Lubing vs Powder Coating…

[Caleb321]

Advantages/disadvantages…preferences based upon experience—one or the other?

Recently became involved with home casting for the .357 round, obviously air rifle specific, and am eager to learn.

 

[steve-l]

Powder coating? Your query makes no sense. Powder coat thickness is typically .020" (.5 mm) thick.

 

[Bowhunter73]

I have powder coated some 457 bullets for my Texan and have tried lubed, unlubed and PC'd I can't tell any difference in accuracy or fps the main thing I've read is it helps with lead fowling. So what I've done is cast, size the bullet powder coat and re-size it an it shoots fine. 

 

[Will99]

I cast a lot of slugs and powdered coat and you have to resize your bullet after coating them and I put 10 wt RC car shock oil and light coat I put the ones I shoot in a plastic tub with some lid and put a few drops and roll around and shoot all day and two or three swipe with the cleaning rod and the barrel spotless that's what I like about powder coating awesome it take time to do the process but it's worth it in my opinion 

Will99 in Colorado

 

[Caleb321]

Powder coating? Your query makes no sense. Powder coat thickness is typically .020" (.5 mm) thick.

As other have followed up by stating, there is sizing—and most times—resizing involved with powder coating. So everything fits as it should, albeit with the added bonuses of maintaining a more naturally cleaner barrel, less fouling, less drag, etc.

I was mostly curious as to the experiences of those who have done, or do. And what they felt were the real world results/benefits that they’d gained and are able to maintain.

 

[steve-l]

Please Caleb321, do the arithmetic. You cannot resize .020" of plastic and expect anything left. Do you understand how resizing even works? Do you understand how powder coating works? I don't think so. Perhaps you are are talking about a completely different process. It certainly is not powder coating, which is an electrostatic spray coating of plastic powder and then baking in an oven melting the powder. It is a replacement for commercial painting.

 

[Scotchmo]

Powder coating? Your query makes no sense. Powder coat thickness is typically .020" (.5 mm) thick.

I think you are off by a factor of 10. Powder coating thickness is more like .002", not .020".

 

[Greg_E]

Powder coating? Your query makes no sense. Powder coat thickness is typically .020" (.5 mm) thick.

I think you are off by a factor of 10. Powder coating thickness is more like .002", not .020".

Or 0.001 inch thick. 0.020 inch would never fit through the sizing dies after coating, that's a big squeeze. 0.515 down to 0.510 is a big squeeze and really needs to pass through 0.512 first.



For some things I've been sizing the lead down to .356 so that there isn't a lot to do after powder coating, comes out around .357 to .358. Not going to do much in 510 anymore, there are posts about it if you want more info.

 

[igolfat8]

I’m a competition (powder burner) pistol shooter and I cast, powder coat, size and shoot 20K 9mm open rounds per year so I have some experience in that world. Powder coat, applied by shake n bake is NOT .020” thick but closer to .001”-.002” thick, after coating IF you use the correct powder and size after baking the paint remains in tact. Baking temperature and baking time is critical to proper curing. When done correctly PC boolits have been pushed to 3000 FPS with zero bore fouling. I push my open 9’s in excess of 1600 FPS with zero fouling. 

Spend some time on the cast bullet forum

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?184-Coatings-and-Alternatives

because there is a plethora of information there about the coating process. I have zero experience with PC in air guns but there is no reason why it won’t work BUT sizing is critical to the process working correctly. I size +.002” over my bore’s slug diameter in powder burners but I am not sure what the correct size should be in airgun use.

There is a vendor over there by the name of Smoke4320 and he sells high quality powder paint for the shake n bake process. He is also an Airgun shooter so he does have some experience shooting PC slugs so I would suggest talking to him.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?205-Smoke-4320-s-Corner

 

[RM.510bigbore]

I have experienced less leading and easier cleanup. Awesome benefit is you are not directly handling lead! I cast then powder coat the Elvis ammo bulk method. I learned too at castbollits.com.

 

[RM.510bigbore]

Another benefit I really love with my powder coat slugs is when shooting at night with my IR light and sightmark wraith the light bounce off the shiny slug and you can see the trace going in to the target like a tracer round illusion purple and silver are my best night reflecting colors

Something I borrowed from watching up north air gunner ballistic gel tests. Noe molds .512 475 grain hollow point with a .250 steel ball . The hollow point cavity is .250 its perfect. I shot them at 125 yards and accuracy was the same. . Poor mans cast ballistic tip expander pentrator slug lol. The slingshot ammo .250 Chrome plated balls were very consistent weighing exactly 16 grains a piece. Cheap too 500 for $5.00+4 for shipping.

 

[Firewalker]

Please Caleb321, do the arithmetic. You cannot resize .020" of plastic and expect anything left. Do you understand how resizing even works? Do you understand how powder coating works? I don't think so. Perhaps you are are talking about a completely different process. It certainly is not powder coating, which is an electrostatic spray coating of plastic powder and then baking in an oven melting the powder. It is a replacement for commercial painting.

I dont think you have seen powder coated slugs then? Here is a batch I cast, powder coated then sized to .248". EZPZ, and IS exactly; "which is an electrostatic spray coating of plastic powder and then baking in an oven melting the powder." Here they are right out of the oven.

 

[Firewalker]

Please Caleb321, do the arithmetic. You cannot resize .020" of plastic and expect anything left. Do you understand how resizing even works? Do you understand how powder coating works? I don't think so. Perhaps you are are talking about a completely different process. It certainly is not powder coating, which is an electrostatic spray coating of plastic powder and then baking in an oven melting the powder. It is a replacement for commercial painting.

I dont think you have seen powder coated slugs then? Here is a batch I cast, powder coated then sized to .248". EZPZ, and IS exactly; "which is an electrostatic spray coating of plastic powder and then baking in an oven melting the powder." Here they are right out of the oven.

Here is another pic after a different batch has been sized.

 

[Greg_E]

I hate when the hollow points get packed full of powder!

 

[Firewalker]

I hate when the hollow points get packed full of powder!

The shake-n-bake method cuts down on that significantly, the extra powder just falls out. 

 

[Greg_E]

Not for me on some of the stuff I've cast, need to dig it out often. If you forget to check, you might get it bubbling up out of the hollow and of course it would change the weight.



No black airsoft balls in there? I do generally have better coverage with the balls present and I find that on the heavier ammo I get less denting with them in there as a support buffer.

 

[Firewalker]

Nope, the shake-n-bake method knocks all the extra out of the noses. Also get good coverage without the added mess of of having the airsoft balls, I just tap out any extra from the plastic bowl, wipe it out with a damp paper towel and move on. EZPZ