Powder Coating
- Thread starter Old 454
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You will need a plastic bowl with a snap or screw on lid of some sort I use a old cool whip bowl and use the shake an bake method,other will just put there powder an bullets in a vibratory tumbler and let it run till there coated.
Some people use plastic air soft beads mixed in with the powder,I've done it with an without and can't tell much of a difference. An environment with low humidity that helps create static electricity is your friend when it comes to coating bullets when I can't do it out in the shop on hot humid or humid days I coat them in the house an toast them out on the back porch.
You will need a toaster over. You can buy a new one fairly cheap or see if you can pick a used one up at a local thrift store for a few dollars. People bake the bullets in different way but I line my toaster tray with non stick aluminum foil and stand my bullets up on the base using a pair of large tweezers,it's slower but I like the results I get.
As to powder many use the Harbor Freight powders Red works best for shake and bake followed by the Yellow. The HF Blacks seem to work much better if it's sprayed on with an ES gun as will the Red an Yellow the HF white is pretty much useless for PCing bullets.
There are many companies online that see powder coat by the pound or you can get it form Smoke over at Cast Boolits http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?241259-Hi-quality-Powder-for-DT-or-Spraying-bullets He has good powder,prices and shipping it's where I get my powders.
All my coated bullets are baked at 400 degrees for 20 min. if you buy online from a mfg. they will state what temp and time to bake there powders at for it to cure properly. It's a good idea to preheat your over before putting the bullets in an use a oven thermometer to verify your oven temperature.
Also of note if you water quench your bullets straight from the mold before coating the PC curing process with negate the first water quenching so you will need to re quench them after removing them from the toaster oven even them they still want reach a final BHN as close to the original quenched BHN but it will be fairly close.
Here are a couple samples I done.
Some people use plastic air soft beads mixed in with the powder,I've done it with an without and can't tell much of a difference. An environment with low humidity that helps create static electricity is your friend when it comes to coating bullets when I can't do it out in the shop on hot humid or humid days I coat them in the house an toast them out on the back porch.
You will need a toaster over. You can buy a new one fairly cheap or see if you can pick a used one up at a local thrift store for a few dollars. People bake the bullets in different way but I line my toaster tray with non stick aluminum foil and stand my bullets up on the base using a pair of large tweezers,it's slower but I like the results I get.
As to powder many use the Harbor Freight powders Red works best for shake and bake followed by the Yellow. The HF Blacks seem to work much better if it's sprayed on with an ES gun as will the Red an Yellow the HF white is pretty much useless for PCing bullets.
There are many companies online that see powder coat by the pound or you can get it form Smoke over at Cast Boolits http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?241259-Hi-quality-Powder-for-DT-or-Spraying-bullets He has good powder,prices and shipping it's where I get my powders.
All my coated bullets are baked at 400 degrees for 20 min. if you buy online from a mfg. they will state what temp and time to bake there powders at for it to cure properly. It's a good idea to preheat your over before putting the bullets in an use a oven thermometer to verify your oven temperature.
Also of note if you water quench your bullets straight from the mold before coating the PC curing process with negate the first water quenching so you will need to re quench them after removing them from the toaster oven even them they still want reach a final BHN as close to the original quenched BHN but it will be fairly close.
Here are a couple samples I done.
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Rottweiler
New member
The harbor freight powder coating gun is under 100 bucks....80 or so if I remember correctly. and Yes you will need that air compressor to spray the powder.
If you don't want to spend the money for the spray gun, look over on http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ They have an entire section on coating "boolits" by tumble coating.
If you don't want to spend the money for the spray gun, look over on http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ They have an entire section on coating "boolits" by tumble coating.
Don Fischer
New member
What are those gray HP bullet's? Love that HP on them. I have one HP mold foe 38's and not really crazy about it. Bough a hollow point tool for my RN rifle bullet's and don't care much for it. Make's a 1/16" hole usually off center.
Having done both Id say just try the shake and bake method first. Ive found certain powders/colors do better or worse. The ES makes GOOD results but it wastes alot of powder and is quite a mess. Shake and bake you just pick em out of the tupper ware and set them on the tray and bake. Done.
I think I have about $20 into my set up not including powder.
I think I have about $20 into my set up not including powder.
DF those HP's are cast from this NOE mold http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/produc...cts_id=3281&osCsid=j466q0lvv7nfnig2k1eh5qste1 and are coated with OD Green powder coat. You might want to check or reset your monitors color setting if they are appearing gray,just saying.
armoredman
New member
res45, you said everything I could have said. 
