i don't care for cast lead bullets indoors because they are smoky, but seeing how scarce things were I stocked up on cast bullets. I've been toying with the idea of plated bullets. Now they are coming on strong with the powder coated bullets. I can't seem to keep up.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Could be worse. There could be dozens of late breaking means of chucking lead.
Thankfully, it's only one new method, with two basic subsets.
It's fairly straight forward till you get to the subsets of each subset of coating.
This is where you might want to adjust your budget a bit for extra aspirin, coffee and vodka.

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it just needs more voltage

Venom's got it correct. Ya picks your poison and Ya' run with it.

He chose one and I the other, both types of COATED PROJECTILES work to our uses and satisfaction.

Thank You very much.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

We had a Sharpshooters indoor range open last year. They have the angled plate bullet traps and a ventilation system that can suck out pocket lint. They don't care what type of bullet you shoot as long as it's not penetrator, steel core type. The smoke out of the barrel of my lead reloads disappears almost instantly.

I shoot cast outdoors and the smoke doesn't bother me. Everyone else maybe, but not me. Might try coated if the price comes down.

How much more does it have to come down?
$3.99 for a pound of Harbor Freight Red (you need less than a teaspoon for about 100 bullets)

Used Cool Whip container, Gallon Ziplock bag or Styrofoam box (free)



A handful of airsoft BB's ($15 at Walmart which is enough for 8-10 people to do this) Black is best, but I use white and it works fine for me



$4 Non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper


Thrift Store toaster oven (I paid $3, but usually can be found for <$10)

I already had the parchment paper and BB's so my cash outlay was $7

I coated about 25 pounds of 40 cal in 2 hours on Wednesday evening. Most of the time was waiting the 15 minutes between bakings.

They are not really that much more expensive than lead. For the MBC 200gn RNFP (Cowboy #4) they are $14 per thousand more.

To tell you the truth, I almost miss the smoke.
I could care less about the spent lube on the gun, we clean them anyway.

I don't miss cleaning lube out of dies, lead out of barrels, or buying gas checks.

I don't miss accuracy falling apart while the bore fills with lead.
And I just don't miss.
It's just more accurate from start to finish.

There are many other plus sides to coating, but if the above isn't enough, you'll discover it after traditional lube is gone and replaced with coatings.

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it just needs more voltage

Lead bullets don't smoke. It's the bullet lube and powder (much less so) that smoke. Some lubes and the methods of application smoke more than others but it didn't bother me enough to bother. I have recently been PCing my cast lead bullets (mebbe 7 months) even though I shoot exclusively outdoors, and I find it easy, bullets are clean to handle/reload, and I get no leading in the barrels. Cost? I don't count pennies with my hobby, but they are cheaper to cast, coat, load than buying Precision coated bullets (excellent bullets with a black coating. Very clean, very accurate in my guns, but I don't remember the prices).

Buying bullets, plated are only a small amount more than pc bullets & zero smoke. The pc still smoke a bit, it is burning plastic after all. I shoot conventional lead bullets in all my calibers, all my handguns. I am going to give the Hi-tek coating a try, but seems a bit tedious for large volumes, unless you have a conventional size oven you want to dedicate for bullet baking.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

It could be even worse than you think.

They could be dropping new pistol and rifle powders both on us to have to test when there is a ongoing pwoder shortage anyways.

Oh wait, that's what they are actually doing.

That is actually the part that I fail to get. I know it's $$ related, some older powders are harder, more exp to make than newer ones, but there is a hungry reloaders market out there for as much powder as they can make.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Not hardly.
It's raw volume where coatings shine.
Think cement mixer and crematorium.
While the entry point is toaster oven and glad ware, it's really not a great representation of the full potential.
Yeah, take the hi tek for a spin, think about how to streamline things and convert already.
It solves so many of the nuanced voodoo of traditional lube where some guns have you buying plug gages, noodling with alloys, getting new powders that might work.
This stuff don't care. Coat, size and shoot.

