Powder coating question

[Mbaker78]

I still have yet to try casting my own bullets, but I have all of thstuff I think I’ll need for it. I think I want to try powder coating over traditional lube, and shake and bake seems the easiest way to do that, but I don’t have an oven to bake them in (I doubt my wife would look too kindly on me using hers).

So, in the meantime, can I just cast up a bunch of bullets and let them sit for a few weeks until I can find a toaster oven at a garage sale or something? Will it hurt anything if the bullets aren’t lubed or coated in any way for a little while?

thanks in advance.

[Jamesr160@yahoo.com]

Not a problem. Clean them with acetone before you shake and bake to get the best coat.

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[EUDE75]

I will also suggest just casting at first. Get that figured out and then try powder coating. A good way to practice is get you a cheap lee round ball mold. That way you don't mess up any of your good molds.

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[Mbaker78]

All 3 of the molds I have are lee TL molds. So none of them were expensive

[EUDE75]

Good deal. I liked using the round ball mold mainly because its smooth and you can tell real quick where the imperfections are. Also here's a little tip. When I cast I get the lead as hot as possible. It seems to throw a more uniform and smooth bullet for me. Are you using a dipping furnace or a bottom pour?

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[Mbaker78]

Bottom pour lee, I think it’s the pro 4-20.

[Big Eddy]

Oh, a Drip-O-Matic. It will work fine after you get accustomed to the dripping. I have been using one for years. They all drip eventually. Place a ingot mold underneath to catch most of the drips. Keep a screwdriver handy to turn the plunger back and forth in order to stop the dripping. Lead temp should be about 725deg. Place the mold on top of the furnace or use a hot plate for preheating mold. A cold or oily mold will not make good bullets no matter what you do. Clean mold before preheating, I use naphtha (lighter fluid) it evaporates completely leaving no residue. Good luck and come back and let us know how it went.

[Mbaker78]

I just ordered an ingot mold, I didn’t think I would need one starting out, it should be here in a few days, then I’ll give it a go.

[Reloader762]

I still have yet to try casting my own bullets, but I have all of thstuff I think I’ll need for it. I think I want to try powder coating over traditional lube, and shake and bake seems the easiest way to do that, but I don’t have an oven to bake them in (I doubt my wife would look too kindly on me using hers).

So, in the meantime, can I just cast up a bunch of bullets and let them sit for a few weeks until I can find a toaster oven at a garage sale or something? Will it hurt anything if the bullets aren’t lubed or coated in any way for a little while?

thanks in advance.

A couple things of note depending on the alloy you cast your bullets from. Air cooled bullet depending on the alloy will age harden slowly with around 2% Sb ie antimony content I generally let my bullets set about two weeks to obtain final BHN if air cooled, if I water quench the bullets or heat treat I wait around a week before I load and shoot. BHN variations in a given load do make a difference, you can test this by loading up a series of identical loads with bullets cast the same day and shoot a 10 shot group on day one and subsequent 10 shot groups with the same loads a few days apart and see if the groups change.

A few notes on cast bullet air cooled or quenched from the mold and how the curing process will anneal the cast lead bullets using an alloy that responds to water quenching or heat treating. Your results may vary depending on the original alloy used and the as cast BHN and at the time the bullets BHN is tested.

1. If you air cool your bullets when cast then PC them and allow them to air cool again the second time there is no change in the as cast BHN of the bullet.

2. If you air cool your bullets when cast then PC them and quench them right out of the toaster oven they will gain a hardness of about 75% over the as cast BHN.

3. If you quench your bullets out of the mold to begin with then PC them and allow them to air cool they will soften around 50% from the original first quenching BHN.

4. If you quench your bullets out of the mold to begin with then PC them and quench them right out of the toaster oven a second time you only loose around 15% hardness from the first quenching.

As to toaster ovens I like the convection oven as they distribute the heat much better, I also use a reliable over thermometer to make sure my toaster over is set as close to the recommended curing temperature by the powder mfg. as possible. Toaster ovens can vary by as much as +/- 50 degrees from what the dial on the over is set to. I preheated my oven for around 45 min. with the thermometer inside to make sure everything was heat soaked completely and the oven had time to run through several heat cycles before I made the final adjustment to the temperature dial, it's a good idea to check that on occasion as things can change over time.

When coating bullets I crank the toaster oven up and let it run for about 30 min. to heat up while I'm coating and I start timing when the powder begins to flowout. After there done I either air cool or water quench right out of the toaster oven depending on what I'm using the cast bullet for.

[Mbaker78]

Finally gave it a go over the last few days. Overall I've made just over 300 401-175gr TC, about 450 of the 452-230gr TC, and over 500 of the 309-230.

It goes pretty quick once you get the hang of it.

I also learned to keep all eye on it when it's just gone liquid and isn't quite ready to flux and slag, I ran about 3lb of lead out on my bench top while I wasn't paying attention. I also didn't have the ingot mold under the pot as suggested, oops, but now I do.

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