Prepping your cast bullets

B

BJung

New member
I started PC my cast bullets with Harbor Freight Powder Paint. Baking the bullets 2x seems to cover the whole bullet but I want to do it once.

I've tried washing the bullets in paint thinner first and then powder coating or washing the cast bullets, warming them up and powder coating. The second works better.

I tried putting them in three zip lock baggies and tossing them my tumbler for 10 minutes. I've got mixed results.

Now I'm thinking of spray painting them with a primer and then powder coating them. Or, from my autobody days when I was taught how to repair dents with lead, we'd heat the metal and then brush an acid over the metal before applying the lead or primer. Maybe I'll look for this acid, warm the cast bullets and treat them with the acid.

Any suggestions? Maybe the quality of the paint is poor.
 
Gonna go out on a limb and say you mean powder coating right? Never heard it as powder paint.
After I cast my bullets, I give them time to cool off, then cull and sort, tossing all the ones I don't like back in the pot. Then the survivors get dumped on a plastic tub to start powder coating. I don't wash them in anything but open air. I put them in the plastic butter container with plenty of high density polyurethane BBs and some powder, close and shake until it sticks, including rubbing the container on the carpet to try to give it a Don King haircut. Then on the non stick aluminum foil into the toaster oven on "toast" for 20 minutes and all good.
 
burbank_jung said:
I started PC my cast bullets with Harbor Freight Powder Paint. Baking the bullets 2x seems to cover the whole bullet but I want to do it once.

I've tried washing the bullets in paint thinner first and then powder coating or washing the cast bullets, warming them up and powder coating. The second works better.

I tried putting them in three zip lock baggies and tossing them my tumbler for 10 minutes. I've got mixed results.

Now I'm thinking of spray painting them with a primer and then powder coating them. Or, from my autobody days when I was taught how to repair dents with lead, we'd heat the metal and then brush an acid over the metal before applying the lead or primer. Maybe I'll look for this acid, warm the cast bullets and treat them with the acid.

Any suggestions? Maybe the quality of the paint is poor.
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I started PC my cast bullets with Harbor Freight Powder Paint. Baking the bullets 2x seems to cover the whole bullet but I want to do it once.
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Your first mistake was using Harbor Freight's powder. The people in the know, know not to bother trying to use it for "tumble" coating bullets.
Go here to learn: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ Scroll down to "Coatings and Alternatives". Purusing that site in regard to powder coating will save you time and the frustration of trial and error (like trying to use Harbor Freight powders for tumble coating).
I use either "Carolina Blue" or "Sky Blue" from Powder by the Pound", and get 100% coverage with one tumble and bake.
 
Thanks so far

Thank for going out on a limb. Yes, I meant powder coating.

Harbor Freight was the first powder paint referenced. Seeing the price and being at the store at the time, I thought I'd give it a try. I'll phone around the local powder paint business and see if they have left over powder to sell. I don't know how that business works. Does certain colors matter?

I'm using kids plastic beads used to make necklaces to tumble with the powder paint and cast bullets. I saw a photo of someone using them. Then I read that someone else using paintball bullets. Does this matter?
 
Harbor Freight was the first powder paint referenced. Seeing the price and being at the store at the time, I thought I'd give it a try. I'll phone around the local powder paint business and see if they have left over powder to sell. I don't know how that business works. Does certain colors matter?
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Some powders work well with cast bullets, some do not. The ones that work are posted on the Cast Boolits site.

I'm using kids plastic beads used to make necklaces to tumble with the powder paint and cast bullets. I saw a photo of someone using them. Then I read that someone else using paintball bullets. Does this matter?
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The plastic beads must be of the type that build static electricity...some plastics do not. The Cast Boolit site has posts about the ones that work.

Just to reiterate, the people who actually developed the process of using powder coating powders on cast bullets frequent the Cast Boolits site. If you look at that site, you will not waste time dorking with methods, materials, processes that already been found not to work. You seem to be wanting to re-invent the wheel here.
 
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With good powder coat it only takes one coat. Doing 3 coats is wasting a lot of time, adding a lot of extra width, and probably going to cause problems. You might save a couple dollars buying harbor freight PC, but you're paying for it in the long run. Just buy the proper PC that has been proven to work.

I'd never use primer or even worry about cleaning bullets prior to powder coating. When using the proper process the powder coat will adhere and bake onto the bullet irregardless of a little dirt, dog hair, or errant dead insect mixed in with the PC.
 
I have had good results from Eastwood. But not every color gives good even coating. I don't use beads. Just shake them in an old cottage cheese plastic tub. Costs about $12 per lb. Order online. Ford dark blue and Ford light blue gave me the best results so far.
 
Priming the cast bullet

I've learned that two coats does the trick but that takes time.

I've learned that heating bullets makes the paint stick! But, too much heat makes the PC glob. And, it melts plastic. Lower heat and glass jars work. No need for beads.

With the first coat as a primer coat, maybe a polyester spray will help keep the first pc uniform and thin. Maybe I'll try that.

Maybe if I etch the cast bullet with a diluted solution or quick exposure of hydrogen peroxide and vinegar to etch the surface before dumping the cast bullets in a water bath, the PC will adhere in the first tumble. I wonder if residual dry acid would get to my bore?

Maybe a prewash in rubbing alcohol will remove oil left by my hand. I'll go by the $ store for a bottle of that and tweezers.

Has anyone tried these?
 
None of that stuff is necessary. There's no need to complicate the process. Read the stickies on the Cast Boolits forum.

I take the bullets directly from the towel they drop on, put them in container with PC and BB's, shake, place onto tray, bake, then size. Those are the only steps needed.

