Powder coat.... why so smokey

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Old 454

New member
I shot some in my 9mm pc the other day.

Have mercy... looked like i was shooting black powder loads.

Whats your experience ?
 
Until recently I liked to shoot cast bullet's from my 30-06. 180gr cast with just a bit of Red Dot and 1/4 sheet toilet paper to keep the powder up to the flash hole. No smoke but the TP didn't go far and made it look like it was snowing in front of the rifle! Kinda cool.

Got a new 308 I got just for cast and the 30-06 is my big rifle now!
 
9mm has been the most noticeable in my experiences also. I've shot 1,000's of .45 ACP and .38 Special loads and never noticed much smoke. I recently picked up a S&W 929 and have been shooting it quite a bit and have noticed significantly more smoke than before. I wasn't sure if it was just me.
 
Yeah. That's odd. Most PC advocates say less smoke than bullet lube is one of the attractions. That said, there are half a dozen different plastic resins available for powder coating, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was all about which one you have.
 
I get very little if any smoke from my powder coated bullets so little in fact I haven't notice it at all. I'm thinking it 's probably powder that producing most of the smoke.
 
Well all i have is harbor freight powder coat at the moment the flat black.... i also have red to.... but i was very disappointed with the shear amount of smoke.
They smoked more then my lubed bullets

What powder coats do you all use ?
 
I use eastwoods powder or, I just started using powdercoat from a guy that goes by "Smoke" over on cast bullets forum. Smokes powderis superior for shake n bake.

What GUN powder are ya using?
 
There are some powder coatings that are not well suited for bullets. All of the high polycarbonate powder coatings will have a lot of smoke. My brother-in-law tried a few different ones and settled on the Hi-tec coating he gets from Bayou bullets.
 
I’ve been getting coated bullets from Summers Enterprises and SNS Casting. Both shoot very clean with every powder I’ve used and no noticeable smoke either.
 
I use Eastwood and Smokes from Cast Boolits, they are polymer based powders. The HF powders are Epoxy based so that may have something to do with the smoke maybe not.
 
The attraction to coated bullets is usually less smoke than standard lubes. Black moly coats in rifles do not produce any noticeable smoking, and the Hi-Teks from SNS produce only a trace amount of smoke. Shooting indoors without being embarrassed.
 
Hmm, all my home PCed bullets shoot about as clean (barrel and smoke) as jacketed bullets, even in my 125 gr. RNFP, upper level load, 9mms...
 
Gun is a CZ 75 B SA..
115 gr. Hollow point cast bullet Powder Coated
4.7 grains of green dot

Burns clean in fmj.....
 
Another thing to mention is that shooting indoors vs. outdoors makes a huge difference. I've never noticed any smoke from powder coat while shooting outdoors. There is a definite smell and small amount of smoke when I shoot .38's and .45's at the indoor range I go to. With 9mm the smoke is noticeable and will hang around for a couple of seconds or longer when doing speed drills.

The smoke is no where close to the amount from lubed bullets, but still noticeable. I'm sure different types of powder will have different results.
 
Old 454 said:
Gun is a CZ 75 B SA..
115 gr. Hollow point cast bullet Powder Coated
4.7 grains of green dot

Burns clean in fmj.....
Click to expand...
Make sure you are getting the baking time and temperature correct , normally less smoke is one of the pro's of powder coating.
Give us an exact run down on what you do , how you do it and the powder you are using.
Does Harbor Freight make more than one powder ?
Gary
 
Just for knowing, is the home-brew (or otherwise) powder coat as durable and/or good as the commercial Hi-Tek coated bullets? (I'm thinking Hi-Tek might answer my question for me...) I use the Hi-Tek because BayouBullets is just about 15 miles up the road from me.

Just picked up 1000 bullets to use in my 2nd annual Mardi Gras load-a-thon. I have NO use for Mardi Gras so as it consumes the city and some surrounding areas, I hole-up and reload quantity. Last year I filled a 30cal surplus ammo can with .45acp rounds. Wanna try and do 1 in red SWC and 1 in green RN this year. :D
 
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Yes, powder coat can adhere as good as hitek. Lots of folks use "the hammer test" to test theirs. Put a coated bullet on an anvil etc, smash with a hammer until the size of a nickle, if it doesn't flake off much you are good as gold. Very common it get these results.
 
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