I followed your method as closely as I could, and my first attempt at powder coating bullets turned out great! I used Eastwood light blue and it stuck to the bullets almost instantly. I set my toaster oven at 250 degrees and cooked them for 14 minutes, then dumped the screen in a bucket of water. They came out great! Thanks so much, sir!
I’ve been powder coating for a few years now and love it🥰. My second attempt I tried curing the powder at 350. My oven read low and my bullets came out deformed. I cure at 300 and thump my tray of bullets on a steel table and let them air cool. Works super great with all my calibers. I’ve used some bright colours so I can retrieve my lead to see the results. No flaking or fragmenting. Between you and Fortune Cookie I’ve become the envy of my club. Thanks sooooo much.
I tried this method, too. With the Ford Light Blue, I've never had a problem with bullets being stuck together or to the basket. I'm using it now regardless of desired BHN. THANKS for your research mate!
Hey Elvis! I'm really liking this method. I love learning new ways and experimenting for powder coating. I've been running my bullets at around 18-20 bhn and this really works. Thank Elvis the powder coating pioneer! Keepm coming my friend
Steel Punisher 69 ..that's awesome. . sounds like others are confirming pretty close to my results. .. this is good. A repeatable result was what I was looking for! Now I think I will punish some steel to celebrate! ; ) thanks for letting me know how it's going. ...
My experience is similar to yours - I'm also using wheel weights, water-quenched and come up with 20+ BHN. After PC I'm around 12 BHN but they come back to around 15 BHN after a couple of weeks. However, I also set aside 5-10 bullets from every batch, date them, and BHN test after 6, 12 and 18 months and consistently found that the 20+ BHN bullets actually lower over time, bottoming out at around 15-16 BHN. So while they'll clime back up from 12 BHN to 15-16 BHN after PC, they'll also drop from 20+ down to 16 BHN (plain, non-PC) over long periods of time, like 6+ months. Seems the very high BHN is only temporary unless you're adding antimony to your wheel weight alloy (up to an additional 1.5% will hold it at 20+ BHN for years. But they'll be brittle :))
Love your videos Elvis, very helpful. I've had great luck with 300* for 10-12 minutes, works great for me but I'm not watching my BHN but, my cast are my plinlkin' pills for 357, 45 and 9mm @ 1000 fps at the most with anything that will melt for an alloy. Only problem I had was when somehow my oven got flipped from bake to broil, there was some head scratchin' after that mess.
Hey Elvis, Great videos Brother! I just bought my oven and ordered some Eastwood paint based off of your recommendations. Can't wait to get started. Hoping I can finally shoot my cast bullets through my Glocks without worrying about it!
Thank you Elvis for all your videos. Your videos are inspirational even though I intend to only reload factory fmj and tmj. I only have a lee handloader but since I shoot .44 and 500 plus I intend to purchase another .460 S&W I may just have to cast my own in the future. I especially love your Zinc videos since I do believe this will be a way for the "nots" to outlaw our hobby. (I am Canadian and contrary to popular beliefs we do have a shooting community, although I don't want to get into politics.). I lived in Washington state and I must say the hospitality I was shown as an alien was super amazing. Keep on making your amazing videos and pushing the envelope of shooting/reloading videos.
Hey John-Paul Silke .. thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes I know you guys have a shooting community. Funny how groups all over the world are just like us. It would be hard to tell the difference even though we grew up sometimes thousands of miles apart! Our thinking unites us! We all just want the freedom to do the things we love! : )
Elvis this is awesome, I tried getting down to 250 degrees and I had similar to what you got there. I'll put a PID in my toaster over and see if the temp is accurate. The results speak for themselves. Since I don't have a range at home I'll have to hit the firing range and test them out. So far so good on the smash test and the BHN numbers look good too. Thank you for sharing.
I did same test with PID controlling oven at 250, it took about 20 minutes to just get oven to 248 (with bullets in it) and then I did 10 more minutes and still lost BNH. Also the PC is kind of rough compare to normal method.
This is all good information and is quite interesting! Those bullets sure do look Purdy with the low temp method. However... I find personally that bhn is really not that important once the bullets are powder coated. I use almost exclusively range scrap and at some point I will have to try powder coating pure lead and see what it is capable of. Thanks for the video...
