So if I wanted to...make 'em colorful.

McDirkale

McDirkale

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Ok. Let me be clear, I don't notice leading in my barrels when shooting lead. I guess I have found a load that doesn't contribute to it.

But....

I got an order of 2,000 lead round nose 9mm sized .356 in the other day. They are pre lubed in the grooves.

I was just reading about someone powder coating bullets with stuff from harbor freight (the powder). I have a small toaster oven the wife is threatening to throw out that works just fine.

So, given what I have........what would I need and what's the process to make them colorful?

Is it worth it?LOL

I have no idea about any of this process.
 
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Some powder, a container to shake it all up in [ If i remember correctly it needs to be a special type of plastic] Non stick tin foil, toaster oven, hi temp thermometer of some sort, patience,[ some more misc stuff that I don't remember] a whole lot of time. I don't do it anymore difficult to do K's of them.
Nope defiantly NOT worth all the trouble, I use lee alox [ smokes some but much easier then making people jealous of your bullitz].
That good?
 
Toaster over and silicone baking sheets is the ticket. Shake and Bake in a whipped topping container with black airsoft BBs. Buy Eastwood or powder from "Smoke" on castboolits [email protected]

everyone else makes garbage PC from my testing, especially HFT...even the red sucks.

In short, PC is worth it in rifle velocities, but I've went back to lubrasizing with good lube from LSlube in most all my pistols except 9mm.
 
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Oh yea then you have to size them maybe again if you sized them already. This may be good for rifle boolitz in small volume because they are much better then hard cast and stand up better to the heat and rifling [and rotation speed] that is with a gas check. Yep it's complicated. And that's not all................
 
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Toprudder said:
Can you powder coat bullets that are already lubed?
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Yeah, you have to remove all the lube which is definitely not worth it. Think @Butter tried when the forum first started and posted about it.

I believe it's boil in water to remove most, then acetone wash repeatedly.

With clean bullets it's pretty easy. Shake around with some good powder, dump into a screen tray, shake a little to remove excess, bake, shake briskly to break up before they cool, or dump into water, size. Can do a about 300 per tray in my toaster. HF red didn't like the mass method but made really nice bullets if I stood them individually, but I don't love doing that.

I'm lazy and after having done I don't know how many thousands of PC and Hitek bullets it's really not something I enjoy anymore. My cheapness is probably the only reason I may keep it up.
 
Beef15 said:
Yeah, you have to remove all the lube which is definitely not worth it. Think @Butter tried when the forum first started and posted about it.

I believe it's boil in water to remove most, then acetone wash repeatedly.

With clean bullets it's pretty easy. Shake around with some good powder, dump into a screen tray, shake a little to remove excess, bake, shake briskly to break up before they cool, or dump into water, size. Can do a about 300 per tray in my toaster. HF red didn't like the mass method but made really nice bullets if I stood them individually, but I don't love doing that.

I'm lazy and after having done I don't know how many thousands of PC and Hitek bullets it's really not something I enjoy anymore. My cheapness is probably the only reason I may keep it up.
Click to expand...
I got killer deal on some lubed bullets that smoked to much for uspsa use in sunlight. I used the boil method and paint thinner then coated and everything worked out just fine
 
What is the benefit to the colored/coated bullets?
 
HMP said:
What is the benefit to the colored/coated bullets?
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It's a more efficient method to use than traditional wax Lube. It smokes much much less. Also you can use much softer lead because the polymer coating will keep the bullet intact, and if it's sized correctly the bullet will not lead your Barrel in the slightest
Also, it is much easier to powder coat bullets en masse than to buy a Lube sizer.
It's all so much cleaner than traditional wax Lube
 
McDirkale said:
Ok. Let me be clear, I don't notice leading in my barrels when shooting lead. I guess I have found a load that doesn't contribute to it.

But....

I got an order of 2,000 lead round nose 9mm sized .356 in the other day. They are pre lubed in the grooves.

I was just reading about someone powder coating bullets with stuff from harbor freight (the powder). I have a small toaster oven the wife is threatening to throw out that works just fine.

So, given what I have........what would I need and what's the process to make them colorful?

Is it worth it?LOL

I have no idea about any of this process.
Click to expand...
The wax lube must be completely stripped before you powder coat. Boiling water then Acetone/paint thinner is appropriate to get it off. After that...this vid has directions.
 
I tried traditional cast/lubed bullets and did not like anything about it. Handling the bullets was messy, the sizing and crimping dies needed occasional cleaning, they smoked when fired, etc. Coated bullets are MUCH nicer, IMHO.
 
There is a vendor over at Cast Boolits that sells PC'd Boolits...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
PC isn't as bad as many make it out to be. I cast, a lot of my own. I both lube and PC. PC is much cleaner and faster. No sticky lube, no smoke, less lead exposure. I shake powder and bullets in a ziploc container. Some people same #5 plastic works best. I have used a few things with no bad results. Some (myself included) have also used airsoft BBs. I used the black ones. I found that they are not needed. Just adds a step trying to separate the powder, BBs, and bullets. I bake in a pile in a wire mesh basket I made. I also use a pair of silicone ice trays, has 160 small holes. Each hole will fit a 38 cal/9mm bullet or smaller. This is good if you want bullets with no small marks where bullets stuck together in the basket. Easy to get them apart if you do use the basket. Harbor Freight powder is shit. Red kinda worked....but black, white and yellow were just garbage. I use Eastwood Powder exclusively, mostly clear as I like lead bullets to look like lead. I also use black, ford light blue, and lime green. Colors are mostly for test loads to ID various loads. I bake in a $30 Walmart toaster oven. Don't do any of the baking in your kitchen oven. 20 min at 400 degrees, and you are good.
 
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Beef15 said:
I believe it's boil in water to remove most, then acetone wash repeatedly.

With clean bullets it's pretty easy. Shake around with some good powder, dump into a screen tray, shake a little to remove excess, bake, shake briskly to break up before they cool, or dump into water, size. Can do a about 300 per tray in my toaster. HF red didn't like the mass method but made really nice bullets if I stood them individually, but I don't love doing that.
Click to expand...

Ikarus1 said:
Toaster over and silicone baking sheets is the ticket. Shake and Bake in a whipped topping container with black airsoft BBs. Buy Eastwood or powder from "Smoke" on castboolits [email protected]

everyone else makes garbage PC from my testing, especially HFT...even the red sucks..
Click to expand...

@McDirkale
The information above is correct. You will have to resize when you're finished
 
Speaking of resizing....not necessary all the time. In fact, I use PC in a couple cases to increase bullet diameter slightly if the mold drops smaller than .001 over groove diameter. If your mold drops a little over anyway, then a Lee push through sizer is what you'll want.
 
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