Powder that coat well in one coat

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Has anyone ever compared freshly cast bullets with a shiny surface to those that have sat for months and months and have a bit of an oxide coating?
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Brad,
I have done it on old bullets that have been stored for years & I have done it on old previously lube bullets after boiling off the grease and washing in dawn dish detergent. Everything has coated well for me
Jim
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I have a little different way of applying the powder. Wally W. hase those plastic screw on lid containers. I hold the container horizontally so the powder, BB's and bullets are spread out evenly over the hole length of the container. Instead of swerling the container horizontally. I do a vertical circular motion quite forcefully to get the BB's and bullets hammering on each other. You could also do a lift and drop motion to get the same result.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I grab the top/lid and the base between my hands and swirl that way.
then turn and shake up and down then swirl again but kind of in a 1/2 swirl jerky motion so the bullets fall back through the BB's.
then shake, and swirl, and finish with an up and down hard shake.
like 20 seconds or so.
 

mattw

Active Member
Do you guys use the "shake and bake" method? That is how I PC mine, but I never can get perfect coverage in one pass as those nice looking 22-cal bullets above.
I S&B as well, I do not think it is less than perfect color. If you get after the "bare" spots with a pick and a good magnifier... there is a coating there. I think it is a flaw in that the pigment is not staying with the clear base. It really appears to me that there is clear in those spots.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I S&B as well, I do not think it is less than perfect color. If you get after the "bare" spots with a pick and a good magnifier... there is a coating there. I think it is a flaw in that the pigment is not staying with the clear base. It really appears to me that there is clear in those spots.
I agree. I've noticed that some of the pigments in PC seem to settle out, especially when humidity is high. I've taken to turning the container upside down every so often with the intent of keeping the pigment mixed with the clear. It does seem to work better for me. If I end up with a bare or light spot when doing this it always seems to at least have clear over that spot.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
I sure wish I could whip up a case of enthusiasm for powder coating, but I just cannot. Tumble lubing works so well and is very fast, and does not require baking. I have been powder coat painting fishing jigs for 15 years, so I have some experience with the stuff.
 

mattw

Active Member
I sure wish I could whip up a case of enthusiasm for powder coating, but I just cannot. Tumble lubing works so well and is very fast, and does not require baking. I have been powder coat painting fishing jigs for 15 years, so I have some experience with the stuff.
It started for me with an old rifle that none of the standard moulds had a large enough diameter, the PC adds about .002" and makes the bullet fit like it should and makes it shoot well. Then I took the process to 9mm and really liked the results. I still conventionally lube and size many bullets and likely will forever. I tend to PC bullets that I will push hard and lube bullets that I will not push hard. Like anything, it does have it's place. The thing I do not like is that I can lube and size far quicker than I can coat and size.
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I S&B. Screw top #5 container and plastic beads (airsoft black pellets). I shake and swirl for a minute and bake. I usually do 100-150 at a time. I live in humid SE Michigan and have noticed no problems with PC sticking. I use a mix of Smoke's powder and HF red (trying to use up the HF).
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
L Ross: What got me in to PC coating was the fact That I have a few old Mil surps that are as everyone told me ...Trash!
And They were stored away because I worked too hard to get them to shoot even slightly accurate!
My Nice JP Sauer und Suhn Model 98 with tons of nazi marking should be an 8 mm but no it is worn to 8.4 mm. My 1916 Spanish mauser which should be 7mm x55 is really 7.6mm x 55 My Super old Arisaka Type 38 ( very early) which should be a 6.5 mm x 50 but in reality is 6.9mm x 50
PC allows me the freedom to find a bullet that may fit their worn throats and between sizing an PC coating build up Get their exactly turning all of them into fine target rifles!
After that it didn't take long for me to try all my "Good" rifles with PC to see if they shot better than with Tradional.
And I'm now satisfied that they do!
I do not call PC easy by no means as tumble lube. But I tradional lubed in the past viz pan lubing and kake cutting so I would say that fact of dificulty is equal!
 

Ian

Notorious member
Most of you have probably seen this before, but it bears repeating for those looking for "advantages":

20190310_184931.jpg

174 grains at 2464 fps (muzzle, 18" lightweight barrel), 100 yards, LR-308, 12-bhn bullets.

Another one, same setup, different day:

20190327_183318.jpg
 
Last edited:

mattw

Active Member
Nice shootin' there. When it works, it works well and I find that sometimes it takes a small bump up in charge to get back to great results. This spring I will be working on 300 BO loads, more formally, and will be shooting a couple weights around 150 to 165. I have still not been convinced that everything gets better with PC, but fast bullets seem to. I will also be working with 44 grain lead in the 22 TCM pistol this spring. That may be interesting.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I don't powder coat, but can a powder coated bullet be re-melted?
Yes they can. I have melted down a fair amount of range scrap that was powder coated. Lots of Hi-Tek coated have been melted down too.
I would not want to put them back in my casting pot, no need to risk getting junk where it doesn’t belong.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
yep.
melt them, scrape the gunk, flux, and re-use the alloy.. no problem.
I'm still barely using the P/C and not using it in any rifles at all.
I could see me using it for long term storage and in a few other applications,
but I'm really up to my eyeballs in sized/lubed bullets for most of my stuff, so it's a niche thing for me.
I do have one mold designed just for P/C and it wouldn't work without using it, I'm still in the baby step stage with it though.
hard to switch over when I have 10-K plus regular cast rounds loaded already.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Maybe we can have a group take a road trip and help fiver shoot up all that old, musty ammo.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
No problem remelting coated and you an just toss them in the casting pot as I do. Skim the trash off the top as always and cast away.