I've let bullets sit in my basement for months and get covered in dog fur, dust, handled and weighed groups of bullets and never had to "clean" the bullets to get the PC to stick. Using the incorrect powder coat will cause issues and should be replaced. You can't fix crappy PC by cleaning bullets.
 
The surface of the bullet is not the issue. Powder sticks to the bullet because it is charged with static electricity.

No static, no even coat of powder. If the powder doesn't react to the static charge then it is the wrong powder or the wrong plastic. Change powder or change the plastic tub. Look on the bottom of the tub for the recycle symbol. It tells you what type of plastic you have. Use a tub with a different recycle number and see if it improves. IIRC number 3 and number 5 work best.

Using the plastic BB's is to increase the static charge as well. But only the correct type of plastic will work.

If that doesn't work try a different brand or color of powder. Some colors react better. I don't know why, just know it is true.

Glass is an insulator, electricity, static or otherwise will not travel trough it easily. Don't shake powder coat and bullets in glass.
 
Hmmm

Hmm. Okay, back to square one. I'll check the plastic tub I was using and find some paintball bullets
 
Static charge? You are placing extra electrons on your powder particles (or removing ones that belong)? Professional powder coating uses a corona gun that produces ionized air that charges the powder particles, and they ground what they are spraying it on so the charged particles are then attracted to the grounded metal. Indeed, if they overdo the ionization voltage setting, the powder actually can repel itself on the principle of like charges repelling, creating bare spots on the work. You can read about that stuff here.

But I am unaware of corona guns and bullet grounding getting involved in amateur bullet powder coating. Everything shaken around in an insulated plastic tub will come to have the same static potential, if there is any, and a static charge distributed evenly like that causes repelling rather than sticking. I suspect powder adhesion in a shaken tub is by atomic attraction forces, the stronger of which are electrical but not electrostatic, per se (no extra or removed electrons involved). The trick is to have particles light enough that gravity can't overcome the atomic attraction forces and pull the particles off the bullet. If it is electrostatic in nature, I will need to be convinced of it by some mechanism that can be described.

I note that in the coronavirus age, electrostatic spraying of disinfectants has come to the hotel industry. Maybe one of those sprayers could be adapted to spray powder suspended in water or alcohol?
 
heating and tumbling cast bullets

There are two known casters on YouTube. One is Elvis Castello I think. He suggested warming cast bullets before tumbling. The other is Fortune Cookie.. I think. He suggested using a tumbler.

Since the goals is to just to get the powder paint to adhere to the cast bullet, why can't I just spray polyester paint them and then powder?
 
two coats

I was thinking that the sprayed on coat would help the powder adhere to it and I'd save time having to powder coat 2x.
 
. Static charge? You are placing extra electrons on your powder particles (or removing ones that belong)? Professional powder coating uses a corona gun that produces ionized air that charges the powder particles, and they ground what they are spraying it on so the charged particles are then attracted to the grounded metal. Indeed, if they overdo the ionization voltage setting, the powder actually can repel itself on the principle of like charges repelling, creating bare spots on the work.
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Unclenick, I am usually put in my place when I disagree with anything you say. But I like a good learning opportunity. So..... it seems to me that static charges are what make hairs stand up and be repelled from each other. But it also makes a balloon stick to the wall. It all depends on the charge and how it is generated, or what it is stored in.

For PC on bullets it occurs to me that the proper charge would be needed, and is provided by the correct type of plastic tub. After a bit of restudying the subject, the recycle number 5 is the best for tumbling bullets.

The article in the link below is one of several I have read that speak of static electricity doing the work.

With a corona gun the metal work is grounded and the powder is charged appropriately for the surface. Sounds like an electric charge being controlled by use of the proper circuitry. I surmise that the proper plastic in the tumbling container also controls the charge generated by shaking.

Again, I don't know exactly how, but it works. Can you explain what other attributes of the plastic tub cause the powder to stick? I know that it doesn't stick by just sprinkling the powder on it, and that the coating tends to get thicker with longer tumbling. So it isn't just attracted to the lead like iron and a magnet. If it isn't static electricity, what is it that makes it stick?

http://www.mp-molds.com/tipstricks/powder-coating-lead-bullets-dry-tumble-dt-method/.
 
pete2 said:
I'm glad I don't shoot indoors and have to mess with powder coating.
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You also don't have to mess with not dealing with the sludge that builds up in your gun from shooting grease-based lubes, nor not have to clean the excess bullet lube that builds up inside your seating die, nor not have deal with the lube melting off your bullets in hot weather areas, nor not having to stack your lubed bullets to keep the lube from sticking them together, nor not have to deal with sticky lube on your hands, nor not bullet lube dry out or oxidize over time. Yup, there are a lot of reasons to avoid powder coating bullets.
 
Success

I found some plastic cups with the #5 Recycle plastic on the bottom and decided to buy a pack of Styrofoam cups to try as well, remembering that Styrofoam tends to pickup static cling too. I then drove to a local powder paint shop and asked him if he had any powder paint for sale or extra. He did and gave me some for a sample.

Returning home, I shook up a dozen cast bullets in the #5 cup with a plastic bag as the cover; then, repeated the same with the Styrofoam cup. I got the same result except the Styrofoam cup bottom blew out if I didn't support it. I then placed the powdered bullets onto the toaster oven tray with tweezers and baked them for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. While splotchy, they whole bullet was shiny and covered. I think I could just size and shoot these than add on additional layers. I added another layer and they looked a bit thick.

Then, I tried cast bullets with the Harbor Freight powder paint in the same type of cups. No paint stuck to the bullets. I tried heating the bullets and shaking them in a glass container. No paint adhered to the bullets. I cleaned those bullets and shook these bullets in the new powder. The powder somewhat worked. But after heating, there were splotches and they bullets were rough. I tossed these bullets back into the melting pot and gave up on the Harbor Freight paint.
 
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