Hey Thanks shadowcastre.. It's not gonna be for everyone in every situation that's for sure. But it is interesting what we might learn from it! we'll keep ya posted! : )
Gave it try. Old method with WW. All PC with Powder by the Pound olive green. Started with 20.9 BHN. water cooled. 400 degrees for 14 min. After 14.3BHN. Elvis method same start point 20.9BHN, 225 degrees for 13 min BHN 15.4.Dropped in water to cool. Your on to something friend! Nice work.
Hey Wayne Venable.. thanks for the feedback.. looks like it is going in the right direction. a bit surprised by the 15.4 after. seems a little low, But could be a change in the ingredient percentage? Getting consistent results for the most part. So it's not a one off or a fluke. I'll be looking back and forth through this comment section. gotta feeling there will be some interesting stuff in here.. thanks for posting!
I use LEE molds. There very consistent as far as sizing. I think even in the instructions it says that you don’t need to resize after casting. I resize after powder coating and have no problem.
Elvis can my kitchen Oven be used to heat the powder coated Bullets also Thanks for sharing love your Videos very informative for a new guy trying this bullet powder coating method etc.
MyREDTAIL since he didn’t answer yet, personally once a stove has been used for lead or an oven has been used for powder coating, I wouldn’t use it for food again. Nothing wrong with using a full size oven if you have a spare/junker, but a toaster oven can be had for cheap, runs on 110, and doesn’t take up as much space.
Eastwood instructions specify that you should not cure powder coat in an oven used for food. I can understand why. Gasses are released by the powder coat during the cooking process. These will likely deposit contaminants you probably shouldn't eat onto your oven's various surfaces. As for the lead itself, seems like it shouldn't be a concern so long as the oven doesn't get hot enough to vaporize the lead (no problem) and you're extra careful to leave absolutely zero lead dust / powder / chunks / residue within the oven (much harder). Given the difficulties I experience whenever I need to avoid contaminant transfer (paint, grease, dirt, solvent, food, whatever), I think I'd have to completely and thoroughly scrub, rinse, and dry (with paper towels) every surface within an oven, including the racks, a few times before I'd feel safe cooking food in it again. Everything used for the cleanup would go into the trash. Just get a cheap toaster from Walmart.
Hay my brother , good thing we were separated at birth I don't wear v neck tee shirts. Great video . Don't take any crap from anybody. Maybe they need to visit New Jersey for a while and change there attitude.
I bought my PID from OBIII on cast boolits forum, and he sold me an extra probe for this purpose, to put in my toaster oven. I still haven't tried it, but I will soon. I get 60/40 lead /tin solder from work and use the tin to get harder bullets, but I want to see how this effects it.
Hey Elvis great video. I find that 350 for 15 min and a water quench doesn't soften as much when trying to get harder bullets. Wondering how that Arsenal. 223 mold is working out for you? I'm thinking about ordering one to try casting for my AR. Wondering if you are happy with the performance vs pressure on the bullet with no lube grooves. Good vid as always thanks;).
I would like to see an update on this. I just got my arsenal mold 225 elvis 61. It works pretty sweet and it was my Virgin attempt. I would love to here some more info on it.
Ok, Elvis, have you checked out the adherence of the coating, compared to the old method? Not talking about the BHN, but the overall "stick" of the coating. P.S. that hammer test answered most of my question.....
Hi sir Have you tried to coat your bullets with epoxy paint ? And what's your opinion about it ? I've seen some one coating bullets mixing 2 parts epoxy paint 1 part hardener and 1 part thinner . Then Once it is dried he bake them .
I did Some Testing with Eastwood Orange Vermillion Powder Coat Powder, and I was surprised by the outcome. My Test was done with 7 Batches of 40 Cast projectiles @5,7,9,12,15,18 & 20-minute Intervals. The projectiles were cast with A MP 359-125 Penta Hollow Point Flat Base (132.4 Grain) Mold. Then they were heated with A Black & Decker Toaster Oven @275°F after powder coating the projectiles were loaded on a dual endoscope fitted Dillon 1050 Super Press. All the bake times passed the acetone and smash test.
