corn cob for a few min.
 
Best way to dry tumble is to use an empty food container such as cool whip. As long as the number in the triangle on the bottom is 5 it will work good. Put about a teaspoon of powder in it and about 50 boolits. Warming the boolits seems to help achieve a uniform coating. Lightly swirl the container in a circular motion for about 2 minutes. The swirl is important. Most believe the combination of swirling and #5 HDPE causes static electricity which helps the powder adhere nearly as good as a powder coat gun. The results of extremely thick coating is from just "caking" it on in a tumbler. Properly applied like described results in a much thinner more uniform coating. I pick the boolits out of the container with needle nosed pliers with the tips dipped in powder. Works really good. I stand them base down on presidents choice non stick aluminum foil and bake them. Tupperware isn't the right kind of plastic to achieve the static build up. And not all powder works good for this. The harbor freight red works the best. The harbor freight black is not so good. The tgic issue is not a big deal. You should be baking them with proper ventilation with any powder. It's all paint after all. Only a fool would do it in their kitchen. All powder gives off bad fumes when curing.
 
sawzall said:
Best way to dry tumble is to use an empty food container such as cool whip. As long as the number in the triangle on the bottom is 5 it will work good. Put about a teaspoon of powder in it and about 50 boolits. Warming the boolits seems to help achieve a uniform coating. Lightly swirl the container in a circular motion for about 2 minutes. The swirl is important. Most believe the combination of swirling and #5 HDPE causes static electricity which helps the powder adhere nearly as good as a powder coat gun. The results of extremely thick coating is from just "caking" it on in a tumbler. Properly applied like described results in a much thinner more uniform coating. I pick the boolits out of the container with needle nosed pliers with the tips dipped in powder. Works really good. I stand them base down on presidents choice non stick aluminum foil and bake them. Tupperware isn't the right kind of plastic to achieve the static build up. And not all powder works good for this. The harbor freight red works the best. The harbor freight black is not so good. The tgic issue is not a big deal. You should be baking them with proper ventilation with any powder. It's all paint after all. Only a fool would do it in their kitchen. All powder gives off bad fumes when curing.
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i figured the tumbler was statically charging them, because in the threads on cast boolits when people just tumbled them in the powder it didn't stick very well. f55's results look very good, although he said he coated/painted them twice.

EDIT: ordered some powder,
1 ea. PATINA GREEN $5.50
0.5 ea. SAFETY YELLOW $9.88
0.5 ea. RAL 3000 FLAME RED $11.56
0.5 ea. PHANTOM WET WHITE HIGH GLOSS $6.87
 
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Thanks for the tip sawzall, i have plenty of no.5 food containers.

The tgic issue isn't the fumes, i did the pc and curing outside. I would rather not use tgic powders if i can find tgic free. I dont want the risk anyone touching the powder if it settles on surfaces outside.
 
Can this be done to rounds that are already gas checked? I want some of mine done to test this out... anyone in the S. Ontario area that does this want to do a test for me? I'll pay...
 
TargetAcquired said:
Can this be done to rounds that are already gas checked? I want some of mine done to test this out... anyone in the S. Ontario area that does this want to do a test for me? I'll pay...
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Sure it can be done to gas checked bullets. In fact, if you have a boolit that has a gas check shank on it, powder coating and then checking can be very dificult due to the powder build up on the shank. I have only done it with plain base so far but when I do checked boolits I will check them first. You just want to make sure you clean all the lube off them first. Give them a boil in some hot water. It will melt the lube off and it will all float to the top. Let it cool and scoop the lube off. Then drain and dry the boolits and give them a tumble in some acetone to remove any trace amounts of lube that may be left. Then powder coat. I think it would probably be easier for you to buy 1/2lb of powder and do it your self. It's really very easy and virtually no start up cost other than an old oven or toaster oven and some powder.
 
well i have a lee .501 sizer and 2 lyman 4500 sizers in .501 so i will test it out with that. they estimated the powder should be here tomorrow, but i doubt it. i just need to get a toaster and then i can try it out.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
well i have a lee .501 sizer and 2 lyman 4500 sizers in .501 so i will test it out with that. they estimated the powder should be here tomorrow, but i doubt it. i just need to get a toaster and then i can try it out.
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I ordered mine yesterday at 10am and it arrived today.
 
sawzall said:
Sure it can be done to gas checked bullets. In fact, if you have a boolit that has a gas check shank on it, powder coating and then checking can be very dificult due to the powder build up on the shank. I have only done it with plain base so far but when I do checked boolits I will check them first. You just want to make sure you clean all the lube off them first. Give them a boil in some hot water. It will melt the lube off and it will all float to the top. Let it cool and scoop the lube off. Then drain and dry the boolits and give them a tumble in some acetone to remove any trace amounts of lube that may be left. Then powder coat. I think it would probably be easier for you to buy 1/2lb of powder and do it your self. It's really very easy and virtually no start up cost other than an old oven or toaster oven and some powder.
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So, without being 'that guy' and asking that someone use this thread to detail the process, does someone want to be kind enough to either PM some details, or show me a link to where I can see it detailled in a step-by-step kinda way?

I'm a fan of doing it myself, but I want to make sure I educate myself properly first.
 
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TargetAcquired said:
So, without being 'that guy' and asking that someone use this thread to detail the process, does someone want to be kind enough to either PM some details, or show me a link to where I can see it detailled in a step-by-step kinda way?

I'm a fan of doing it myself, but I want to make sure I educate myself properly first.
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I gave a pretty detailed description in post #27 of this thread...It's exactly what I do and works good for me. Only I use Harbor Freight powder that came with my powder coating gun kit. The blue works great for dry tumbling but the black not good at all. For using the gun, the black works great but I've never used the blue that way.
 
So, with the dry tumble method you described in a #5 food container, do the bullets have to be resized afterward?
That would be something else I'd have to get, I reload but don't cast, lube, or size bullets.
 
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