Bullet coating, Hi-Tek or Powdercoating. Boolits!

[dieselrealtor]

I am gathering materials & information to get started in casting.

I was planning to just do some Harbor Freight powder coating, but a fine member here brought up Hi-Tek & told me that he was really happy with it. Got me to thinking.

I did a little searching & seems that I found some that was powder form (mix with acetone I think) & some that was liquid.

What are folks here using & where are they buying it?

 

[Cynical]

I am gathering materials & information to get started in casting.

I was planning to just do some Harbor Freight powder coating, but a fine member here brought up Hi-Tek & told me that he was really happy with it. Got me to thinking.

I did a little searching & seems that I found some that was powder form (mix with acetone I think) & some that was liquid.

What are folks here using & where are they buying it?

Been powder coating for 6 ish years now. I use Pro-tec powder paint cause I cast my own jigs,sinkers etc. I always shake and bake in a cheap plastic Tupperware bowl with some air soft pellets in it. I also only do it in the winter because the humidity is low and the static builds faster. Bake them in a $10 dollar toaster oven from goodwill and I’m good to go. FYI I cast my boolits from wheel weights and water quench them. The only projectiles I’ve purchased in the last 10 + years are jacketed rifle and JHP pistol bullets. Kinda depends on how much spare time you have as far as powder coating and hi-tek,I’ve shot em’ and have no problems with them.

 

[bwframe]

I powder coat also. Only ever used powder from Smoke on https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?252509-VS-Hi-Quality-Powdercoating-Powder-For-sale

A little goes a long way. It isn't messy or wet. And you can be as anal as you choose about it. For me, it's about high volume production, my boolits don't need to be flawless, as I'll be shooting them vs looking at them.

I cannot speak to Hi-TeK, other than being less than happy with commercially bought Hi-Tek coated bullets early on. They were fat and long, obviously not sized after coating?

In my experience powdercoating is a hard enough coating to "jacket" your cast lead mix, allowing less precision required for working boolit hardness. Obviously this will matter more as you push your loadings to the upper limits. When remelting duds and recovered bullets, the melted lead melts first, before the powder coat "jacket" burns off.

CastBoolits is a great recourse for all things casting. Lotta YouTubers also. Fortune Cookie, Evis Ammo, Full Lead Taco,...

There is a lot of older INGO casting/coating threads, if you can master a search that will work. I cut my teeth on cast/coating reading INGO. Post 'em up here if you can find them...

 

[Cynical]

I powder coat also. Only ever used powder from Smoke on https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?252509-VS-Hi-Quality-Powdercoating-Powder-For-sale

A little goes a long way. It isn't messy or wet. And you can be as anal as you choose about it. For me, it's about high volume production, my boolits don't need to be flawless, as I'll be shooting them vs looking at them.

I cannot speak to Hi-TeK, other than being less than happy with commercially bought Hi-Tek coated bullets early on. They were fat and long, obviously not sized after coating?

In my experience powdercoating is a hard enough coating to "jacket" your cast lead mix, allowing less precision required for working boolit hardness. Obviously this will matter more as you push your loadings to the upper limits. When remelting duds and recovered bullets, the melted lead melts first, before the powder coat "jacket" burns off.

CastBoolits is a great recourse for all things casting. Lotta YouTubers also. Fortune Cookie, Evis Ammo, Full Lead Taco,...

There is a lot of older INGO casting/coating threads, if you can master a search that will work. I cut my teeth on cast/coating reading INGO. Post 'em up here if you can find them...

You nailed that BW. Been there done that. To your point cast boolits is a great resource.

 

[boatswainsmate]

+1 on Smoke's Powder

I clean with Acetone

Tumble for 20 Minutes

Shake of excess

Dump or stand up on Non-Stick Foil

I smash a couple after baking for 20 minutes in a convection toaster oven. Make sure you get an oven thermometer! It will save you allot of headaches.

Finished Product

 

[Slow Hand]

I have a few colors from Eastwood’s. Don’t waste your time with harbor freight powder.
I use the shake and bake method. Quick, simple amd works great. I bought a couple silicone baking mats from Amazon and two new baking trays so I could steal our older ones to use for PC.

 

[Slow Hand]

Follow this for the simplest and most effective way to powder coat. I’ve done thousands of bullets us this method.

