Powder Coating Lead Bullets

Very interesting read... I have been gathering gear to cast my own lead bullets over the past year or so and am getting real close to trying it out. I when looking at lube options, I kept coming across people talking about powder coating their bullets. I did a little bit of google-fu and came across this forum discussion. Very interesting read:

powder coating bullets

What do you all think?

Yeah, that's a fascinating thread. But note all those guys seem to have a LOT more experience in casting than you do. I wouldn't step into too my bat-guano on my first valiant attempt.

Learn about casting. That in itself is a class, as it isn't quite as dog-food simple as it might seem at first blush. There is all manner of lead mixture, temp, etc.

I got some powder coating paint at harbor freight yesterday for when I decide to coat some bullets. I will try to update this thread on my results/progress as I try it out.

I went to powderbuythepound.com and just spent around $100ish on a variety of colors. My kids helped me pick out their favorite colors for the bullet powdercoating. This has me thinking... I can color code different loads (ie: subsonic vs supersonic, different powder types, etc...) Supposedly a pound of powder coating can coat 2-3k bullets. Cool stuff.

You are having WAY too much fun!

One thing Corn - be very, VERY careful about lead exposure.

A friend casts bullets for a bunch of SASS shooters. He got sick and did the doctor thing, who performed a total work-up including a full panel of blood tests. When the results came back, his doctor just about ordered him into the hospital for an insane amount of lead in the blood. He's better now - but it was a rough two years.    

You can't be too careful.

BTW: does the powder coating help with leading the barrels?

Charlie Foxtrot wrote:One thing Corn - be very, VERY careful about lead exposure.

A friend casts bullets for a bunch of SASS shooters. He got sick and did the doctor thing, who performed a total work-up including a full panel of blood tests. When the results came back, his doctor just about ordered him into the hospital for an insane amount of lead in the blood. He's better now - but it was a rough two years.    

You can't be too careful.

BTW: does the powder coating help with leading the barrels?

I am casting outdoors and wear gloves when handling lead. I also refrain from eating and drinking while casting. I am in the process of building a mount on my casting table to mount some large computer fans right above/behind the melting pot to pull all the fumes away from the front of the casting table. I also make sure the windows to my house are closed when I am casting to prevent fumes from entering. I've been casting when the kids are asleep in bed or indoors to minimize their exposure too.

As far as the powder coating goes, it allows you to use slightly softer lead alloys and avoid the lubing process. Helps prevent leading in the barrel.

Loading stuff up to test and shoot tomorrow... Very excited!

45 ACP

I have found that I much prefer shooting powder coated bullets than traditionally lubed cast bullets.  They make less smoke, leave the barrel cleaner, and don't crap up the suppressors with lube.  I have some inexpensive commercially cast bullets with traditional lube that I have been melting down and recasting and powder coating.  The other option would be to clean off the lube with acetone or boil the lube off and powder coat them, but I am fine with melting and recasting.  As I melt and recast them, I am able to change the bullet shape to that of my molds which I prefer.  One thing I have not done yet--do accuracy testing between same bullet profiles (powder coated vs traditional lube).  My guess is that the traditional lubed stuff is probably more accurate, but by how much I do not know.

Dev, if you ever want to mess around with subsonic loads in 300 blk, you should take a look at these bullets. Pretty inexpensive: missouri bullets

Thanks, Corn.

I think I bought a bunch of .38 Spl bullets from these guys, but haven't loaded them up as I had not shot up the old stuff yet.

My biggest problem is boxes in which to put finished rounds. I have pretty much loaded ALL my .45 ACP boxes and still have brass to load. I would kind of like to load ALL of it and be done for a while.

BTW, I was looking for something in my junk pile table and discovered a stash of .45 ACP bullets that I didn't know I had. Kind of nice. I keep trying to "organize" but keep running out of space.

Drats!