Powder coating

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  • Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Can I dry the powder or likely its is ruined? I tried leaving the bullets out to dry while working and then hear them moving. Go into find blue kitten prints I have to clean up. :rolleye12

    I was trying with drying the powder. I have not opened my red yet and might try that. HTF did it get moisture in it? It's never been open sitting around.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Well Fook, it is my powder. A couple little splashes of David’s green and they covered. I wiped them off with paper towels first to get most of the blue off.

    So this happened from the start. Moisture in the container. If I try my red and it doesn’t stick I’m going to have to assume powder by the pound is selling powder with high moisture in it

    We’re do I get desiccant? Amazon? How will you tell if it turns pink in blue powder?? ;) I got 15 50g packs for $11 from Amazon. I guess I tape one to the lid with packaging tape.

    This is a PITA that I have a new powder and thinking I failed and it might likely be the supplier causing my trouble. My blue powder main container has never been out of the house or open longer than dumping a little
     

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    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    That green is a perfect coating of those! With little extra powder left. Nice

    One thing I did not think of is in my case, I'm swishing in my "Man Loft" and its over carpet. Never tried in the garage doing the swishing there.
    Like you. I'm using the containers that came from Powder by the pound.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Well my red works just fine. So I guess I can’t blame Powder by the pound, but I have no idea how it got moisture in it.

    I’ll wait for the desiccant and how long do you think it needs to be in there to make it usable as a guess?

    So my problem all along was humidity, but it was were I didn't know it was, in the powder.

    They flowed out well
     

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    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    I think I am going to throw this powder by the pound blue away. I coated the 310 with the Green David sent to use that up and that all went fine. Couple minor spots from sticking to the hardware cloth. Do you all sane that, or replace after a while for the build up?

    Then the first pic. Three right ones was the first coat and bake. It stuck but not completely. Left three it stuck a lot less. I mixed them again for a second coat and they got much more tacky and and stuck a lot easier and harder to get off the hardware cloth. The second coat was almost gummy. I am wondering if some of these need culled or can still be shot. They stuck much worse than other times.

    I just order Eastwood Lime Green so I can toss this blue. The bottle has been shut with two desiccant packs in it for over a month.
     

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    urbantchr

    Member
    Jun 22, 2021
    67
    Just in case anyone cares. Lead is an interesting metal. It does not work harden like most metals. Virgin lead is recommended for my BP pistols because pure lead get harder harder when recast [insert joke here].

    I find 45cal at 800fps or so so be very forgiving for lead bullets. Maybe I'm lucky, but I haven't had any bullets cause leading for these low pressure, low velocity loads (APC, LC).
     

    Sticky

    Beware of Dog
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 16, 2013
    4,501
    AA Co
    I use NSF (non-stick foil) on my tray for PC and stand the bullets up on end, so that way the important parts remain undisturbed. I don't care about the bullet base, it touches nothing.

    I use wire mesh trays for HiTek and I give them a couple of coats to ensure a good coating.

    Here are some pc bullets after cooking...
     

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    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Just relaying some experience I had. Someone on the High Road told me to powder coat the gas check onto the bullet as it would "glue it on" in case I needed to pull any. I got distracted seating a bullet and sat it on top the shell holder instead of in the shell holder. Needles to say my OAL was slight shorter than I wanted.

    When I put the cartridge in the kinetic puller the bullet came out and I saw no powder. The check still stayed in he throat of the case. Had to tap it inside with a nail set, dump out the powder and then use my 8" tweezers down the case throat until I got a hold of the gas check and could pull it through. Powder coating did not keep the gas check attached to pull a round! Just an FYI, in case it is needed for anyone.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Just relaying some experience I had. Someone on the High Road told me to powder coat the gas check onto the bullet as it would "glue it on" in case I needed to pull any. I got distracted seating a bullet and sat it on top the shell holder instead of in the shell holder. Needles to say my OAL was slight shorter than I wanted.