I might miss that sweat mixed with spent lube guntan lotion from a good day at the range.
That liberal coat of sticky sun baked goodness really came to be a welcome part of shooting for me.
Then sit for a while having been comfort gooed in burnt grease.

I guess that might be a downside. Shooting in the rain will be done without the waterproofing offerd by traditional lubes.

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it just needs more voltage

Painted red bullets just ain't right.
Gary Cooper, Alan Ladd, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood , The Lone Ranger, Jeff Cooper, Elmer Keith or Skeeter Skelton , none of them carried red painted bullets,
So I'm not going to do it either...it ain't natural.

Again, time vs convenience, unless you have a large oven to dedicate, I see a lot of time baking & handling at a couple 100 a pop. I can lube size 1500/hr, so for handgun, I am thinking no. For rifle loads, I would like to find a way to do lead in my M1 or maybe a 300BO, PC seems practical as I am not shooting 10,000 a year.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

A few months ago, I was looking at the same fence as you are right now.
You're not a dummy. You'll figure it out, and when you do, you will be right with me.
No need to argue, fight, or debate. I'll win the debate, but you're going to win a new technology.
I'll take that result any day.

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it just needs more voltage

I think our range has a guy waving one of those funeral parlor fans at the end of it. Still, no restrictions on what we shoot. Lead poisoning? HAH!

Oh, and I don't care about smoke outdoors, it's indoors that fills up with it.

And everybody, I will adjust. If I have to spend a little more money/time it's just part of the total package.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Depends on the poison you pick.
Hi tek comes in a few colors, powder coat is in every color visible to the human eye.
I'm sure black would be dignified enough, gold, if you need something for sophisticated social events and chrome if you're riding with the local motorcycle club.
Glow in the dark can make a tracer if you can get a UV led into the mag.

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it just needs more voltage

i have red powder coated .45 acp bullets that i am loading. they end up looking like little deadly tubes of lipstick. love it. want to do different colors for different calibers.

So what do I do with a quart of liquid Alox, 1# of Johnson's paste wax, 1 large tube of Lucas red grease, 3# coffee can filled with "home made" bullet lube, 7# of pure bees wax, and 10# of church candle stubs? I've been making lube off this stash of stuff for 18 years and bearly put a dent in current inventory.

I don't think I'll spend another $10 on bake on bullet coatings.

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S&WHF 366

I've been using several colors on everything.
It makes load development, and various testing easier to keep track of.
Great way to keep your bullseye and unique loads manageable within the chaos of life.

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it just needs more voltage

I know your post is tougue-in-cheek, but Powder Coating and Hy-Teck coating are just other methods to add to the fun of do-it-yersef bullet making. It ain't gonna take over for quite a while, if ever. Sumpin' new and different that I can do at home. I have about 1 1/2 lbs. of Carnauba Red. Mebbe 2 lbs. of Speed Green (half home made, half store bought) A bunch of waxes, greases, lanolin, lube pans, and approx a pint of 45-45-10. It will get used I'm sure...

I'll stick with my Star lubrisizer for most of my shooting. It's fast, and my Sharps loves the results.

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The triple smoker

I've been bullet shopping today. These prices are for 230gr. RN, quantity of 500 shipped to my door.
Lucky13 lead hard cast - $48.00
Extreme plated - $54.12
SNS coated - $60.95

I've been wanting to try coated bullets for a while now but other than the novelty of "bullets of color" I'm having a hard time justifying the price.
And no, I don't want to do it myself. I have trouble finding time to go shoot, much less painting bullets.

I've been assimilated.

Sold all my cast bullets and reload nothing but FalCoat now.

tested here: Educational Zone #172 ? Product Evaluation ? Falcon Bullet Company, FalCoated Bullets The Box O' Truth

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Professional Trainer

I'm pretty much done with bare cast bullets. The coated or plated bullets work much better for me.

