There seems to be quite a few questions still floating around out there about powder coating cast bullets, even after 5-6 years of doing it. here's something I tried today just as an experiment. We had just finished a one quart Mayonnaise jar & I wanted to give it a test drive so I washed it out & dried it. It has the little triangle on the bottom but not the "mandatory" five. I put about 75 of the 135 gr 32 HP's inside along with several 260 gr Keith 45 slugs, added about 1/2 tsp Harbor Freight Red, the powder that many complain about & shaked it for about 45 seconds with a few bounces up & down. Unscrewing the lid they looked just fine so I dumped them into my colander & shook them for 6-7 seconds & then dumped them onto the non stick aluminum foil on my toaster oven tray & popped them into the 400 degree toaster oven for 12 minutes & Bingo! They turned out great!
I've sent 2 batches of these to to a couple of central Texas gunsmiths & they are having great success with them, especially in a problem 44 that a client sent them. I still say, & they said that they Harbor Freight Red is getting better coverage, not that the more expensive black is bad, it's very good but the Red is doing better. Always has done better for me.
No air soft pellets, no acetone, just get those babies coated, cooled down & sized, it's country simple, very fast & soooo much cleaner. You seldom need a gas check either. I ran some 32 magnums through a Buckeye yesterday that were very accurate & very, very fast. Plain base 100 gr bullets that were touching at 25 yds.








Dick

You will always be THE MAN Dick!

Amen.....

Yep!

I?ll leave that scientific country simple bullet making to you, Dick. I know they shoot good in my six shooters.

Guys, one thing that is really surprising me is a Buckeye 32 magnum that I've been shooting for a couple of weeks now. I'm using a 104 gr SWC plain base bullet that's powder coated & it drops from a mould that usually drops them at 98 grs depending on alloy. That means my alloy is soft! I am getting some screaming velocity out of this Buckeye with this soft bullet with zero leading, nothing, & under 1/2" groups many times at 25 yds. I think they will expand on a wet Kleenex
There's no bullet lube out there, I promise you that can do that,not at this speed. I won't even tell you what the load is because someone would try it in a Single Six or Single Seven. In my Buckeye the cases are falling out of the gun, some have been loaded 4 times now & the primer pockets are still tight, frankly I'm flabbergasted, but only by powder coating them is this possible.
Little foot note: Dr. Rogers & Mike from Pa are here now, I know The Hitman got 27 Rock Chucks yesterday & lost part of the day to weather. Today will be better. I have Mike Barranti flying in today, we'll cause a lot of Ground Squirrel furnerals.

Dick

Go get em guys!!!!

I have 100#+ of lean ww lead here and i think the powder coating is what will get me interested in casting again...
Thanks Dick!

DICK: WHEN, IF EVER, WOULD LUBED OR LUBED AND GAS CHECKED BULLETS BE BETTER THAT PC'ing? HAS PC'ing MADE LUBING AND GAS CHECKING OBSOLETE?

SINCE YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO "HARD" TO AVOID LEADING WITH PC'ing, WHAT WUD BE THE IDEAL ALOY MIX/BHN HARDNESS FOR PC'ed HP BULLETS AND PC'ed NON-HP BULLETS?

I DO NOT WANT TO CAST BUT I WOULD NOT MIND PC'ing AND RESIZING,
DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE SUPPLIERS OF UNLUBED/UNSIZED CAST BULLETS?

Those red PC 32 HP`s of yours outshot a similar weight jacketed bullet from my 32 mag Dan Wesson... I was surprised and impressed..
Whatever your formula is..it works.. That's one of your black coated solids next to the red HP, both .32 caliber, in the photo...

Been casting since the late 70s.. Started PCing boolits app 6 mo

ago. MY PC investment is app $30... HF Red, Toaster oven, BBs.

l do my 44 Keiths a hundred at a time. Swirling them around in

a @5 empty Cool Whip container. Bake 25mins @350F.. One part of

the process l must emphasize is to size your boolits the same

day they are coated... While the PC is STILL soft and not fully

CURED... lt takes virtually every of paint app 30 days to cure..