    When I put the cartridge in the kinetic puller the bullet came out and I saw no powder. The check still stayed in he throat of the case. Had to tap it inside with a nail set, dump out the powder and then use my 8" tweezers down the case throat until I got a hold of the gas check and could pull it through. Powder coating did not keep the gas check attached to pull a round! Just an FYI, in case it is needed for anyone.
    I use my own home made aluminum gas checks. While they don't have teeth like the Hornady checks (mine are much cheaper), I have modified them so that they are a tight press onto the bullet. I wouldn't expect the paint to act like glue.

    In my experience, Hornady checks will stay on bullets if they are pulled using an inertia puller. They really bite into the bullet during the sizing process and stay on for good. I have found numerous checks where my bullets have impacted the berm leading me to believe that mine will stay on during normal shooting but sometimes stay in the case if I have to pull a bullet.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    The pictures they show online don't show teeth. I am using Sage gas checks.
    Well, not really teeth but the rim of the Hornady gas check rolls into the bullet and locks it in. I used to use Sage gas checks for .44 Mag when I was shooting them but his checks were similar to those that I make. I have never used the Gator checks but the description makes me think they are similar to Hornady checks.
     

    85MikeTPI

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 19, 2014
    2,699
    Ceciltucky
    Stupid thoughts that pop into my head Part 12

    Would there be any benefit in leaving the nose of the bullet uncoated, like a SP jacketed bullet, for hunting or increased expansion ?

    If so, what would be the easiest way to going about that, dipping the tip into something to keep the powder from sticking? Wiping off the tip after coating? Using acetone or similar to wipe tip coating off after baking ? Other ?
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Stupid thoughts that pop into my head Part 12

    Would there be any benefit in leaving the nose of the bullet uncoated, like a SP jacketed bullet, for hunting or increased expansion ?

    If so, what would be the easiest way to going about that, dipping the tip into something to keep the powder from sticking? Wiping off the tip after coating? Using acetone or similar to wipe tip coating off after baking ? Other ?
    No, there is no benefit to doing that. If you want your bullets to expand more, file a small flat on the head of the bullets or buy a hollow pointer and put a hollow point on them. https://www.forsterproducts.com/product/hollow-pointer-kits/
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    I experimented with cast bullets in a drum of water. I found that the round pointed cast, air cooled, wheel weight bullets did not deform at all!! They performed exactly how we talk about FMJ's being hole punchers. A HP grabs the water forcing expansion. The RP acts like the bow on a boat and diverts the water around it. The bullet seen in blue is cast from the same alloy as the green and both air cooled. The blue bullet is still the same exact diameter as it was sized in my G17 before hitting the water.

    Green is MP Hollow point and expanded well. The red is pure lead HP from same mold as the green and expands great but only viable for 10 yards shots and then they are going their own way.
    img_1584.jpg


    Some old guys, cast bullets forum guys, were pouring a little bit of pure lead into a mold for the tip of the bullet and then following it with wheel weight or linotype lead or anything harder. Then they held it over the pot to make sure it fused without jiggling much. Then cool and release the bullets. I would think you need a 2 cavity mold and steel or brass to do this, as aluminum would cool too fast. I have never tried this yet, but would like too. The idea was the soft lead point did not contact the barrel, but was first contact with the game and started expansion. The back harder lead contacted the barrel to prevent leading and stay tight and true to shot. All theories of casting I have read and not ben able to practice yet.

    You wouldn't do this a lot as it was done for hunting bullets and you could do it for possible defense rounds. I got 800 or more of those blue ones loaded and they ring the gongs just fine. I got a full mag of those red ones for in the house self defense. I highly doubt any shot I ever need in the house will exceed 30 feet.

    I still got to test the flat faced bullets and see how they expand. I would buy a hollow point mold, if you can. I will report back on flat faced bullet expansion later.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    All you need for hunting is a round flat nose bullet like a Lee .45 and use an alloy that is lead plus 1 part tin. A lee .452-255-RF is perfect for a .45 Colt pistol or rifle. You can lube these with Xlox or powder coat and they will expand and dump all their energy in a pig or deer. Lee doesn't really have a good mold for .44 Mag hunting but this one, similar to the Ranch Dog molds I used to use when hunting, will work just fine. https://noebulletmolds.com/site/sho...432-267-rf-z4/432-265-rf-2-cavity-1gc-1pb-rd/
     

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