Fantastic information as usual. Thank you for sharing your time consuming testing and knowledge. IF google should EVER get their Liberal Heads out of their Rear End and realize the errors of their ways, they should Establish a Tuber Hall Of Fame for Unselfish tubers and YOU Should Certainly Be one of the Members.
Hey archersfriend.. Group thinkers will always think alike! they drink the same koolaid and hate the same people .... even if they don't know why! I'm liken the sound of the tubers hall though!! i wander if there's a prize as well!!! : ) Thanks again !!!
Hey Elvis. I bought a very old piece of photo equipment. It is a little drying oven. The inside is about 3"x4"x5". It has a variable heat knob. The heat can be maintained from about room temp to about 160 degrees F. It has a little fan that just barely moves the air through it. I bought it for $2. I was thinking about using it to dry out the coating powder. I noticed in the middle of the winter here in WI it was -20 degrees F in the garage where I store and use powder coat. At that temp the powder literally froze together and I had to break it up. It must have been from moisture in the powder. So I figured I would try drying it first. What do you think?
Thank you Elvis for all your research in casting an powder coating. I have had great results with the Eastwood blue in my ported S&W 9mm's. I am a production painter using Sherwin Williams liquid coatings for over 35 yrs, needless to say I have gotten to know my supplier. So I was able to convince him to make available to me a sample of there product line, 3.5 llbs of JD green (nothing runs like a deere). It covers and flows as well or better than the Eastwood in my opinion. I am hoping to run to 200 gr SWC 45's at about 650 FPS made from tape weights. Any opinion on this would be appreciated.
Hey Victor Reitan... Cool beans.. John Deer! Just do a small batch and give it a shot.. If ya dont mind let me know what ya did and how it worked out, I enjoy the feedback!
Hey elvis! I been watching all ur videos I love em! I just got into reloading a couple months. Just started casting the other day. I used the hf black matte on my first run they turned out like crap! I guess I'll try that eastwood blue!
Elvis, have you tried any other styles of powder coat? I was looking at the East Wood site and they all seem to be Polyester based. I know there are other powders out there like acrylic. Looks like everyone in the powder coat bullet community uses polyester. Has there ever been a study of what works best on cast bullets?
Hey Jon Lockhart... Great question.. Kinda hard to give a good answer. I'd love to try some different materials! Gonna have to check some stuff out. That's worthy of a good go! : )
I tried washing bullies in acetone power wont coat with out showing lead, so I tried heating to 120 and it come out in one big clump !! then tried not cleaning the bullets sizing still on it ( carbide - I lube every thing ) the power did better , so I put them on a pan unwashed in the sunlight 20 min and it did better , but out of all this it is messy but not like pan lube !!!! so I have 1500 to day coated in red ( H.F ) looks like a bunch of lipsticks some have a good coating and some are needing maybe a second coating I will fin out tomorrow I will burn up 300 rounds and see -I did not resize the bullets after coating I used 134gn 3.7gn Titegrupe (LEE 126gn RN -6 mold ) is 134gn =) 5000 more to go yellow next batch . your help gave me the Inspiration to coat . THANK YOU .
Hey Stephen Salamone.... Glad things are improving! Perfection takes a little practice. Always do very small batches until ya get the hang of it,. If the bullets come out in clumps, it's always because they had too much heat. Our ovens are not so good at giving us the temp it says, But if ya put the bullets in until they are hot but not too hot to hold in your hands that's about right. Next step is to put them in the powder and get it all moving asap. otherwise this will cause it to clump. The hotter the bullets the faster you got to work when using the preheat method. Keep up the good work... You'll be a pro in no time!! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I preheat at 150 degrees for about 5 minutes and yeah I had same experience once where I overheated and the black harbor freight paint stuck in such nasty clumps I spend hours scrapping, it wasn't big batch either! I should have just remelted them, would have been faster. But yeah, like Elvis said, play around with small batch until you get it right with your oven. I've tried acetone, but I found that it's not needed, it sticks, it's extra step and it's extra expense and it works just fine without it.
I've been making bullets for a long time. I've made benchrest, hunting, cast pistol, and now I'm going to try powder coating pistol bullets. I have something I'm testing... a theory... going to combine two worlds and see what shakes out. I'll let you know the results.
