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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I don't know about airgun slugs. but have in the distant past gotten some bullets for my centerfire rifle and they were a few thousands larger than normal. I don't know how it was applied, wet and then dry or tumbled and baked, but it was rather strong. I have coated some for myself by tumbling in Molybdenum disllfide, or better HBN,ie hexogonal boron nitride, which is white, very slick and non toxic. HBN is even used in a lot of cosmetic products. Either of those is so thin when tumbled on that I do not think I could measure a difference. For pellets I just put a little dab in a tin and shake it around for a couple of minutes. The only downside is that it makes tiny pellets so slick that they are hard to handle.
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So ironic that I showed my ignorance to this implementation of powder coating and a week later ZAN releases powder coated slugs. 
I've messed around with HBN, but haven't committed the time to really utilize it.
I've messed around with HBN, but haven't committed the time to really utilize it.Upvote 0
Powder Coating works it isnt snake oil..CCI sells clean 22Ammo for moderators and such..It s powder coated from the factory..Federal also does powder coat pistol ammo.. If it wasnt a big deal to reduce leading copper jackets would not be a thing..Powder Coating and High Tech are a poor mans way of a jacket at reduced fps under 2200 fps.. Powder Coating and lubing slugs reduces leading and lead exposure.. I havent had to clean my .510 Texan since hand lead lapping the barrel and using powder coated slugs with lube...There are lots of vidoes on youtube comparing fps from powdercoated and tradional lube cast slugs..
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Depends on how you apply it and how thick. I don't have a gun so I warmed the projectiles and rolled them in powder and baked, then ran thru a cheap Lee sizing die that I honed to the diameter I needed with a cheap automotive ball hone.
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I do elvis ammo shake and bake method.. I do up to 25lbs of .510 slugs at a time..It s pretty easy.. I use a regular size oven so 25lbs on a cookie sheet 12 min at 420 f and otta oven strait into water...They all seperate and look perfect no marks..I also use this method on .224 slugs 44-52 grain with good results..I size all my slugs with lee sizer and lube too..One good pound of Eastwood powder coat will do 1000"s of slugs..
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