After 30 days the PC becomes brittle and will flake or rub off

during the trip thru the sizer

SW282: HOW SOON AFTER BAKING AND SIZING CAN YOU SHOOT THE BULLETS? i.e. HOW MANY DAYS OF CURING BEFORE YOU CAN SHOOT 'EM? ANY PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1 DAY, 5 DAYS, 10 DAYS, 15 DAYS, etc. OF CURING?

Rey, I think the only time a regular lubed bullet might be better is if you needed maximum hardness out of your alloy. When you heat treat a powder coated bullet you soften it a bit. You can bring the hardness back up some by water quenching right out of the toaster oven but I've only done that a few times & you don't gain that much BHN.
The very best & toughest cast bullets are heat treated up to just below their slumping point & then usually water quenched. This gives them maximum strength with the correct alloy. And yes they do age harden over time.
Every cast bullet should be sized soon after casting, especially if it's powder coated. I've always said to use Hornady One Shot Case Lube & spray them before running them through a Star sizer, if you don't you stand a very good chance of sticking one or bending your handle.
Some commercial casters will sell you unsized bullets, can't remember which ones but they are out there.
Also, a powder coated bullet can be run very high without a gas check, I call powder coating the poor man's gas check.
Recently a guy ask if he could try some of my plain base 152 gr plain base HP's for a 357 magnum. I sent him a few & he called me today & said he ran them over 1600 fps with superb accuracy, zero leading! He's a gunsmith. I wasn't surprised.

Dick

[quote=45MAN]SW282: HOW SOON AFTER BAKING AND SIZING CAN YOU SHOOT THE BULLETS? i.e. HOW MANY DAYS OF CURING BEFORE YOU CAN SHOOT 'EM? ANY PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1 DAY, 5 DAYS, 10 DAYS, 15 DAYS, etc. OF CURING? [/quot


l size my PCd boolits the same day, if possible while the PC is

still soft... l prefer to wait about 30 days before shooting.

This gives the PC and lead time to fully cure and stabilize..

l have noticed NO negative results from PC boolits VS lubed ones.

Accuracy is virtually the same. Lots of positives tho...No more

lead contamination from lubed rounds.. Gun is lots cleaner too.

l size my PC boolits with a Lee sizer.. Much faster than Lub a Matic.

l don't personally know how velocity affects my PC boolits because

l am only shooting at pistol velocities... 1400fps MAX..

My casting alloy is range scrap and wheel weights... l don't

enhance hardness by water dropping or adding other metals like tin.

Hardness is likely around 12-14bnh.. Plenty HARD for me!!

One BIG question has been answered to me about the durability

and toughness of the PC coating. Shooting steel metallic targets

l have recovered bases of fired PC boolits after they struck steel..

There's still RED PC on the bases... These black steel targets

have RED smudges on them too.

This is an interesting topic. My question is how much does the diameter increase due to the powder coating? Could this process be used to increase the size of commercially casted/swaged bullets to achieve a proper fit in over sized revolver chamber throats? Could I use this process on the Hornady .454 255 grain FN Cowboy bullets, and if so, would I have to remove the lube that they apply to them? Could you use a hobby grade rock tumbler for application?

l have personally found each coat will be app .001-.002''...

Then size to throat diameter... Don't know about commercially

swaged/cast boolits...Original lube/coating MUST be removed

BEFORE PC paint can be applied... As with ANY surface that is

to be painted, it must be clean and free of all grease or dirt..

I had a S&W 25-2 with over size throats & couldn't get it to shoot. Going with powder coating bullets & shooting them unsized fixed the problem, made it into a fine shooting sixgun.

Dick

That's great to hear six. l have a 25-3 w/ .455 throats.

PC is the CURE

Excellent post Dick , I think you could write a book on bullet casting as you have it nailed down for sure!