I have tried the dry tumble with black bb's and can not get it to work. I am using some prismaticpowders.com item number P-4195B, it is a metallic red. I can not get it to stick. I put about 1/3 of the bb's in a number 5 container with 100 bullets and it just wont stick to the bullets.
Powder coating dry tumble help
- Thread starter kxkid
- Start date
I have a lot of trouble with tumble here too... mostly due to my humidity, I believe. But some get it to work anywhere!!! 
One trick to generate more static is to dump all of your bullets and powder and BB's into a ziplock bag and tumble that bag inside the #5 container and the two plastics rubbing together will sometimes get enough "spark" going.
Get vigorous with it too! There are several guys who also swear you can't just swirl it, you gotta shake it hard.
I spray nearly everything now, because it is 100% reliable, but there are a lot of folks happily tumbling. Good luck!
One trick to generate more static is to dump all of your bullets and powder and BB's into a ziplock bag and tumble that bag inside the #5 container and the two plastics rubbing together will sometimes get enough "spark" going.
Get vigorous with it too! There are several guys who also swear you can't just swirl it, you gotta shake it hard.
I spray nearly everything now, because it is 100% reliable, but there are a lot of folks happily tumbling. Good luck!
I would suggest trying a different powder that we all know works before diagnosing any other issues. some powders/colors just don't stick well. try some cheap harbor freight red and see if that works for you. I live in humid Georgia, and haven't had any issues with humidity, and I even keep all my pc containers and powders in my garage(sorry to be disagreeable beagle).
beagle could give you the name of the smoke guy on cast.boolits, his blue powder coats better than anything I have tried. I forgot his name and how to find him.
the first time I PC'd, I had too many BB's and not enough powder, once I lowered the amount of BB, started coating a lot better. I would say I am about a quarter full on a cool-whip container(you are using a cool whip container?). I also don't usually do a hundred bullets in that little container, it may work, but I probably do half that.
I am not a pro at PC by any means, it's just what has been working for me.
beagle could give you the name of the smoke guy on cast.boolits, his blue powder coats better than anything I have tried. I forgot his name and how to find him.
the first time I PC'd, I had too many BB's and not enough powder, once I lowered the amount of BB, started coating a lot better. I would say I am about a quarter full on a cool-whip container(you are using a cool whip container?). I also don't usually do a hundred bullets in that little container, it may work, but I probably do half that.
I am not a pro at PC by any means, it's just what has been working for me.
I have noticed that mine doesn't work on humid days, I can do it in my dehumidified gun room sometimes and get it to work and then take them outside to the oven, but it won't work out on the picnic table. I do see some folks that do it on the back porch in humid Louisiana though, so maybe it's just some sort of voodoo that I don't have!! It's just a hit-or-miss proposition for me and can be frustrating.
I do wish that I knew the secret, but since I do have a HF spray gun, it doesn't slow me down any in my coating.
Here is Smoke4320's ad page. He sells the best powder and also sell the BB's at $3/1000.
Smoke's powders link
I do wish that I knew the secret, but since I do have a HF spray gun, it doesn't slow me down any in my coating.
Here is Smoke4320's ad page. He sells the best powder and also sell the BB's at $3/1000.
Smoke's powders link
BBDT is a kind of "voodoo black magic" process that works most of the time. We have seen that humidity probably plays a big part in the failure.
On another forum I and a bunch of guys played around with this process for months and arrived at the black BB's and #5 coolwhip (or screw lid ZipLok) as the best that worked for us. Others have had success...others not.
Try NOT using a ton of BB's. I use just enough to cover the bottom of the container with about 2 layers. And depending on the cal, limit your bullets to 60-70.
Swirl round and round for 30-40 seconds and then shake HARD up and down for 10-15 seconds (hence the Ziploc screw on lid!) I have found that final shake up and down does the trick and yields almost 95% coating. In fact so much, I have to tap the hemostat on the side of the bowl to knock off excess powder. And as the picture shows, your powder should stick to the BB's too.
I use both the ESPC and BBDT methods with great success here in AZ.
Best of luck to you!
On another forum I and a bunch of guys played around with this process for months and arrived at the black BB's and #5 coolwhip (or screw lid ZipLok) as the best that worked for us. Others have had success...others not.
Try NOT using a ton of BB's. I use just enough to cover the bottom of the container with about 2 layers. And depending on the cal, limit your bullets to 60-70.
Swirl round and round for 30-40 seconds and then shake HARD up and down for 10-15 seconds (hence the Ziploc screw on lid!) I have found that final shake up and down does the trick and yields almost 95% coating. In fact so much, I have to tap the hemostat on the side of the bowl to knock off excess powder. And as the picture shows, your powder should stick to the BB's too.
I use both the ESPC and BBDT methods with great success here in AZ.
Best of luck to you!
I may be late to the party but here is my .02.
I would follow the instructions from bangerjim and skizzums. I found that the metallic powders really didn't agree with the tumble method but worked great in ES. For the short period where I did use the tumble method, my first issue was too much powder followed by too many BBs. This is all on the Florida coast where humidity doesn’t drop below 40% EVER.
