Powder coating boolits

In a nutshell it’s so easy anyone can do it. The easiest is a #5 container, black airsoft BB’s, non stick aluminum foil and a toaster oven and you are ready. The CastBoolits site has the info in the stickies as stated before.

I powder coat most of the cast bullets I shoot these days and have been doing it for a while.  It works great and isn’t too hard.  You can probably search on youtube for the easy shake n’ bake method.  You don’t need the bb’s, nor do you need to liquify the powder coat powder–just do the regular shake n’ bake method and you will be fine.  If you want, you can pm me any questions you may have.  It’s not hard to make bullets like these that don’t require traditional lube and shoot fine in bolt guns, lever guns, gas guns, etc… 

I’ve tried several different ways of doing it in the attempt to make decent bullets quickly and efficiently.  For me, I just throw the freshly cast (but cooled) bullets into an empty yogurt container with a couple teaspoons of powder coat powder.  I shake them gently for like 15-20 seconds or so inside the container and then pour the bullets out on top of a wire mesh (hardware cloth) baking tray.  Then I throw them in a toaster oven and bake them for 10 min at 400 degrees.  I’ve found that the BB’s don’t really help that much and end up slowing down the process.  One of the tricks is to make sure to not add too much powder or it will get clumpy on the bullets.  Another thing I would recommend is buying a high quality powder.  The cheap harbor freight powder works ok, but not as well as powderbuythepound powder.  If you don’t like crazy colors, you can get a good clear coat powder from powderbuythepound.

I’ve tried several different ways of doing it in the attempt to make decent bullets quickly and efficiently.  For me, I just throw the freshly cast (but cooled) bullets into an empty yogurt container with a couple teaspoons of powder coat powder.  I shake them gently for like 15-20 seconds or so inside the container and then pour the bullets out on top of a wire mesh (hardware cloth) baking tray.  Then I throw them in a toaster oven and bake them for 10 min at 400 degrees.  I’ve found that the BB’s don’t really help that much and end up slowing down the process.  One of the tricks is to make sure to not add too much powder or it will get clumpy on the bullets.  Another thing I would recommend is buying a high quality powder.  The cheap harbor freight powder works ok, but not as well as powderbuythepound powder.  If you don’t like crazy colors, you can get a good clear coat powder from powderbuythepound.

I went to that website and thought it would be easy to choose colors. Only smokes batman. Is there a difference in types for what we use that stuff for? Not looking for the fancy colors, but wondered if there is another purpose for certain types of coating.
The wire mesh rack is instead of wiring them up and twisting them in the lube grooves while cooking? That’s a great idea and way faster. Does it completely cover and cook? Do you set them up a certain way during the 10 minutes process?
On the good side, I realized after you said something that I already have a brand new unopened toaster oven someone gave us as a gift. Been sitting in the storage for about a year, so I guess powder coating is in my future,lol. It must be a sign.

As far as powders go, you want the TGIC powders that usually cure at 400 degrees for 10 min or so.  Also make sure the powder does not need to be “fluidized” for use.  A lot of the sparkly metallic looking ones require that–they don’t stick well to the bullets.  Also note that on ebay, you can buy powderbuythepound powders with sometimes cheaper prices and/or shipping prices.  Check both places before ordering.  Some powders coat thicker than others, so it is nice to have a few different colors or types.  If the bullets are cast a little undersized (like with lee molds) you can sometimes coat them with a thicker coating powder and make them work.  Bore rider bullet styles don’t mix well with powder coating–you will have to necksize if you do.

I used to use the non-stick foil on the baking tray and used to use forceps/tweezers/needle nose pliers to carefully put the bullets on the foiled baking tray one by one on the base of the bullet to bake.  This is a very tedious process that produces beautiful bullets.  I’ve found that for me, “perfect-looking” bullets don’t fly tons better than “almost-perfect-looking” bullets.  The “almost-perfect-looking” bullets are way faster to coat and produce. 

I just:

1. throw bullets into an old yogurt container
2. add 1-2 teaspoons of powder
3. cover with the lid & shake gently
4. pour bullets out onto the wire mesh baking tray (over a bucket to collect excess powder)
5. put in oven and bake for 10 min @400F
6. right when the timer rings, while the bullets are still very hot, I (with leather gloves) shake the mesh baking tray side to side until all the bullets are unstuck from each other and the mesh.  If you wait until the bullets are cooled, they will be harder to pull apart from each other and won’t look as pretty.
7. drop the hot bullets into a bucket of cold water (I don’t know if this helps restore the water drop hardening from casting, which some people say is lost when the bullets bake, but it helps speed the cooling so you can get right to sizing.
8. dry bullets with a towel and then run them through a sizer (if bullets are too big and the pc is getting scraped off when sizing, throw a little lube on them before sizing) Tumble lube style bullets size very well when powder coated, and I rarely have to use any lube on them.  A little imperial sizing wax on the fingers that are grabbing the bullets to run them through the sizer might be enough to help the over sized powder coated bullets glide right through without scraping the coating off. 
*be sure to size the bullets soon after casting–as the bullets will naturally harden over time during the first 2 weeks or so.
9. Load the bullets up
10. Have some fun and “unload” the bullets

Excellent description sir. Thank you. Your help made finding powder colors a whole lot easier. I went ahead and got a few colors to try.
I had a question though with gas check boolits. Specifically the spire point 375 grain for the 500 magnum. At what point in the process at you installing the gas check? Is it prior to cooking in the oven or are you adding it during the last sizing step just prior to being loaded up?
I wanted to make sure and clarify my melon was processing everything correctly.
Thank you again my good man. You have been extremely helpful. If we were neighbors, I’d have the coldest soda or beer you ever had ready for you. Take care friend.

Thanks for the kind words.

I’ve done it both ways, powder coating before seating the GC and after, and both ways seem to work alright.  If you powder coat before seating the gas check, it can be pretty hard to get the gas check on due to the extra thickness that the PC adds to the gas check shank–but it will work.  With some molds, I do it before, and others I do it after.

If anyone is interested powderbuythepound.com is having a closeout of Extra Textra Black @ $7.99 a pound. I picked up 3 pounds, myself.

https://www.powderbuythepound.com/Extra-Textra-Black/