Powder Coat.....Another one bites the dust.

[gman]

I'll blame this all on Ian! Just like many here I'm sure I have been tempted to try the PC process for a couple of years. I kept seeing the results people were getting and then Decided to order some powder just days before Ian posted his results. I have tried the #5 plastic tub with black air soft bb's. Pretty good results. Black bullets air hand tumbled. Bought a small Hornady case tumbler and tried this method. Bullets, powder & turn it on. 10 minutes then sift in a colander and stand them up on tray. 400 deg for 20 minutes. Powder from smoke4320 on the CB forum. All red bullets tumbled in case tumbler.

 

[gman]

Red NOE 35-200 & red and black NOE 480-375-RF

 

[Ian]

Those look pretty good. I haven't tried the vibratory tumbler method yet, so far I'm pretty happy with the shake'n'pick'n'stand'n'bake method, have coated about 2000 bullets so far that way including the Lee blackout bullet.

You'll see a 3-5% velocity increase on account of the powder, so be prepared for that.

 

[gman]

Tumbler works pretty darn good.

 

[Ian]

I have a Lyman turbo tumbler that's been doing nothing but collecting dust ever since I bought a SSTM wet pin system, have been wondering if I should at least try it out once. I'm trying to eliminate or at least minimize my dust exposure when using the Polyester TGIC powders and the sifting operation tends to waft a good bit of powder up in my face no matter how careful I am, even using a 5-gallon bucket for containment. I suppose a person could just pick right out of the tumbler, couldn't they and eliminate sifting?

 

[gman]

Ian,
I dump from the tumbler to a large colander which is sitting in a large Tupperware bowl. Most of the powder falls right through to the bowl. Granted I haven't done a large amount at one time but I really did not have a powder dust problem. Nice to not have to fool with the bb's. Most say 20 minutes in tumbler but mine were fine in 10. Larger batch may well need 20.

 

[Ian]

You'll only notice the airborne powder if the light is just right or later, when your blow your nose. A good mask and wiping up little splats of powder with a damp towel is really all it takes to be safe.

 

[gman]

Thanks for the tip!