does powder coating slow big bore ammo down
- Thread starter jasperjet
- Start date
I'm going to guess it'll deposit on your barrel and create terrible inconsistency and be difficult to clean off. The rifling is designed to cut into the lead in on projectile, therefore your "resistance" is still lead, not powder coating. Typically you want about a thousandth of contact, so the powder coating alone would be counter intuitive to diameter consistency.
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I've been running powder coated subsonic 30 and 35 cal bullets in powder burners for years. The bore stays remarkably clean, velocity I never did a side by side comparison. The bullets still engrave fine and the rifling is only there to cause enough grip to impart spin. Glock and fx have been doing pretty well without deep cuts.
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Try a handful as a test. Black harbor freight powder was the easiest to work with for my bullet casting and hand loading for pistol and even rifle supersonic and subsonic.
Keep in mind sizing. Lee sells tooling that are affordable. A press and a sizing die might be in order. If the sizing die isn't available in what you want, you can get one on the smaller side (as close as possible) and use an automotive ball hone in a drill to open it up a bit.
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I played a little with it on bullets for my 257. It didn't seem worth the trouble. I use bike chain wax on soft lead with no sizing. I don't claim to be an expert. I just bought a 257 Texan and a lead pot when I retired at about the same time it came out with the goal learn bullet casting and the gun.
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I too moved to just using lubalox and Johnsons paste wax mixed together and a tool that lubes and sizes simultaneously. The process for powder coat was too time intense. I do shoot powder coated mostly but buy them in bulk pre done.
As for gaining velocity. A light lubing with silicone helped me with long slugs.
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thanks to all for the great info. we are iced in right now but Im going to get to powder coating and testing as soon as we thaw
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Remember that they should still be sized correctly after powder or your results will be tainted.
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