Hey Elvis, I just tried your low heat method. I'm new to this powder coat stuff, but have been casting bullets for over ten years. The biggest problem I'm having is getting the powder coat to stick at a thick enough constancy to get a good coat. Are you guys washing your bullets in something before coating? I use paraffin as a flux as I cast to bring up the dross during the process. I'm wondering if this has a bit to do with my problem. Any suggestions? - Thanks
Elvis , I hear tell that powder's with Nitro in them slowly disolve the powder coating? any info would be greatly appreciated Amigo....KEEP ON ROCKIN IT.....elvis ammo!................
Thats a lot of ingots in the back! Where can I get some cheap ones? It seems that price or lead is going up with inflation like everything else nowdays. Thats a nice blue color 👍🏻
I'm having a few problems. With my powder covered bullets. I will send a video. Any info would be great. Thanks. The power coat come soft when I seat the bullet and crimp. T
I'm bit confused, with the temp and time at 4.59 . wouldn't the highest temp 247 F have the lowest bake time 5 min and not 12 minutes as shown on the chart. And the same with the lowest temp would have the longest bake time. Like your vids just wanted to check this out before putting them in the oven.
Elvis, I will try this out. Now...all my lead comes from range scrap. Using FC45LLC's fingernail method for determining BHN, I think mine are around 16-18 and I pc them. I load mostly 9mm and .45 acp. What I just don't understand is why I get leading. Its really frustrating because pc is supposed to prevent that and they are "soft enough" that they should be obturating very well. Thoughts?
Alan, You need to up the tin content of your material. Tin is a gliding metal and assists the lubricity of the metal going down the barrel if you are getting scrape off of the powder coating. I would give that a try. Dave.
Alan Bycroft what kind of firearms? If you are using something like a Glock, H&K, or a Walther. With polygonal rifling it can be tricky shooting lead bullets even powder coated. It's possible but it usually takes more tinkering. Be sure to slug your barrel and size your bullets .001-.002 over your groove diameter. 10-15 BHN is plenty hard for .45 (10-12 BHN)and 9mm (12-15 BHN), and standard rifling is easier to get good performance and no leading. The Lee 2nd edition has a good chapter on pressure and bullet hardness and how they relate.
Hey Elvis. I've got a bunch of .45acp lead swc 200g. I'm kinda having a slow go at getting the right bullet/lead Combo. I'll be loading for my s&w m&p and SR1911. I've got bullseye, unique, and win.231 to work with. Do you have any pet loads with that bullet and one or more of those powders? I'd be much obliged if you could throw me a bone. Love your videos by the way.
Hey Josh Wideman... I don't load 200's but you'll probably find 231 to work really well. Or even Unique. SWC in the 45 acp might be a little tricky for reliable feeding, you will need to play around with your OAL I usually work with my load data for fmj using Powder Coated bullets. somewhere below the max for a similar bullet. If unsure just start low and work up a bit for reliability and accuracy. Bullseye might be a little hot for that load.. Hope this helps a little. Let me know how it goes....
Hey Silver Back... yep you are correct. not sure if yer referring to the comment shoot in the gel? They just want to see the powdercoat on the bullet.. any damage..
Hey Marty Martinez... Yep , it's the Ford Light Blue from eastwood. I tried Hf Red. It worked but was weak compared to the eastwood. Maybe a little more heat or something could work! play around with it a bit!
@Marty Martinez ...I know this video is a couple of years...but search Amazon for Eastwood powder coat...Ford Light Blue for $13.99 per pound with free shipping with Prime...it ships directly from Eastwood...by ordering through Amazon it’s half the cost when you add on Eastwood’s ridiculous shipping rates...go figure???
When you re-size the higher BHN bullets through the re-sizing die (.356), are they more difficult to re-size than the ones that were baked at 400 degrees? In other words, are they harder to run through the press?
Hey Larry Kool.. Great question... I was meaning to bring that up.. I found it was easier to size using a little spray lube in a bowl of bullets.. twirl em around!
I make a home-brew lube using pure alcohol and liquid lanolin (I'm sure others use the same formula). I've used it on cases (and it works wonderfully) but, never on powder coated bullets. I'll have to try it it the PC bullets.
