Anyone Powder Coating?

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I had someone do some bullets a year or so ago but never shot any.

I have used the Hi-tek coating and have been reasonably happy with it. Somehow I keep gravitating back to a traditional lube.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
I was going to give it a try with the air soft bb's technique, but Ben came out with the BLL (Ben's Liquid Lube) and is so fast and easy to make and apply and dries so well there was need to look for anything else as far as a coating.

Accuracy with BLL has also been just as good as with the best grease lubes i've tried. There's no cooking time involved either.
I look at it as the best of both worlds between grease lubes and pc.

Don't get me wrong, i have nothing against the idea of powder coating. LOL it's just that the BLL got in the way of me even trying it.

Glad it's working for you though...got any range reports?
Are you shooting rifle or handgun or both?
 

62chevy

Active Member
No range reports to speak of just seat of the pants stuff like no leading, funny because the Cobra CA 380 didn't lead at all but my Savage Axis in 308W leaded like a beast even with bullets sized to .309 as dropped. PC'd them and sized to .311 and no more leading.
 

Tony

Active Member
Every time I begin thinking about powder coating it occurs to me that I don't really want to breathe the powder and I do not see how the powder can be handled or applied without some of it becoming airborne. Tony
 

Ian

Notorious member
Not here. I'm sort of a fuddy-duddy about the whole powder coating thing because I really don't see any particular advantage in my own shooting. But to a lot of people it's a new dimension to the hobby that has some benefit. Every time I start seriously thinking of trying it, I just go roll some more paper jackets and I'm cured. Cheaper, easier, and as far as I can tell a whole lot better. If a pistol won't shoot lubed GG or TL bullets well there's something wrong with it.
 

35 shooter

Well-Known Member
No range reports to speak of just seat of the pants stuff like no leading, funny because the Cobra CA 380 didn't lead at all but my Savage Axis in 308W leaded like a beast even with bullets sized to .309 as dropped. PC'd them and sized to .311 and no more leading.
Sounds like .309" was a bit undersized for your bore? Have you slugged it?
My 30 cal. moulds pour .311"+ dropped from the mould.
I have a new .308 to start load development with, but haven't slugged it yet or done a pound test of the chamber throat area. Hoping .311" will be a good fit for it and it "should" be.

If you like coating bullets check out the BLL lube threads here if you haven't already. It's not as "hard" of a coating like PC, but certainly hard and dry enough.
The best thing is it only takes about 2 minutes to make lol.
I just haven't seen the kind of accuracy reports with PC and rifles that would make me take the dive, but i keep hoping to. I have seen pretty good reports with handguns.
Let us know how it goes for you!
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Seems to me that fads come and go in reloading, and this is just one of them. Also seems to me that some will always stay with the fad, while others keep trying new things. And then like Brad says, a lot try them, and end up going back to traditional methods. Sort of like those who rush out and buy an new gun for the new ctg that hits the market. Have watched many come and go over the years (22Jet, 350Rem, 357Maxi, 264 Win) etc. Sure there are a few that hang in there with them, but they die a slow death. Bet I get told about the virtues of the 264 now.
 

62chevy

Active Member
Sounds like .309" was a bit undersized for your bore? Have you slugged it?
My 30 cal. moulds pour .311"+ dropped from the mould.
I have a new .308 to start load development with, but haven't slugged it yet or done a pound test of the chamber throat area. Hoping .311" will be a good fit for it and it "should" be.

If you like coating bullets check out the BLL lube threads here if you haven't already. It's not as "hard" of a coating like PC, but certainly hard and dry enough.
The best thing is it only takes about 2 minutes to make lol.
I just haven't seen the kind of accuracy reports with PC and rifles that would make me take the dive, but i keep hoping to. I have seen pretty good reports with handguns.
Let us know how it goes for you!

Agree it was small at .309 but with PC I didn't have to mess with the beagling the mold. I agree PC is a crutch in my case with the Savage Axis and as I don't shoot past 50 yards this system works for me. The added bonus is it works great for all my pistols. My 45 acp always had very tiny bits of lead but now nothing. I believe you are right about rifle accuracy at 100+ yards with PC.

I still have a quart of 45/45/10 to lube with from White Label.
 

williamwaco

Active Member
I am interested but WAY too lazy. Anything that requires individual handling of each bullet, I might as well go back to the Lyman 4500.
 

62chevy

Active Member
Some use 1/4" hardware cloth over a tray to dump the contents of their tube, give it a little shake to get the excess off and then toast for 15 to 20 minutes.
 

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I have fooled around with it some. Mainly in pistol rounds. It's a little time consuming but seems to work ok. The dry tumble with airsoft bb's is very easy and gives almost as good of coverage as the electrostatic spray gun. The Red ones have been tumbled, the black ones were sprayed.

image.jpeg image.jpeg
 

62chevy

Active Member
Smoke has some good stuff but you will pay a lot more for it. The only reason I went with it is because Harbor Freight is 3 hours away and with shipping not a big savings.
 

62chevy

Active Member
mongoose33 I see the orange one have no lube groves, did you remove them or buy the mold that way.
 

mongoose33

New Member
mongoose33 I see the orange one have no lube groves, did you remove them or buy the mold that way.

The mold comes that way. It's a NOE mold that is sold for hi-tek boolits, but it also works fine for powdercoating. It has pins for both hollow point as well as flat-point.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=84&products_id=780

I wanted a hollow point as I put the boolit upside down on screws so they don't fall over--works pretty well for electro-static powdercoating. Like this:

hpcoatingtray.jpg

I use non-stick aluminum foil pressed down over the screws to limit the PC that ends up on the tray. BTW, the tray is actually the end cap for rectangular ductwork. Like this:

http://www.menards.com/main/p-1444432207751-c-14260.htm?tid=-1681714077830005160
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I was heavy into it when it started. Lots of money that could have been spent on actual casting stuff. The time factor is why I am going back to BLL.