The Harbor Freight Red works great overall. The yellow works well with tumble but looks sickly. The black is great in ES(never tried in tumble sorry). The white just didn’t work for me. Maybe I did something wrong but it just didn’t stick even with the ES gun.
Also, this may be a useless question because of the resources out there, but what container are you tumbling with? I started with a Ziploc container because of durability and the secure lid but found it lacking. It got better when I moved to a Cool Whip container for some reason though.
Remember, this is still a relatively(compared to traditional lubes) new method that is still being tinkered with. Play around with the variables and see what you break or make.
I would follow the instructions from bangerjim and skizzums. I found that the metallic powders really didn't agree with the tumble method but worked great in ES. For the short period where I did use the tumble method, my first issue was too much powder followed by too many BBs. This is all on the Florida coast where humidity doesn’t drop below 40% EVER.
The Harbor Freight Red works great overall. The yellow works well with tumble but looks sickly. The black is great in ES(never tried in tumble sorry). The white just didn’t work for me. Maybe I did something wrong but it just didn’t stick even with the ES gun.
Also, this may be a useless question because of the resources out there, but what container are you tumbling with? I started with a Ziploc container because of durability and the secure lid but found it lacking. It got better when I moved to a Cool Whip container for some reason though.
Remember, this is still a relatively(compared to traditional lubes) new method that is still being tinkered with. Play around with the variables and see what you break or make.
I'm far from being anywhere close to knowing what the heck I am doing with this stuff, here is what I did with mine when they looked like that.
As soon as they cooled down enough to hold in my hand, but were still warm I tossed them right back in the bowl for another tumble and then into the oven to cook. What didn't get it the first time as sure nuff done up the second time.
Now, that said, I might be working on this for a completely different end result than you are so your one tumble and cook might be what your looking for. For me however I am looking to be able to run some pretty darned soft alloy (comparatively) to magnum velocities mainly in order to use my HP's for hunting purposes.
Once they come out of the second cookdown they air cool and are sized using the Lee sizing die. I have however decided that with the batch I am cooking right now they will only get one coat period. Once done there are 50 that will also receive GC's as well as 25 that don't. Both will be run against one another with identical loads of 296 to see how they preform. If I see either has issues we will try it again with a double coat just to see if that helps, but if not I see no reason to coat them as the standard lube method has worked well with these bullets in the past.
So again your reasons may or may not be the same but a double coat does clear up any unsightly spots.
As soon as they cooled down enough to hold in my hand, but were still warm I tossed them right back in the bowl for another tumble and then into the oven to cook. What didn't get it the first time as sure nuff done up the second time.
Now, that said, I might be working on this for a completely different end result than you are so your one tumble and cook might be what your looking for. For me however I am looking to be able to run some pretty darned soft alloy (comparatively) to magnum velocities mainly in order to use my HP's for hunting purposes.
Once they come out of the second cookdown they air cool and are sized using the Lee sizing die. I have however decided that with the batch I am cooking right now they will only get one coat period. Once done there are 50 that will also receive GC's as well as 25 that don't. Both will be run against one another with identical loads of 296 to see how they preform. If I see either has issues we will try it again with a double coat just to see if that helps, but if not I see no reason to coat them as the standard lube method has worked well with these bullets in the past.
So again your reasons may or may not be the same but a double coat does clear up any unsightly spots.
Wreck-n-Crew
New member
It seems like a balance to me as well. I also found that buy swirling around for a minute, then setting it down for a few minutes and coming back and starting again they coated when I am having sticking issues.
Now I have found that putting more bullets in works better. Seems like after playing with the powder and bb combo when maybe it was number of bullets? I put quite a few (over 100, Maybe 120) 158gr .38's in a small round Glad bowl with 1/8" or less powder and 1/3" full of bb's. Filling the container near half full when said and done. The bullets get a real thick coat.
Now I have found that putting more bullets in works better. Seems like after playing with the powder and bb combo when maybe it was number of bullets? I put quite a few (over 100, Maybe 120) 158gr .38's in a small round Glad bowl with 1/8" or less powder and 1/3" full of bb's. Filling the container near half full when said and done. The bullets get a real thick coat.
Wreck-n-Crew
New member
Looks like fine and thick areas of coating. Only time I ever saw that was when I left my powder out in the cold. When I finally got it to stick it looked like that. Just clumpy like moisture got in the powder itself. Humidity might play a roll. More like if the container is cooled down and it is sweating. Like fuel tanks do. I opened the lid and set it nest to the heater. Solved it for me. YMMV
You're not going to get 100% up-close glamour-shot lookin' bullet noses from tumbling, but it shouldn't be scraping off like that at the end of the brass when loading. Either it's not baked fully at a known 400°, or you need to bell the brass just a little more. As for the mottled color.... that's just the way the bullet tumbles. 
You won't find a lot of really close-up pics of tumbled ones that look mirror smooth. 
You won't find a lot of really close-up pics of tumbled ones that look mirror smooth.