Tank’s Powder Coated Cast Bullet Clinic - American Handgunner

By now, you’ve observed my proclivity for Powder Coated (PC) projectiles I’ve cast myself. In 30 years of casting, I’ve come to the conclusion PC cast slugs is faster and easier than traditional lube/sizing and offers the benefits of driving softer lead alloy bullets faster, without barrel...

americanhandgunner.com

 

[bwframe]

Follow this for the simplest and most effective way to powder coat. I’ve done thousands of bullets us this method.

Tank’s Powder Coated Cast Bullet Clinic - American Handgunner

By now, you’ve observed my proclivity for Powder Coated (PC) projectiles I’ve cast myself. In 30 years of casting, I’ve come to the conclusion PC cast slugs is faster and easier than traditional lube/sizing and offers the benefits of driving softer lead alloy bullets faster, without barrel...

americanhandgunner.com

That's pretty much how I do mine. With the exception of baking. I bake mine in a mesh wire basket, 100ish at a time. Piled in a few layers deep. Some perfectionists would have fits that my coating has the occasional spot from touching other boolits during coating.

I always size everything, 9mm and .308. I have one of the little Lee presses dedicated to sizing. I size based on my slugged barrels.

I have another .308 bullet mold to try, but as of yet have only had luck with gas checking boolits for 300BLK. My current mold is a GC mold and shoots groups like a shotgun pattern compared to GC'd.

 

[Cynical]

That's pretty much how I do mine. With the exception of baking. I bake mine in a mesh wire basket, 100ish at a time. Piled in a few layers deep. Some perfectionists would have fits that my coating has the occasional spot from touching other boolits during coating.

I always size everything, 9mm and .308. I have one of the little Lee presses dedicated to sizing. I size based on my slugged barrels.

I have another .308 bullet mold to try, but as of yet have only had luck with gas checking boolits for 300BLK. My current mold is a GC mold and shoots groups like a shotgun pattern compared to GC'd.

I size everything after I’m done as well. 10 years ago I was slobbering over getting a Lyman lubesizer. After I had started powder coating I bought a used one for $15 and rebuilt it. I’ve never used it. The dies and heater etc don’t seem to add up when powder coating is so easy. As a side note I did notice after pulling a few rounds that Bullseye powder seemed to soften the powder coating on the base of the bullets. They shot fine but I thought it was odd.

 

[bwframe]

11.14.23 Smoke's powder price/inventory update...

VS - Hi Quality Powdercoating Powder For sale - Page 33

NOW FACTORY DIRECT DISTRIBUTOR Discussion on powder and Pics of shake and bake samples are here http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...quality-powder 1 Lb double zip lock freezer bags of powder 3 color Trial size will also be available (3 1/3rd Lb bags ) for same price as a 1 LB...

castboolits.gunloads.com

 

[Onebad06vtx]

I have been powder coating for 6 years.
Some people use smokes powder,but he gets his powder from powder by the pound.
Thats where I buy my powder as its cheaper then buying from a second party,they sell great powders.
Its hard to beat powder coated bullets.
I use the shake and bake method.
I have a full size old oven in my garage that I use and do large batches.
Make sure you size after coating and I use lee sizers in a press mounted upside down to speed up and make sizing easier.
If you have any other questions,just ask.

 

[bwframe]

IIRC, Smoke has a vetting process for the powders he sells. He does not just turn over somebody else's inventory.

You'd have to read that huge, pages and pages long, thread on castboolits, but I think Smoke tests all the powders he sells. According to my memory, all versions and colors of powder coat powders aren't the same, even those sold by one manufacturer. Some powders static stick well and coat uniformly, others don't.

Supposedly, some powders don't pass the bullet smash test? I couldn't say, I quit checking for that early on, after literally everything passed.

I never got to experimenting with other powders much. For the money, after the whole casting process, it wasn't worth trial and error vs tried and true.

 

[Onebad06vtx]

These are the colors smoke sells.
RAL 9005...Jet Black
RAL 1002...Bacon Grease Out of Stock
RAL 5005...Signal Blue
RAL 5012...Carolina blue
AG Green....John Deere Green Out of Stock
RAL 6022....OD Green
RAL 6018...Yellow Green
RAL 2009...Traffic Orange
RAL 8023...Orange/Brown
RAL 4010...Pink (telemagenta)
RAL 4006 ..Traffic Purple Out of Stock
RAL 3000...Flame Red
RAL 3005...Wine Red Out of Stock
RAL 9006 ..White Aluminum
RAL 1016...Sulfur Yellow...
RAL 1023...Traffic Yellow Out of Stock
RAL 9016...Traffic White

Go to powder by the pound and type in the number to pull up the same powder.
I use the 5012 with great results.