I stepped into powder coating last night.

[L1A1Rocker]

I've had just horrible luck running cast through my 300blk SBR and silencer. Just "oodles and gobs" of leading. I was very aggravating, disgusting, and disheartening issue. I really stepped away from gun stuff this last year and worked on other things that needed doing. Well I'm back. I knew powder coating was the answer so I've been watching, learning, and picking up the things I needed hear and there. My powder came in the mail yesterday.

I did take Ian's advice about using bottles and not working out of the plastic bag powders are sometimes shipped in. But, being the cheap bastige I am, I opted for used mayo jars.

I wanted to get some green too, but hit my budgeted limit with these four. (Maybe Ian wants to do some trading???) Oh, notice my new IR thermometer in the background. I got my powder from Prismatic. Very good prices from them. And a HUGE selection of RAL colors.

And on to the good stuff.

The Blue (RAL-5012) Did GREAT! The Purple (RAL-4008) Was very good. The Juju Orange was OK. But the Yellow was horrible. It may be shootable, but it will have to be tested to be sure. I tried to do a second coat of yellow but it wouldn't stick. Now let's see how my color matching did. . .

I'd say that RAL-5012 is DARN close to Dillon Blue

And the Juju Orange is close to Chevrolet's "Corvette Orange" Code: 66. Not exact, but close enough to do some engine parts.

I may get some better pics of that in the daylight today.

Well, now it's on to some testing. . .

 

[Brad]

No photos of application method? Sigh.....

I am eager to hear how they shoot. I am putting of PC just because I hate to go down another rabbit hole.

 

[L1A1Rocker]

No photos of application method? Sigh.....

Oops, It's shake and bake method.

 

[Brad]

I just looked at their site, huge color selection.
Why did you pick the RAL powder? Because it is a specific polyester resin type?

How do you know when the substrate is up to temp? They show 12 min of bake time after up to temp, is it safe to just go 14 min and call it good if starting with a hot oven?

Yep, I gots lots of questions.

 

[Ian]

Think about heat treating bullets, Brad. You know how long it takes to soak lead alloy through and through at full temp. All of the powders require the surface of the part be up to temp for the entire time of the recommended cure, the industry calls it "part metal temperature". Now, for bullets, that doesn't mean the whole bullet must be heat soaked, just the surface up to cure temperature, which takes a few minutes. I use an IR gun to get an idea of surface temperature and how long that takes with each bullet type that I coat to reach the usual PMT bake temperature, and keep a list of the "preheat" times. Bake time is added to preheat time, and an extra two minutes added for cold-oven starts. Usually 20-22 minutes total is enough for 30-caliber bullets using ten-minute powder. If heat treating the bullets too, I usually cut the cure temperature down by 10-15 degrees and extend the bake time for ten minutes, then quench.

L1A1 is using the same containers I use, and the heavy bbs (which work a little better than the light ones but both work fine). If I were home I'd snap a photo of the "system".

 

[Brad]

Wow, a pretty long cook time.
If you over cook by 3-5 min is there any harm? I assume over is better than under.

 

[popper]

I quit using the oven to bake, put a ceramic tile on the hot plate, turn mine to max and bake for 1/2 hr. Well, not on a day like today, ~22F. If you leave the bases coated you need the parchment or NSAF. The PC cures from the inside out vs outside in like oven. I also don't have trouble knocking them over and I get ~ 80 on a tile. Remnant PC cleans off the glazed tile with a rag & acetone. I've just used HF red & Smoke's powders, not prismatic. Can't say I see any difference & I've run 2700 fps in 308W. I ESPC - tumble doesn't always work for me.

 

[Ian]

ASBB shake/bake works best with glossy, TGIC powders, epoxy and matte powders hardly stick at all. If acetone will dissolve the residue, it isn't cured very well, but it may be the action of the solvent creeping under the residue that allows it to lift off.

 

[popper]

Shake & bake has been iffy for me + I have the ES gun & it's faster.

 

[L1A1Rocker]

I just looked at their site, huge color selection.
Why did you pick the RAL powder? Because it is a specific polyester resin type?

How do you know when the substrate is up to temp? They show 12 min of bake time after up to temp, is it safe to just go 14 min and call it good if starting with a hot oven?

Yep, I gots lots of questions.

RAL is a color standard established by the Brits back in the 30's or 40's. They did this so they could use multiple suppliers but be assured of the same shade. (IIRC the "R" stands for Royal.) In researching colors I found that many colors that you'd think are "proprietary" are really RAL colors. Makes sense really.

