Some of the finer points of powder coating... questions

[magnumwheelman]

So I'm inching up on the diving board... peering over the edge... afraid I'm going to get pushed in from behind... OH... just jump in already !!!

... I see several colors out there, & have Eastwood's site up on my browser right now... are their any property differences between the colors, gloss, etc... or are you guys just picking a favorite color, or the sale of the month powder???

I see a Zink "rich" priming powder link here... www.eastwood.com/eastwood-zinc-rich-primer-powder.html

I'm wondering if just this zink rich primer coat might make a great bullet coat on it's own???

do any of you guys coat different bullets, or different loads in the same caliber different colors to aid in telling them a part??? perhaps 38 special one color, 357 another ( I personally have a tough time telling 38 & 357 brass apart... )

[Deleted]

I favor the poly powders myself. Most of my powders came from "Smoke 4320" on CB. He takes credit cards, so you can just call him and have him ship you what you want. I didn't really appreciate the Harbor Freight powders, which are epoxy based IIRC.

castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?252509-VS-Hi-Quality-Powdercoating-Powder-For-sale

[cherokeetracker]

I have just been using the red from harbor freight,,, But FYI, the harbor Freight powder does have a shelf life. I needed to use it, so all my bullets are red. I label everything anyway.

That Zink rich doesn't sound like something I would want. It is epoxy based also.

[contender]

I started with HF paint,, & switched to Smoke's stuff. He's excellent to deal with.
I decided to use different colors according to caliber size. Less confusing to me in general.

[tek4260]

Any links to the "shelf life" of Harbor Freight Red? I have some that I bought with the intentions of using it for bullets, but got used to the stuff from Smoke on castboolits, so it sat unused for over a year. I decided to use it the other day, and it refuses to stick to the bullets no matter how long I run my vibratory polisher. I even mixed it with some blue from Smoke, expecting to get purple or speckled bullets, but only the blue from Smoke adhered. Also heated some of the bullets, and it still doesn't work.

[dmize]

I have never paid attention to an expiration date but I can tell you with the red or yellow HF powder humidity plays a HUGE part and the size of the bullet too. On my 500 and 512's I use a cheap and horribly ineffective e-bay "spray gun".

[gjn]

I also buy my powder from "Smoke" and have been very happy with him and his product.

Once I jumped into powder coating I've never looked back. Enjoy the process and love the end product. I can highly recommend it. Haven't got into color coding yet but probably will at some point. For now I'm just having fun trying different colors.

[sixshot]

I started out with HF Red & still use it the most but I do use a fair amount of the gloss black from Smoke's 4320. I can't tell any difference in how they shoot or how they coat. I run everything through a Hornady tumbler for about 20 minutes but it doesn't have to be exact, I've run it less with no problems, just depends on how many bullets I have in the tub really.

Dick

[magnumwheelman]

So... polyester powders are preferred to the epoxy powders??? ( those are the only 2 types I've noticed in reading ) are there more???

I'm thinking, at least to start, I'll do the "shake & bake" method... I read some of SMOKES thread on Cast Bullet forum, ( thanks for the link ) looks like the kind of plastic the tub is made of is important to get proper static cling

watched a couple U Tube vids, one guy just piles them up on a silicone baking sheet, after coating, & screening the excess powder off, bakes them, then dumps them in a bucket of water afterwards, & seems to get good coating , & the bullets don't stick to each other... SMOKE picks them out one by one with a tweezers & spreads them out on non stick foil

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRqKGBpqVjc

any thoughts on the high zink primer powder???

how about lube grooves & powder coating... not needed... or keep them, as they act like driving bands on a solid copper bullet???... in other words, if you were buying or having a mold made, would you keep the lube grooves, or remove them??? ( seen some U Tube vids about removing the lube grooves, but I'm thinking they may act like driving bands??? ( specifically thinking about my 480 Achilles type molds we are having made ) seems logical to reduce the drag down the bore, but if they really aren't needed & we can raise the bullet weight 5 grains???

[sheriff]

I use HF's red and don't have any complaints. mwm, lube groves are not needed on powder coated bullets.

[callshot]

My HF red is a little older because I don't cast as much as some of you. It still works just fine. All of my calibers are red. I'd like to try some glow in the dark paint for night shooting just for fun.

[sixshot]

The shake & bake method works just fine but picking them out with tweezers is like kissing your sister..... just dump them into a collander so you knock off any excess paint & be done with it. Picking them up one at a time is a pain in the Obama! Doesn't matter whether they have a lube groove or not, that doesn't change how they shoot but many mold makers are starting to make some without out lube grooves, either way works just fine.
Unless you like to experiment with several different colors just pick 2-3 & be done with it or you're always cleaning out your tub so you can switch colors. I just use two, Harbor Freight Red & Smokes's gloss black, I could do more, I have 4 Hornady tubs but don't see any reason to use more than 2 colors but that's must my opinion. I know one guy that says he uses a quart plactic tub & places about 500 9mm's in there, a couple of table spoons full of powder, shakes it for 15-20 seconds & they are ready to bake. He's been doing it for a long time so no need to doubt him. If you are getting a good coating, it's working. I don't usually water quench because I like a little softer bullet but if you're going to lean on them a bit harder & shoot something big & nasty it's not a bad idea to try it.

Dick

[magnumwheelman]

are any of you guys using the Air Soft pellets when you tumble like SMOKE is recommending??? been watching several U Tube videos & not seen anyone using an Air Soft pellet when tumbling... just wondering what the purpose of the air soft pellets ( perhaps adds more static??? )

[sheriff]

I use them as that's how I learned. My best guess is that they add static.

[Deleted]

The plastic tub recommended has a number "5" in the recycling code on the bottom. I tend to over analyze almost everything, so after some research I started buying some of the cheap plastic food containers at my local supermarket. The ones I buy have a silicone seal at the lip that I like because I go to great lengths to not breathe in any of the powder (I also wear an N95 particle mask, and wear nitrile gloves). Smoke says you can pick the tumbled, but unbaked bullets by hand if you wear blue nitrile gloves. It does work for me (sort of), but I still pick the bullets out of the powder with tweezers anyway. BTW, Harbor Freight has a neat set of tweezers for about ten bucks. I too pick the bullets up at the lube groove.

I have never tried using a tumbler to coat the bullets. I have an older Lyman tumbler that's getting a bit weak, so this may allow me to get a little more utility from something that's not good enough to use, but too good to throw away. I just started using airsoft pellets with PC, and they do seem to help give everything a more uniform coating so far. Being the fussy type, I stand my bullets on their bases on an oven pan covered with non-stick foil. I will be changing over to silicone baking mats on the pans when this roll of foil is gone.

I made a neat discovery! I still have a few thousand Lyman gas checks, the kind that don't crimp on. I quit using them ages ago, but I snapped a few on some 357 gascheck bullets before tumbling with Smokes "Carolina Blue" powder. Some of the powder migrated between the bullet & the gascheck, and when the bullets cooled after baking, the checks don't come off. I always threatened to super glue the damn things on in the old days because I hated them so, now I can use them! My original plan was to use them to mask off the bullet base, then remove them after baking, and crimp Hornady checks on in their place. This way works out better.

I was told on another board that blue powders seem to cover best in a single coat, and that some of the lighter colors don't cover well at all. I have found this to be pretty accurate, and the colors that cover the best for me are blues, and blacks. I have some John Deere yellow PC that I won't try again, and curiously, a purple that hates me as well. The purple is a flat powder, and I've also heard that flat powders don't cover well at times. Now John Deere green does really well, and I still have a red to try out too.