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John

I tried the shake and bake powder coat method yesterday for the very first time. Here are my 405 gr. .45-70 bullets after two coats.



My .45 acp bullets are what I got with just one coat of HF red using the method shown above by rsrocket1.



Any suggestions on how to get a better application with just one coat? Also, are the .45s usable as they are with only one coat? They are rather splotchy.

Nice job Scott. Do you think your gun will self destruct if you try those 45ACP bullets and they don't work out? < tongue in cheek >

Shoot 'em and see what happens <seriously>

That's the fun of this whole thing. Experiment and see what works, how far you can push the limit and see what doesn't work. I know there are some PC'ers who insist on perfectly coated bullets and will either run a second coat or dump them back in the melting pot. I'd say shoot 'em and see what happens. You might see leading which will necessitate 45 seconds will a bore mop with Chore Boy to scrub it out. Then again, you might find out that they perform just as well as plated bullets and only require a patch soaked with Hoppes No.9 to clean out your bore (that's all I need nowadays).

The next time, you should shake those 45ACP bullets harder in your container. I've noticed with low humidity days, I can gently swirl the bullets in the container and get perfect coverage while on high humidity days, I get poorer coverage with the same swirling, but a few good shakes and some 360 degree flips of the container, the coverage gets good again

What I know about PC bullet coverage so far:

1. You only need good coverage on the driving bands. Good coverage on the nose is purely cosmetic and base coverage is not important (just like with exposed base jacketed bullets)
2. The coverage only needs to be 100% in terms of being able to fully seal off the gases. A pin-hole spot of bare lead won't hurt
3. Tiny bare spots often disappear when running the bullets through a push through sizer
4. Good coverage adds 0.002" to the diameter of the bullets. More than that and your coverage is probably too thick and will be uneven
5. Running PC bullets through a sizer will not scrape the PC off the driving bands if you baked the powder properly @ 350-400 degrees for 15-20 minutes

I cast most of my own boolits, so buying plated bullets makes zero financial sense to me.
That, and the reduced velocities required, compared to jacketed or coated bullets.

I'm a convert. PC boolits are great for segregating different loads.

Reloading, like shooting and casting, is a hobby for me.
I'm old enough and married enough to not be interested in chasing skirts, so I spend my spare time and play money on casting, loading, and shooting.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

my brother in law uses his lyman tumbler to coat them. they aren't perfect usually after one coat, but it does keep it fairly even.

I'll gladly add to the list.
Not all powders are created equal.
Harbor Fright coatings are adequate for practically any pistol bullet.
Their matte black is the worst, but still good enough for any pistol.
When coating for rifles, getting a little more spendy can get you a few hundred feet per second.

Coatings can and do fail when you push things above 2500.
subsequent leading will appear in the corners of the rifling, where the edges cut through the coat.
The rest of the bore remains protected.

Not all powders are 50 state legal.
Teflon powder is available, and at a price far more reasonable than you think. Check the laws where you stand.

of the 50 state legal coatings, Artic Cat green, as sold by all powder paints may be one of the toughest coatings I have encountered.
However, the result is zombie bullet green that some may be disgusted with.
Their cobalt Blue is nearly as tough and bakes at 350.
Teflon, ac green and cobalt Blue all enjoy a reduced bake time of 10 minutes.

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it just needs more voltage

if you intend to keep with it, nothing tops an electrostatic spray gun and a small air compressor.
It's a one shot and done kinda deal.

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it just needs more voltage

Collo Rosso,

The 230 grain X-tremes are $54.12 per 500
with FREE SHIPPING for a $150 order the month of Aug.
So if you purchased 500, the $54.12 is not your true cost.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

venom, you are absolutely correct about powders. I think it was random chance that HF red is marginally their only color that works with ASBBDT. Their other colors are only good for ESPC. Other company's powders tend to be much finer and more likely to work (with a correspondingly higher price of >$10/pound). The $60 cost of an ESPC gun is insignificant (unless you also need to buy a compressor), but the increased labor and reduced throughput is more of a hindrance when you compare PC'ing with tumble lubing or lubrisizing if you already have a full setup.

