Do you think there is a way to coat the bullets with paint without dust? With powder paint you need an oven and it is a long process. If there was a spray paint it would be very fast. Do you think it is possible?

My guess is that it were possible and cost effective someone would have tried it already.

I think some have done this with automotive finish products.
You'll still need to bake it off

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it just needs more voltage

I size and lube the conventional way, no coating and baking, but I have noticed some blue cast bullets in the berm at our gun club pistol range. They appear to be painted. I have no idea if these are home-made or commercial, but the surface is slick.

Do coated bullets have a slick surface? That may be what I found.

Probably these: The Blue Bullets

They're common in action pistol competition.

Yes, bullets can be spray painted, it gives the same results as powder coating, which is dry paint powder.

I have been shooting and casting bullets in both pistols and rifles for more than 65 years. I have tried powder coating, spray painting and polymer coating of my bullets and have finally decided that none of those methods gives me any advantage at all over the traditional lubricating with beeswax based lubricants. Simply sizing and lubrication is simpler and quicker, and prevents leading as well as any of the other methods, which is the usual reason promoted for all the various coating methods.

I have also used nearly all of the boutique (expensive) bullet lubes on the market and have settled on Saeco Green, available from Forster (NOT FORESTER!) which prevents leading better than any of the expensive ones. Years ago I was given the formula for Saeco Green by a former Saeco factory representative. I make batches of 5-10 pounds for less per pound than a single stick of the commercial lube! You can buy candle wax die and make it any color you want.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

yes, though it varies a bit with specific coating.
My teflon stuff fits that description, the hi tech stuff seems to be slick as well

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it just needs more voltage

....epoxy, polyurethane, engine paint? I see heat resistant epoxy's are good for 600 deg F, but need baking on. Polyurethane, probably not so good. What would the best material be?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Powder coating is polyester based if I recall correctly. We have options

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it just needs more voltage

If people prefer coated bullets, I offer no argument. Some of them have tried conventional lubing and casting but prefer coating bullets. However, there are probably many who have not tried conventional sizing and lubing. It not only works very well, but you learn far more about bullet alloy hardness, sizing, using different lubes, etc. and their effects on accuracy, bullet expansion, and other things.

Conventional sizing/lubing is an excellent prerequisite to powder coating and can only benefit the user.

People use hi-tech paints to coat bullets. That paint requires an oven/heat also.
Most commercial casters use hi-tech coating on thier coated bullets.

Paint ='s polyurethane
Powder coat ='s polyester

Myself, I pc (powder coat) my cast bullets.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Cast, liquid alox lube, size, load and shoot. Needs a bottle of lube, some wax paper and a used whipped cream can.

Easy, peasy. No leading in 40 years.

I have tried coated and plated bullets, but the expense exceeds what I do myself in the basement on a snowy Winter day.

I have no issues with using powder coated, but I won't spend the extra time and effort since, for me, it provides no extra benefit.

[QUOTE=Alk8944;142216699]Yes, bullets can be spray painted, it gives the same results as powder coating, which is dry paint powder.

I have been shooting and casting bullets in both pistols and rifles for more than 65 years. I have tried powder coating, spray painting and polymer coating of my bullets and have finally decided that none of those methods gives me any advantage at all over the traditional lubricating with beeswax based lubricants. Simply sizing and lubrication is simpler and quicker, and prevents leading as well as any of the other methods, which is the usual reason promoted for all the various coating methods.

I have also used nearly all of the boutique (expensive) bullet lubes on the market and have settled on Saeco Green, available from Forster (NOT FORESTER!) which prevents leading better than any of the expensive ones. Years ago I was given the formula for Saeco Green by a former Saeco factory representative. I make batches of 5-10 pounds for less per pound than a single stick of the commercial lube! You can buy candle wax die and make it any color you want.[/QUOTE

Instead of buying candle wax dye just use colored crayons in your mix......I use my wife's expired scented candles in my mix.......Shooting them smells good!.....When commercial lube sticks got above $3 each I started making my lube......It works as good as anything you can buy.

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S&W Accumulator

Powder coating takes me 22 minutes with a toaster oven I bought at the thrift store for $15.
If you want to use conventional lubes, the prices on lubesizers are dropping a lot due to powder coatings.

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Front sight and squeeze

The commercial cast bullets tend to have a rather flat finish but home powder-coated can be glossy. Mine are. But there are flat finished powders. Depends on your powder.

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I don't think painting would be as fast as you think. You would still have to stand them up. Which is fairly quick if you use an open grid to prevent yourself from knocking them over as you stand them up.

But the fumes and overspray would be awful. If you just shake-and-bake there's not much mess with powder coating. I can prep a batch while one is cooking and do almost 400 an hour. I could up that a little if I make some custom trays to maximize capacity. It's really not a big deal.

Just a reminder for those that might consider paint fumes and baking.

[quote=Mike, SC Hunter;142216812]I don't have your experience (only 45 years) but I prefer powder coating. In performance it certainly isn't inferior in any way.