I have been doing 400 at 20 min, and end up with some blemishes where they touched each other or the basket. I was thinking of trying an initial brief low temp, then break them up and rearrange them, followed by 400/20 and water quench. It would be nice to get the hardness up a bit, and not have blemishes.
Ok - so i tried this. I'm using the .45 ACP Lee 230 grain TC, that i cast from a mixture of wheel weight and linotype, on about a 5:1 ratio. I cast all my bullets on the same day about a month ago. I'm using Harbor Freight Red. I cooked my first batch of bullets at 400, for 20. Water quenched. Then, after drying, ran them through my Lee .45 resizing die. Most went through fairly easily, with about 5% resisting a bit, but nothing excessive. My second batch was on the 250 x 12 min. Water quenched. After drying, i tried to run them through my resizing die, and had to put my full body weight on it (i run about 210 lbs). After 5 bullets, i was afraid i was going to rip my lee press off my bench. Of note, it shaves the paint down and leaves the bullet dark, but it's not usually bare metal showing. So...not sure if it's so much harder that it's resisting my resizer, or if the bullet is bigger due to the paint and it has something to do with the cooking letting the paint stay thicker. But it's nearly unusable, and i'm probably going to have to re-smelt 100 bullets.
Hey Matt Lee.. Yeah.. this is common the bullets are a lot harder and will require a little squirt of liquid lube and twirl in a bowl, then they will go through the sizer without damage. If your using linotype with clip on wheel weights, This may be overkill using this method, I say no need. Also using this method if the coat is not satisfactory you can always put them back in the oven for a redo! Thanks for the feedback, Very interesting!
I put the batch back in the oven for 20 min at 400 - and they ran through just fine. hadn't considered lube with the powdercoat, since the elimination of bullet lube was kind of why i did the powdercoat in the first place. Good stuff though. I look forward to running these through my dan wesson to see if i get any leading. I just put the "forced" bullets back in my melt and will make new ones. thanks for all you do..
Matt Lee I use Dillon lube for my resize process and it works great get a small bowl and spray the lube in it and mix your bullets around in the bowl and you will be all set. You may also want to look at your BHN being too high. It’s a bitch to resize it so it might be the lead being to hard in general otherwise it would go smoother.
I had sam problem last time. That was my first try with powder coat. I tried low heat method and bullets were very hard to size and paint tends to chip off. Few bullets was perfect, I guess those which were heated longer. I used European paint and pan with cover.
Hey Edad Martin... I just file the bullet flat on one side as usual. Then test it. Most of my testing is after about an hour. Although, I have got the same result within 15 min. or so.....
elvis ammo I've been subscribed so long I feel like we're friends. I just couldn't let that stand. And that comment was so over the top disrespectful, it needed a similarly "colorful" response. All the best.
M85FSLUVR ...yeah. . some folks are just too "intelligent" like they have a higher power ... either from college or mars!!! ; ) real wackos out there. . got what he deserved! I appreciate it.
I did a small batch of NOE 454-237 Pb:Sn 16:1 with this procedure and it worked very well. I have not performed the smash test yet. but will in the future
if you put the bullets on a cookie sheet they will not stick. I know its time consuming to stand the bullets but you dont have the buggers as you call it when you stand them up.
Elvis Ammo, I would just stick with the 400° method and be done with it. This is a perfect example of people complicating a method that works perfectly well for you, and thinking they have a better method, without knowing the whole story on what they're talking about. I have tested this Theory ... and that's what it is ... a Theory, and there is absolutely no difference between a bullet that is powder coated at 400° and one that is 'Step' heated to stay below 250°. This is just another example of "Internet Professionals" making things more complicated just because they want to be the one you listen to. The BHN of a bullet comes back between 3 to 7 days of sitting in storage, loaded, in a freezer, etc ... PLUS, 99.9% of people out there wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a bullet that has a BHN of 10 versus one that has a BHN of 21 where Performance is concerned. Why we worry about BHN in the Cast Bullet community is mainly due to ability to be able to shoot bullets through high velocity cartridges and have them retain their shape both in the barrel and downrange. When you have a Powder Coating on that bullet ... and it passes the Smash Test ... it will perform the same on any thin skinned, or even medium skinned animal on the Planet. After all, we aren't shooting Cape Buffalo or Elephants with these, and if you are ... you're using a Solid Copper Bullet anyway. Keep up the good work, and don't let internet 'jargon' complicate an otherwise simple process.
