Powder Coat Paint

[rosewood]

I too bought my powder from Smoke on the castboolit forum. I use clear. Don't like finger nail polish on my boolits. Mine look like boolits.

It covers good and sticks perfect. Never had it come off. It is white when you put it on, turns clear as it melts.

Rosewood

 

[Casual Smith Nut]

I size my bullets after I powder coat. Are there any advantages to sizing before? I cast then , powder coat and then size.

I can't speak to any advantage of sizing before PC. It seems logical that the PC helps reduce friction and wear for the sizing die. I too PC first and then size afterwards.

 

[BC38]

I size my bullets after I powder coat. Are there any advantages to sizing before? I cast then , powder coat and then size.

The only potential disadvantage to sizing after coating is that you might damage the coating.

The powdercoat only adds about 1/1000 to the diameter, and it is soft (it is plastic after all) so I like to size first.

I don't like ammo that looks like tubes of lipstick, so I like silver, black, or copper. The clear sounds like it would look good too.

 

[serger]

I use Eastwood stuff. Works very well.

Had 1k of tumble lubed 255 gr SWC 45 colt bullets
that I powder coated. Soaked them in gasoline for
a week then poured them onto a 1/4" hardware
cloth screen. They Powder Coated well and shot fine.

I size after coating using Hornady One-Shot. Works
fine and does no harm to the PC on the bullets.

Have done over 25k bullets this way.

 

[GypsmJim]

Originally, i.e. 1975, I lubed boolits with beesway and a propane torch and a lube cutter. Worked OK, but took too much effort.

Then, I switched to Lee liquid alox. Easy peasy but messier when doing the reloading.

A few years ago I bought some powder coated bullets, just to see If I wanted to invest in a toaster oven, etc.

My homemade alox boolits outshot the PC ones. The accuracy was superior to any store bought.

Plus, the PC smelled funny. I'll stick with what hits the middle of the target better.

 

[venomballistics]

FWIW, I've removed a heavy coating of traditional waxy lube by soaking the bullets in gasoline.
I followed that with a soak in Acetone to remove the oily residue from the gasoline.
Worked great - the cleaned bullets took the powder coat just fine.
Just one point of clarification for anyone reading this thread who doesn't already know - powdercoat isn't paint. It is a finely ground powdered plastic that you melt (not paint) onto the sized lead bullets.

Correct,although it is used in much the same context as paint, it's not.
It bleeds over into the realms of structural materials.
I've baked some into a sheet as a test. I used a DIY guitar pick punch to make plectrums from the stuff.
I still have them after a few years, and they remain some of my favorites.
Paint has NO chance of doing that.

 

[rosewood]

The only potential disadvantage to sizing after coating is that you might damage the coating.

The powdercoat only adds about 1/1000 to the diameter, and it is soft (it is plastic after all) so I like to size first.

I don't like ammo that looks like tubes of lipstick, so I like silver, black, or copper. The clear sounds like it would look good too.

Some Clear coat

 

[rosewood]

I like the fact that the powder coat adds diameter to the boolit. I have had some molds that drop the boolit too small, and the powder coat bumps it up, then I run through the resizer to get a perfect boolit. I never use lube when resizing powder coat boolits and have never had any issue with damage to the finish. I use Lee push through sizers.

I have been hesitant to size first as I figured running a dry boolit through a push thru sizer would cause issues, and don't want to lube something that you are going to powder coat.

Rosewood

 

[BeachBumShooter]

I size my bullets after I powder coat them. I do however coat them in a light coat of the homemade lube 45/45/10 before sizing them. This really makes sizing smoother and easier. And, having a light coat of lube in the finished bullet can't hurt either. I don't notice any extra smokiness or fouling from the lube coat.

 

[twodog max]

I have been powder coating a couple years. I like it in that it permits me to use a stock of pure lead and keep leading to a minimum.
I have concluded it is not the perfect product nor is Hi Tek that I have bought. Both can be scraped off contrary to what some claim. I did and still do have concerns about the stuff depositing in the bore. I have detected small amounts on patches but not visually seen it.
I have started lubing the PC bullets as I run them through the sizer. I figure it cannot hurt and the little extra smoke does not concern me and I see no difference in cleaning.

 

[rosewood]

If I was going to lube before sizing PC'd, I think I would use something like Hornady One Shot instead of traditional boolit lube.

Rosewood

 

[twodog max]

I have shot hundreds of thousands of bullets but never seen one of those boolits. What are those things?

 

[AJ]

I use Lee push through sizers.

Rosewood

I have a couple of Lyman Luber/Sizers, but now mainly use the Lee Sizers.

 

[rosewood]

I have a couple of Lyman Luber/Sizers, but now mainly use the Lee Sizers.

I bought the new Lee APP press that I can size on now. Once properly tuned, that thing makes short order of brass resizing, primer pocket swaging and boolit sizing. Much faster than using a standard single stage for those steps.

Rosewood

 

[GypsmJim]

I have shot hundreds of thousands of bullets but never seen one of those boolits. What are those things?

A bullet is a store bought projectile that is used in a firearm. A boolit is a projectile that you cast yourself. It's simply a cutesy reference used by "real" reloaders.

 

[AJ]

I have shot hundreds of thousands of bullets but never seen one of those boolits. What are those things?

A bullet is a store bought projectile that is used in a firearm. A boolit is a projectile that you cast yourself. It's simply a cutesy reference used by "real" reloaders.

I have cast probably "hundreds of thousands" of boolits in the last 50 years....no, I do not have 99.9% of them anymore. To me (and others) better than store bought!

 

[rosewood]

I have shot hundreds of thousands of bullets but never seen one of those boolits. What are those things?

I totally didn't get your question until someone else responded. I picked up the terminology on the castboolit forum and use out if habit. Don't even think about it anymore, just do it.

 

[AJ]

I bought a pound of Eastman's Signal Red powder coat. It came in yesterday, and it happens I was casting 148 grain .38 DEWC's and 200 grain .452 SWC's. So today I powder coated them. Much better than the old Harbor Freight powder coat. Covers better and thicker. Will load some of those and shoot them next Friday.