So I’m tiring of all the different colors and their different temperamental behaviors. Some coat sparsely some will layer on like pvc glue. Some you can tumble in a vibratory tumbler,some you have to spray.
Well......I’m now focusing on those that I can tumble large quantities of bullets in and dump straight on a wire rack,sift and cook. Shake them off into cold water and repeat the process with minimal powder displacement. So far I’ve found four powders that are forgiving enough to do so. Those are tan,dark green,blue and red. Each without any kind of metal flake materials within them,anything with metal flake tends to coat oddly with either hand tumbling in a bucket or an actual tumbler. It has to be sprayed,and constant attention will need to be paid to the electrode on your gun.
Tonight I’ve found a 5th......a clear powder that cooks on thick and tough. Dulling the cast bullet just enough to pick out any large area missed on the projectile.
This is what the powder looks like out of the can.
as it’s cooling
and a side by side comparison between cast and coated.
(coated is on right side)
The other powder I tried was a translucent copper. While not a heavy coater it is super interesting and will be tinkered with farther. At a distance the 110gn .359 diameter projectile it’s coated with look like a jacket round,slightly.......mostly because the color is off some. Still,I think it’s worth while to invest some time in.
The powder
and some coated
hopefully I can mess with this some more soon and try to get some more projectiles coated. Want to test out some double coating and spraying to see if the results get better or worse.
I like the clear coating. Waiting on your range report about amount of smoke and any leading.
The copper powder label says needs a "silver or chrome" base coat. Can you double coat? By this I mean coat first with clear and then coat again with the copper.
Does the copper require spray application or can it be tumbled? Spraying seems to be a PITA process.
I like the clear coating. Waiting on your range report about amount of smoke and any leading.
The copper powder label says needs a "silver or chrome" base coat. Can you double coat? By this I mean coat first with clear and then coat again with the copper.
Does the copper require spray application or can it be tumbled? Spraying seems to be a PITA process.
First thing Saturday I plan on casting/coating some 9mm so I can run them through my AR. They will be ran upper end loadings to produce the most velocities and ran over a chronograph. The usual test beforehand will be done on the clear before.
On the copper,I didn’t figure you could get any more silver of a base to apply the coating to that the surface those bullets were. If indeed I will have to apply a silver base to make it work......that’s going to be a deal killer. That’s more work than I’m looking to do on this really.
You can double coat but you have to be careful on how much you apply. Too much is not a good thing. Not for the gun,not for your press or sizer.
Spraying the coating,while time consuming,it not that bad. With proper set up,it can go quickly and clean. The product is better,but production is slow compared to what I’m after.
IDK what the end results will be but I’m really wanting the clear to be a win. I’d rather look at shiny lead than the different shades.
I think I just made a lot more work for myself. I've been working on a AR9 for awhile now. Uncle's buddy recently bought one and brought it over for all of us to test drive. I spouted off about trying my suppressor on it. We ended up going through all of my 147grns, and yes it was really quiet. That got uncle all hot n bothered for one. I finally found a complete upper and it's on it's way. He's already used my jig to mill out a lower for it.
Told him about @Ellis93's bullet coating and showed him the pics from different threads. So between the two I'm supposed to get a fire built under my arse and order up a couple new molds and figure out the PCing thing so he'll have lead to load.
I didn’t fine time to send any down a barrel today but I did cast a 100 or so .401 diameter projectile this morning. Also coated them afterward. I know I said I was going to send them down my AR9 but my SPP set up press is set for .40s&w. So I’ll be pumping the rounds up in the 1911 I have. Run them hot and see what happens.
Hand tumbling them in the same ol mayo jar lol
Standing them up one at a time for now.
They do dull up some.
Just a few minutes ago I sized them and hammered one flat. The PC held up just fine. You can see where I cut into it with my knife,for visual reference.
Hopefully the rain stays away till I can stuff these in a cases and send them.
Loaded and shot them today. Did so out of a RIA pistol and after 50ish 180gn brass jacket bullets. Did that so the barrel was hot enough to show any failure in the coating. The PC bullets were loaded over a healthy dose of Bullseye so.....hot barrel,hot load,should show me just how bad the coating will be vrs what I’ve been using for years.
At the end,there was a light grey “color” to the barrel but not much else. I did take my pocket knife and scrape the rifling land to see if there was anything in there and did get a flake out of it. That’s was the only thing in the barrel except the color.
I will for now give this coating a pass as there should be zero build up once they are loaded Over a plinking size powder charge.
keep in mind I haven’t used this as extensively as I have my other powders. All this was has a test in how fast is too fast. Once I’m set up for 9mm again I will be sending some down my 16” ar. If I get no build up,I’m going to be all for it. Right now I know it’ll do fine in 5” of barrel.
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