It keeps your dies clean. No lube build up.

You get a lot less lead splash on the face of the cylinder when used in revolvers.

It's cheap. The $24 I spent on a pound of powder did 7800+ pistol bullets. Mostly 158gr .38 SWC. Some .41 SWCs and 147gr 9mm. I still have some left. I have enough left to make it to 9,000 for sure. Maybe 10,000.

There's less need to vary your alloy. If it casts, it will shoot.

Used (or new) toaster oven instead of a $350 Lubrisizer.

Downside: There's a learning curve. It seems everybody develops different techniques. Also I don't think you want to do this indoors. The garage is best. The powder tends to be a little messy but not real bad. You tend to spill a little.

Humidity levels matter a lot. If you live in a humid area, like I do, you need to work around the weather. A dew point below 65 is best.

Sizing can be an issue. The powder coat adds .002"-.003" to diameter. If you have a mold that already throws big it may be more than you can size in one shot. Sometimes, with some bullets, you may need to size them twice. With some styles of bullets it seems over-sizing can damage the coating or produce a "skirt" around the base of the bullet. But most size just fine in one step.

The flip side of this is if you have an undersized mold, powder coating may be enough to fix it.

The other disadvantage here is that you are separating the lubing and sizing into two steps. I find running them through a Lee push-through sizer pretty fast. But the oven production rate doesn't represent the entire effort needed. In my opinion it's close to a wash as far as speed goes. But powder coating may be a little slower. Not a lot though.

I haven't bought a lubrisizer or bullet sizing dies in many years and was unaware that a lubrisizer was currently $350.00. However, with no criticism directed toward the coating method, if you shoot cast bullets very much, the cost of a lubrisizer (and die or dies) amortized over the years of use is insignificant.

...my Hi-tech coated bullets. They're purty.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

You know what would work well ... The stuff Midway USA sells as a mould release ... Dropout ... It requires no baking , is a black spray graphite that builds up on moulds and is the devil to remove. If any spray on would work as a bullet lube , Drop=Out would be just the ticket !
Midway USA still sells it as Frankford Arsenal Drop Out Bullet mould Release Agent ... product no. 763758 .
The stuff will build up on your mould cavity but is good for spraying on the insides wall of melting pot ... and possibly spraying cast bullets ... they wont lead the barrel !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

theres more to it than cost.
IME a trad cast that worked great with powder "A" would lead line the bore with powder "B" all else equal. In this era where powder "A" is hard to find, or even discontinued, we need to explore the new offerings that we can find. Coatings don't seem to care.
We might be past the era of pumpin' sludge with Unique. The greasy slurry meant a lead free bore.
trad cast lube migration in the die was always a problem I just lived with back in the day. Figured I'd clean everything every 100 rounds and it wasn't a problem.
Since the election, I made it a personal policy to load 20 rounds per unhinged whackadoo flying off on another baseless rant. After 4 months in office, my volume probably has me on a watch list. This lube buildup is an unacceptable problem now. the comment section of a single news article can generate 200+ round production goals ... Don't even THINK about logging into Twitter before payday. A restaurant review is often good for 60 rounds.
I just can't maintain quota cleaning dies constantly. they just have to run. coatings are as clean as any jacketed or plated.
It's just better suited for keeping up with current political commentary in todays environment.

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it just needs more voltage

Those look too pretty to shoot .

I tried using spray acrylic paint. The color is beautiful but the paint is too stiff and does not deform.
Maybe I should use another type of paint...

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SAY WHAT?????

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S&W Accumulator

I thought powder coating would be a hassle - until I tried it.

If you enjoy working with ammo you will enjoy powder coating.

It is so much cleaner, in all aspects of the sport. I'm convinced it is healthier.

Try powder coating for a while. Then go back to conventional lubes. The difference will shock you.

I didn't understand what he was saying either.

.....for indoor ranges. Consequently, I use coated, jacketed and plated bullets. And coating is the only one I can do at home. Has anybody had any good results with a spray, dry and shoot coating?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

My wife does not allow me to paint.

If you find something that works, let us know.

Make me wonder who was the first person to powder coat a boolit.

All I know is it came out of the Cast Boolits forum around 2012-2013. I get the impression there was a bunch of guys trying stuff to come up with what we know today.

It originated in Australia and the findings were posted in Cast Boolits Forum.
They also were introducing the powder with an electro-coating process.

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Front sight and squeeze

This thread is almost as twisty as the Bullet Lube / Powder Coat Forum over on Cast Bullets. Clearly, I am doing everything wrong, do not have leaded gun barrels, still getting adequately small groups, and am shooting cheap ammo. There is an upside to age 77, is all still works to my satisfaction.

Fifty wonderful years of doing it wrong with equipment that was amortized to free 40+ years ago. No, I don't want a Smart Phone, my flipper is just fine.

Curmudgeon Engineer1911

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S&WHF 366