Powder Coating

Sat down last night and cast about 1100 of my 147gr 9mm bullets.

Today I powder coated a few hundred to load up for tomorrow ( my nephew wanted to go shooting and I'm all out of 9mm).

Here is a tray, coated and ready for cooking.

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And baked.

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Auggie D.
 
auggie those are mighty fine looking bullets (you 147 9mm?). Can you remind me again what black PC you are using. I think under your recommendation I ordered some but just haven’t had time this summer. Just too hot and waiting for things to cool off.
 
lpel said:
auggie those are mighty fine looking bullets (you 147 9mm?). Can you remind me again what black PC you are using. I think under your recommendation I ordered some but just haven’t had time this summer. Just too hot and waiting for things to cool off.
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It is Phantom Glass Black from Emerald Coatings. It's probably the thickest PC I've used. Adds at least 2 thousandths. Great for bumping up bullets on the skinny side.

Auggie D.
 
very nice job of powder coating, what technique do you use to arrange the bullets? my apologies if you have to repeat an earlier post because I'm too lazy to go back and read the entire thread.
 
barsik said:
very nice job of powder coating, what technique do you use to arrange the bullets? my apologies if you have to repeat an earlier post because I'm too lazy to go back and read the entire thread.
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I wear nitrile gloves (not latex, they just seem to strip the powder off). I dump my shake coated bullets in a dollar store sieve, then just pick them up one at a time, roll it between my fingers to knock off any excess powder and place it on the silicon sheet on the tray. I do about 150 or so per tray. It takes me about 15 minutes to load each tray, the same amount of time to bake a load.

Auggie D.
 
Did up some 405gr 45-70 RCBS mold GC and some LEE 245gr plain base 38-55 .381 Are using GC's mandatory as I don't wish to size the 45-70 from .461 as Marlins have larger grooves.
 
mbogo3 said:
Anyone wearing respirators /masks for protection from lead fumes? If so what type?
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I wear an N95 mask while working with the powder. I knocked together a Mickey Mouse fume hood for the toaster over to vent outside while baking. There are no lead fumes to worry about, just the fumes from the heated powder. Seems to work ok.

Auggie D.
 
mbogo3 said:
Did up some 405gr 45-70 RCBS mold GC and some LEE 245gr plain base 38-55 .381 Are using GC's mandatory as I don't wish to size the 45-70 from .461 as Marlins have larger grooves.
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Th PC more or less makes GC's redundant, the pc does what they do in function. i shoot GC based slugs just PC'd, pretty much just a coated boat-tail.
 
still struggling here with getting a good coat of powder to stick
may have to try the wet coat for this powder I have or change it out for something else
Are some lead mixtures just not suitable?
The bullets were originally BltBarn lubed that I have cleaned a couple of ways, even tried burnishing slightly with a brass toothbrush
 
Are you warming the bullets up. I found that if I did them cold the powder didn’t like to coat well. I use my dehydrator to warm them up. Like 5 min in and they are warm to the touch. Then swish them in the #5 recycle container. Never looked back.
 
boxhitch said:
still struggling here with getting a good coat of powder to stick
may have to try the wet coat for this powder I have or change it out for something else
Are some lead mixtures just not suitable?
The bullets were originally BltBarn lubed that I have cleaned a couple of ways, even tried burnishing slightly with a brass toothbrush
Click to expand...
Im with Yomamm, I think there is a residual of the old lube still on your slugs. try boiling twice and be careful not to pour your bullets out of the water, the skim on top you are pouring thru will re-contaminate them. Let water cool with the wax lube skim hardening, then skim that off & dump water off the slugs.
After all that I swish in a methyl hyd (common gas line anti) bath for a few seconds and then let air dry....now your ready for coating.
Sometimes PCing can be dirt simple with new clean bullets but if your starting with slugs that have wax lube on them it can be a bit onerous but the benefits of using bullets you've already purchased for cast bullet shooting is well worth the effort I've found.
 
fingers284 said:
Im with Yomamm, I think there is a residual of the old lube still on your slugs. try boiling twice and be careful not to pour your bullets out of the water, the skim on top you are pouring thru will re-contaminate them. Let water cool with the wax lube skim hardening, then skim that off & dump water off the slugs.
After all that I swish in a methyl hyd (common gas line anti) bath for a few seconds and then let air dry....now your ready for coating.
Sometimes PCing can be dirt simple with new clean bullets but if your starting with slugs that have wax lube on them it can be a bit onerous but the benefits of using bullets you've already purchased for cast bullet shooting is well worth the effort I've found.
Click to expand...
I only cleaned previously lubed bullets once and it was such a pain I'll never do it again. If I get lubed bullets (usually donated by someone as I only PC now) I just shoot them as is because it's not worth the effort to get the lube off. Even using lacquer thinner (which is much more efficient at stripping oils and old lube) I still had some residual lube on the bullets.

I'm a bit OCD so I even clean my newly cast bullets in lacquer thinner (only takes a few minute of swishing & soaking) and then I dump them on a towel for 5 minutes. Lacquer thinner is quite volatile so it evaporates really fast (acetone also works well). Then I preheat them in a tray on top of the toaster oven until they are not quite too hot to hold. Dump in the #5 container with the PC, swirl for 30 seconds and then into the oven.
 
I certainly agree that it is a bit of a pain ...but free boolits is free boolits and I will do whatever is required to make them work to full potential LOL.

I have never swished new cast slugs nor have I ever heated a batch before hand, never seen the use for it as I've never had a bad cook with new slugs.
 
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