I PC for 9/40 but still tumble lube for 357 and 45ACP because I get no leading with 45/45/10 in those guns and I can TL 500 bullets in about 5 minutes with an overnight dry time.

What is everyone's preferred method for removing the bullets from the container, and I use BBs, and onto the baking pan?


This, for me, is the horribly slow part that bogs down the entire process.

Thank you! I didn't catch that.
I used extreme (X-treme?) but RMR does have 230gr. blems for $55 shipped. Like beef the price of bullets has crept up!

for those that powder coat, I advise you to get the electrostatic gun and a small air compressor.

lay a sheet of parchment on the sheet, spray the bullets on that.
straight to the oven.
its one shot and done.

the shake and bake method just gets you started.
the proper tools get you serious

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it just needs more voltage

yes the handling is a hurdle.
but consider factory loaded ammo operations for a moment.
you open a box of factory ammo and all the bullets are pointed the same way, as we'd expect them to be.

I doubt that they have someone placing them all base down in a rack.
It must be automated.

we don't need a scale of a million per day, but automating orientation of the bullets to be coated cannot be that hard.
its 1890's technology at the latest. surely it can be rendered into a practical domestic dwelling friendly device by now.

add that to a means of placing them on a rack for coating at baking and yours becomes an invalid argument.

we should work to those ends.
coated, is just better in every way.
make it more practical

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it just needs more voltage

I believe the parchment paper would insulate the bullets from the needed ground; powder is positive charge, bullets negative charge, powder sticks = electrostatic process. Otherwise anything that would spray powder would work.

I have used large, 8" tweezers, hemostats, and long nose pliers to remove bullets from the tub, and tried with less success nitrile gloves.

I dry tumble coat with the black bb's also, I dump the tumbled bb's and boolits in a colander to separate the powder back into a 5 gal. bucket, and then pour remaining boolits and bb's threw 3/8 expanded metal or hardware cloth. The bb's go threw the boolits stay then I pour the boolits on to some 1/4 hardware cloth trays that I made to fit my toaster oven and bake. Boolits may be laying down and standing up, but I have found it doesn't make any differance there may be a few marks on the boolits but big deal, I'm not making art, I'm making boolits to shoot and they seem to be doing fine for that purpose, that's just my take on the matter which may not suit any or all others.

you would think so, but that is not the case.
ES deposit is capacitive.
most folks slightly familiar with electricity think in terms of resistive loads, like light bulbs, motors, heaters and the like, where theres a flow of electricity.

electrostatic, disassembled gives you elecrto, having to do with electron charge, and static, ... not in motion.
the charge just has to be there and it works.
a layer of parchment does not stop the charge.
two layers of powdercoat and parchment starts to get flaky as the capacitance drops rather low.
if you have problems, youve probably have more powdercoat layers than lead.

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it just needs more voltage

Loaded my first batch of bright red .357s.

Hmmm, then why is it necessary to have a ground for the parts when electrostatic coating?

Potential difference.

Ponder lightning for a moment.
Static charge builds until it breaks over the dielectric presented by the air.

Where air is every bit as much of an insulator as say, parchment, the lightning still knows how to get to ground, though it sees ground through a brick wall.

Essentially, the atmosphere, ground and cloud form a capacitor where the dielectric is the air. When the voltage exceeds the dielectrics ability to stop it. That charge blows through the insulator.
Meanwhile, as the charge builds to that point, the difference still causes attraction.

When powder coating, similar things are at play.
Operating voltage is in the ballpark of 10000 volts, which can overcome most dielectric bariors.

End result is, it works just as I'm telling you.
The bullets take a coat despite being on a dielectric film.
10Kv is too much for the parchment to stop.

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it just needs more voltage