I was wanting to match some of my "stuff" so that I could use these powders for later projects. I want to powder coat the air intake on the old Corvette and wanted a close match. Prismatic was kind enough to send me some swatches and their proprietary Juju Orange seemed the best fit. (side note: every powder coat supplier I contacted regarding "Corvette Orange GM code: 66 referred me to "Chevrolet Orange". That is NOT correct. "Chevrolet Orange" is the color of the engine blocks, not body color) I also wanted to match the Dillon Blue: Back in the late 80's - early 90's I was big into shooting IPSC and my blood almost ran blue. Anyhow, Dillon reps on various forums always say that Old Ford Blue is a close match. It is not. RAL-5012 is also known as "Light Ford Blue" and is a MUCH closer shade. And the Yellow is for an old McCullough chainsaw that I plan on restoring. It's an old 7-10 made around 1970 and it's a BEAST of a machine. My neighbor gave it to me not running. The ignition system was shot, and NOS parts were several hundred dollars to replace. I found a place that makes new ignition modules that replace the old points and condenser an these old chainsaws. Soooo, 30 bucks resurrected this old beast with improved modern ignition control. Anyhow, this winter I plan on tearing it down and redoing the powder coat and putting a 24 or 28 inch bar and chain on it. And the purple, I just liked the color. I wanted to get their Kiwi Green but hit my budget limit.

Temps. use one of those gun type IR thermometer.

Here's the shaker box I use per Ian's excellent recommendation.

I used the black heavy BBs.

Oven is a Black and Decker extra wide toaster convection unit

And here is some MP .45 cal 200gr HP bullets I also did last nite.

I've got an old open bolt semi-auto MAC-10 in 45acp that I've always thought, but never got around to doing, about making some down loaded short stroke rounds for. Two down loaded, one full power. ATF absolutely HATED this and banned the open bolt semi's because of it. They tried to confiscate those already in circulation, but lost the court case. Just to be clear, this is a way of making a poor mans three round burst.

Ok, I hope this answered your questions. If I missed anything please let me know.

 

[Ian]

Those look good, thanks for posting the extra pictures of the "tooling". Too bad not everyone has an H-E-B store, I'm not sure what other container brands are equivalent to the rectangular snap-flap #5 with silicone seal.

Your MAC could use a real can, too....

 

[fiver]

yellow is sketchy in all brands.
it has a tendency to be splotchy because the clear kind of overpowers it.
blue green and purple are the colors that seem to have the best overall appearance.
orange usually does pretty well, but can be hit or miss, this one looks pretty good.

if I had to pick one color for good initial success [across the board] a blue would be the one I'd go with.

 

[Ian]

+1 on blue being the most cooperative color. Red and yellow not so much, but it's that way with all paints, even wet ones.

 

[358156 hp]

I ran out of excuses today. I went to the gun shop and mentioned I was about ready to try powdercoating, and they started loading me up with samples. So now I have pink, JD Green, JD Yellow, and purple to work with. All were leftovers from custom gun and archery projects. They didn't want to throw them away, and they didn't want to keep them. Now to buy an oven.

 

[freebullet]

Those look great!

If you get primary colors you can make all others. Add white & black & the whole rainbow is yours.

 

[shootnlead]

You made a great start...those look fine.

Looks like you have started out right on top of the operation.

Just don't get like that bunch on CB...I think there are a bunch of florist's over there posing as bullet casters. They ooh an aah over how "pretty" the bullets are...

I love powder coated bullets...all I have done for the past 3yrs, but it ain't because they are "pretty", it is because they work so well and it is cleaner, to me, than conventional lube.

But, powder coated bullets that are tumbled in powder coat, in a tumbler, and just dumped out and baked, perform just as well as pretty ones, in handguns.

This post is just my opinion, so please don't take offense at my preference for a minimalist approach to this process.

 

[Ian]

But, powder coated bullets that are tumbled in powder coat, in a tumbler, and just dumped out and baked, perform just as well as pretty ones, in handguns.

I've tested that and will agree. Still, this is a hobby to me and I'm OCD, so I still pick and place each one carefully, especially the rifle bullets that need to have no bumps or thick spots on the noses.

It isn't about pretty for a lot of us here, either, it's about versatility and need. Sure, I've made some "zombie blood" speckled green bullets just for my own amusement, but it isn't THE reason for me using PC for some things.

 

[Gary]

Like Ian, I still individually pick up each piece of cast and place it nose up on non-stick Al Foil (pistol pills) and I individually pick up each rifle slug, tap off excess pwd and lay them on their side in a special tray that has rows to align them. I use very light coats of PC and run them through the process twice. At least for me that gives a nice smooth coating and no globs or blobs. I always size after PC'ing.

 

[popper]

Think about heat treating bullets The liquid alloy has the proper grain structure and mobility. When poured, (super-cooling) modifies the alloy slightly, WD then 'freezes' the structure. When H.T. AC boolits, the mobility in the solid is very low so it needs to be held below slump temp longer to get the proper grain structure. WD then freezes the structure. It's the rate of cooling that does the job, not absolute temp. When using the oven I cook for 1 hr. If I use the hot plate, time is reduced to 1/2 hr as you are conduction heating vs convection heating. Additionally, the coating are insulators.

 

[Will]

I'm gonna have to do some research and order powder coating supplies.
I have thought about it several times but never ended up going through with it.