ahh, ok. I thought you meant to higher the temperature in 4 different steps. But you tried all 4 and the best one was 12 min at 250 - ok. Thx - you make great videoes of reloading. I have watched a lot og your videoes now. They are awesome. :-)
Elvis. I'm not out to Kill your Rock 'N Roll Okay? However, I know this is a family orientated channel so excuse the expression, Making Bullets "Hard as a Whores Heart" isn't necessarily a good thing.They have to not only engrave But also obturate and fill the lands and groves under the low pressures of handgun velocities. I find that making them as Cookie put's it "Hard enough for the pressure they are shot at" the only way to go for best accuracy. I find that target ammo only needs to be around 8-11 BHN, Moderate to near Magnum pressures to 13-16 BHN and Magnum pressures to 18-and above to whatever. I'm not a powder coater, You know that. So you may get the base ball bat out and chase me out of the room, I would understand. I could see a huge benefit in making them hard for rifle use and powder coated though because of the pressures involved. Dave.
yes ,a bullet must be somewhat thicker than the grooves in the barrel,using a soft lead bullet it is a pre for not leading the barrel ,gascutting is the mayor course of leading (and a good lube is also needed).and also a hard cast bullet must fit the barrel otherwise leading wil also occur
Elvis what ratio of clip on to sticky weights are you using. I just stated casting and have heard 4 parts clip on to one part sticky, I was told straight clip on wouldn't fill the mould properly, I would love to know your alloy. Sounds like you're running straight clip on
yeah Geeber... i am running straight cowws ... I will add a sticky ingot when I want softer alloy. I make the ingots separate. I seem to get decent fill out ... You can always experiment with your alloy to see what works best for you...
I'm wondering .... why are you worried about your BHN of the lead? After all ... it's the jacket that needs to be hard on powder coated bullets. After all .... have you seen how soft copper jacketed bullet lead is? At 400° for 20 minutes .... I get proper flow out and curing of the Eastwood powder coating. I don't care how the bullets come out looking. It's how properly cured the powder coating gets. From using powder coating in the auto industry for a decade or more .... you need high heat in order to properly cure your powder coat. If you don't get it that high .... why not just stick with plain lead bullets? You're overthinking it. Why confuse new shooters?
roostershooter76 ..Not worried at all! just another tool in the drawer for other applications. . What works is the main thing! I wanted to put out some info that I have. this will blossom on its own, then we will find out more about the real benifits!
Keith Gee ...yes. for expansion we want them pretty soft.. most of our handguns won't benifit from soft ..Unless we have hollow point bullets. .round and flat nose don't deform, If at all. at subsonic velocity. .
I followed your method as closely as I could, and my first attempt at powder coating bullets turned out great! I used Eastwood light blue and it stuck to the bullets almost instantly. I set my toaster oven at 250 degrees and cooked them for 14 minutes, then dumped the screen in a bucket of water. They came out great! Thanks so much, sir!
I’ve been powder coating for a few years now and love it🥰. My second attempt I tried curing the powder at 350. My oven read low and my bullets came out deformed. I cure at 300 and thump my tray of bullets on a steel table and let them air cool. Works super great with all my calibers. I’ve used some bright colours so I can retrieve my lead to see the results. No flaking or fragmenting. Between you and Fortune Cookie I’ve become the envy of my club. Thanks sooooo much.
I just tried my first at 400deg. Too hot 0 deformed. thanks, I'll try 300
I tried this method, too. With the Ford Light Blue, I've never had a problem with bullets being stuck together or to the basket. I'm using it now regardless of desired BHN. THANKS for your research mate!
Elvis is such a laid back cool guy. Seems like someone who would be fun to hang out with! Plus he puts out great content
I agree Adam!! 👍🇺🇸😜👊😎Thankya brother
@@elvisammo your welcome it’s just the truth!
Bonjoue Elvis. Every time I watch your video's I learn more and more. Thank you from France.