Powder coating is fun and easy. Sometimes I need two coats because the first didn't stick well enough, but it works. Fun stuff - I even shoot powder coated lead in .223 out of a gas operated BREN with no leading. 
Powder coating is fun and easy. Sometimes I need two coats because the first didn't stick well enough, but it works. Fun stuff - I even shoot powder coated lead in .223 out of a gas operated BREN with no leading. armoredman,just a thought. Try washing you bullets in some pure acetone as a test an see if that makes a difference,you can get a small bottle of 100% acetone fingernail polish remover at most stores for under $2.
Also I have notices that although some bullets appear to not be entirely coated they are but the pigment is what is spotty. It's one reason that next time I order powder I'm just going to go with plain old clear coat. I kinda like the way my shinny lead bullets look anyway.
Here are some of the same 45 Cal. HP's I did with Safety Orange I got from smoke,it might be kinda hard to see but the orange in not 100% opaque as there are some lighter areas on the bullets but they are fully coated.
Also I have notices that although some bullets appear to not be entirely coated they are but the pigment is what is spotty. It's one reason that next time I order powder I'm just going to go with plain old clear coat. I kinda like the way my shinny lead bullets look anyway.
Here are some of the same 45 Cal. HP's I did with Safety Orange I got from smoke,it might be kinda hard to see but the orange in not 100% opaque as there are some lighter areas on the bullets but they are fully coated.
Some are some aren't the Orange is the OD Green I got 3 lbs. just for asking at a local powder coaters business as he had a bit left over from a job.
The top 7 bullets are bullets I coated with a mix of various powders I was just playing around with,nothing I currently use as I stick with solid colors only. Some of them are OD Green with a pinch of white to give them a speckled look like bullets # 2,3 & %. The Yellow bullet #4 is a mix of mostly HF yellow with a pinch of red and the reddish/orange tinted bullets #1,6,7 in the row are a mix of HF red and yellow in various amounts.
I have some of Smokes Yellow and Carolina Blue but I use those to coat my brothers bullets. I do have some of Smokes bright green that I coat my 9mm bullets with.
NOE 9mm 124 gr. TC PB version. Smokes Yellow Green
Lee 125 gr. RNF Smokes Yellow Green with Sulfur Yellow sprinkles.
The top 7 bullets are bullets I coated with a mix of various powders I was just playing around with,nothing I currently use as I stick with solid colors only. Some of them are OD Green with a pinch of white to give them a speckled look like bullets # 2,3 & %. The Yellow bullet #4 is a mix of mostly HF yellow with a pinch of red and the reddish/orange tinted bullets #1,6,7 in the row are a mix of HF red and yellow in various amounts.
I have some of Smokes Yellow and Carolina Blue but I use those to coat my brothers bullets. I do have some of Smokes bright green that I coat my 9mm bullets with.
NOE 9mm 124 gr. TC PB version. Smokes Yellow Green
Lee 125 gr. RNF Smokes Yellow Green with Sulfur Yellow sprinkles.
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Harbor Freight powders do not work very well for "shake and bake" powder coating. However, their Red works best.
To powder coat:
1) Get a twist-on top, Zip Lock plastic container. It must have the recycle code "5" on it (it builds up static electricity).
2) Fill the Zip Lock container 1/4 full of Black Air Soft "BB's".
3) Dump in about 25 .45 caliber cast lead bullets.
4)Place about one heaping tablespoon of Powder Coat powder in the container and screw the top on.
5) Holding each end of the container, with the container held horizontally, swirl the container and its contents vigorously for thirty seconds to build up the static charge on the bullets.
6) Carefully unscrew the top and look at the coverage of the bullets. If not completely covered, swirl some more.
7) When coverage is total, dump out the contents onto a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil.
8) With tweezers, hemostat, forceps, or some other tool, pick up each bullet and place it upright on the toaster oven pan (covered with baking parchment paper).
9)When all the bullets have been placed on the oven pan, place into a toaster oven that is set to 400 degrees (and has been verified to be 400 degrees with an oven thermometer).
10) When the bullets turn glossy, set the timer for 15 minutes.
11) when the bullets have cooled size them as normal...no need to presize before powder coating.
Follow these instructions exactly...or go to the Cast Boolet site and follow their instructions in the hundreds of pages of "stickies".
Harbor Freight powders work well with a gun, not very well with shake-n-bake. Go to Cast Boolits site and read where they get their powders:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/