The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

well a while back I asked if anyone had dipped a toe in powdercoating (P-C) of bullets, apart from Dromia, noone else really had any feedback on it. While I respect Dromia's views and knowledge, I do wonder if his standards of performance are higher than my own, or indeed if he just had some bad luck with it, so while he found it to not offer any significant results for him, I wanted to see how it worked for me. I have entered into this, expecting the same results as Dromia, but ready to be impressed. so an open mind with low expectations.

my start up costs have been low, I paid £10 for a toaster oven (plus 20 miles of fuel @10p per mile) £12 total
powder coat from Caswell europe - £14.50 + £7.19 post = £21.69
the bullets I already had from shellhouse - 9mm Flat Point 122GR 500 £26.50 - 10% = £23.85 so £4.77 a hundred.
a lee lube and size die to see how it all works before investing in a proper sizing setup off NOE moulds. £19

so that puts me at 57.46 to see if it works or not...

I got a chance to have a play with it all tonight.

first i need to remove the lube from the bullets, i whacked some in Isopropynol to see if that would attack the lube or not, not really, dried it out, but not disolved. so will have to try a different method for removing the lube (more on that below)

I settled on using a flat bladed screw driver the same width as the lube groove, breaking the lube out, bit tedious for the test sample, but not the way to go for full production, although I'm sure I could buy them unlubed from shellhouse.

so once unlubed (some better than others) off i went to the freezer. took out an almost empty tub of carte d'or, scooped out the remainder and threw it to SWIMBO to be disposed of.

washed out the tub, and made sure it was nice and dry.

stole away to the garage, got the oven out on the side, plugged in, and switched on to 200*C to warm up.

taking the ice cream tub, I emptied a part bottle of .25g bbs in, then opened the can of P-C powder. and poured a small amount in. then the bullets went in. lid on. shake-shakey-shake. open up, peer in, nope, needs a bit longer. shakey-shake-shake. yep that looks ok.

tried to remove a bullet with fingers, and wiped a load of powder off, so thats not the one. long nose pliers were the answer. these went on the tray once it was covered in foil. base down.

at the same time, I wanted to test a few other things too, so i threw in a few bullets that had the lube still on them and coated them with P-C too. they went on the tray along with some bullets that were un P-C, one set that were naked with lube, and one set that had been in the IPA but still had lube on them. this is to see how the heat affects the lube...

into the toaster oven they went for 15-20 mins at 200*c.

didn't look too bad considering the hasty prep.

they were then left to cool for 5 mins then peeled off the foil.

the P-C bullets came off nicely, the ones that were uncoated to get rid of the lube came out clean, just need to be quick to pick them out and wipe, or cook on a rack so the lube runs off them. the ones that were P-C with lube still on have a definate brakup of coat on the bottom and lube ring, so are probably not a great way of doing it.

the P-C bullets were then run thru the .357 lube and size kit, ready for loading :)

pics,
ready for the oven


in the oven


end result


top row are the cleaned bullets.
next down are the P-C with lube still on
then we have P-C cleaned, the one far right still had some lube in the groove, to see how clean they needed to be
then P-C cleaned, after sizing.

so I have 20 bullets read for loading

Eh. Seems like a lot of hard work. What's supposed to be the benefit?

Like I said a real faff on. Tumble lubing with Xlox or 45-45-10 is far simpler and you don't need to remove the original lube and no need to go to ovens and cooking which can also effect the bullet hardness depending on the alloy.

If it provided benefits on the target with a substantial in increase in velocity then it could have a place. These were the gains I looked for when I experimented with it and I was very disappointed with the results, never mind the chew on.

However I doubt that from mine and others experience that it will deliver much in the way of benefits, powder coating and epoxy coating are not lubes as we understand them they are like Xlox and are barriers. Also some people use it to enlarge bullet diameter my view is it is far easier to cast/size to the correct diameter in the first place.

The latest development in the powder coating canon is to lube size them after coating!

Evidently it enables the powder coated bullets to be driven at higher velocities.

No doubt in the not too distant future some genius will come up with the idea that it would be a lot less hassle just to omit the powder coating steps and the wheel will again have been well and truly reinvented.

I look forward to hearing how they shoot.

What benefits are you seeking in doing this process to establish whether it is a success or not?

Or is it a case of just doing it for the hell of it? Which is reason enough by the way.

Thanks for the follow up. Looking forward to seeing the effect down range!

As my cast bullet involvement comprises of buy a 1000 from DodgyRog, load them. shoot them and repeat as necessary I have not been following the powder coating threads however it does make me wonder what would happen if you just sprayed them with Krylon or similar, would this not do a similar job?

What about fouling, do you end up with blue grooves?

Barriers and lube, two different approaches doing different things.

The coatings are like jacketed bullets putting a barrier tween the lead and barrel just like a copper jacket, lube acts with the lead bullet properly fitted with a suitable alloy to make it perform.

I do use barriers in the form of paper patching and they can be shot at high velocities with accuracy.

For low velocity say up to 1500 fps then the Xlox/45-45-10 tumbled on barrier is as good as anything.

I want to compare them to the same weight plated bullets and see if i get a better group as a first test
Then i will check for any deposits in the barrel as i was getting in my xdm with the naked lead.

That is the main success or not goal really.

I look on it as I've bought a toaster oven and some powder coat. The rest can be used for casting or shooting. So it is also a bit of just doing it for the hell of it.
Need to call the range and see when i can get on 7.3 next

Refresh my memory please what did you mean by naked lead? An unlubed bullet?

No. Not P-C. Just a standard bullet

So no lube on them?

P-C isn't a lube it doesn't function like a lube it is a coating or a barrier like Xlox.