Hey Elvis! I'm really liking this method. I love learning new ways and experimenting for powder coating. I've been running my bullets at around 18-20 bhn and this really works. Thank Elvis the powder coating pioneer! Keepm coming my friend
Steel Punisher 69 ..that's awesome. . sounds like others are confirming pretty close to my results. .. this is good. A repeatable result was what I was looking for! Now I think I will punish some steel to celebrate! ; ) thanks for letting me know how it's going. ...
Now I'll try pouder coating for magnums😎
My experience is similar to yours - I'm also using wheel weights, water-quenched and come up with 20+ BHN. After PC I'm around 12 BHN but they come back to around 15 BHN after a couple of weeks. However, I also set aside 5-10 bullets from every batch, date them, and BHN test after 6, 12 and 18 months and consistently found that the 20+ BHN bullets actually lower over time, bottoming out at around 15-16 BHN. So while they'll clime back up from 12 BHN to 15-16 BHN after PC, they'll also drop from 20+ down to 16 BHN (plain, non-PC) over long periods of time, like 6+ months. Seems the very high BHN is only temporary unless you're adding antimony to your wheel weight alloy (up to an additional 1.5% will hold it at 20+ BHN for years. But they'll be brittle :))
So I just got done powder coating my first batch of bullets ever they turned out beautiful thank you Elvis ammo for all the good tips and pointers
As always great content and informative! Love your videos Elvis .
Love your videos Elvis, very helpful. I've had great luck with 300* for 10-12 minutes, works great for me but I'm not watching my BHN but, my cast are my plinlkin' pills for 357, 45 and 9mm @ 1000 fps at the most with anything that will melt for an alloy. Only problem I had was when somehow my oven got flipped from bake to broil, there was some head scratchin' after that mess.
Hey Elvis,
Great videos Brother! I just bought my oven and ordered some Eastwood paint based off of your recommendations. Can't wait to get started. Hoping I can finally shoot my cast bullets through my Glocks without worrying about it!
Thank you Elvis for all your videos. Your videos are inspirational even though I intend to only reload factory fmj and tmj. I only have a lee handloader but since I shoot .44 and 500 plus I intend to purchase another .460 S&W I may just have to cast my own in the future. I especially love your Zinc videos since I do believe this will be a way for the "nots" to outlaw our hobby. (I am Canadian and contrary to popular beliefs we do have a shooting community, although I don't want to get into politics.). I lived in Washington state and I must say the hospitality I was shown as an alien was super amazing. Keep on making your amazing videos and pushing the envelope of shooting/reloading videos.
Hey John-Paul Silke .. thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes I know you guys have a shooting community. Funny how groups all over the world are just like us. It would be hard to tell the difference even though we grew up sometimes thousands of miles apart! Our thinking unites us! We all just want the freedom to do the things we love! : )
I tried this last night with the Eastwood lime green and they came out very nice, thank you for the video and information. Happy casting !
Reloading from the hot pot .. awesome deal.. let me know your end results please! glad to hear they came out nice for ya....; )
Elvis this is awesome, I tried getting down to 250 degrees and I had similar to what you got there. I'll put a PID in my toaster over and see if the temp is accurate. The results speak for themselves. Since I don't have a range at home I'll have to hit the firing range and test them out. So far so good on the smash test and the BHN numbers look good too. Thank you for sharing.
NYC Reloader ...good deal man .. let me know how the range goes!!!
NYC Reloader have you or Elvis attempted a scratch test? Mine smashed well but seemed to scratch easily.
Hey Chris, are you talking about scratches when resizing? Or something else?
NYC Reloader actually scratching the coating with a fingernail. Mine holds up much better at higher temps. I've got the next two days off for testing.
I did same test with PID controlling oven at 250, it took about 20 minutes to just get oven to 248 (with bullets in it) and then I did 10 more minutes and still lost BNH. Also the PC is kind of rough compare to normal method.
This is all good information and is quite interesting! Those bullets sure do look Purdy with the low temp method.
However... I find personally that bhn is really not that important once the bullets are powder coated. I use almost exclusively range scrap and at some point I will have to try powder coating pure lead and see what it is capable of.
Thanks for the video...
Hey Thanks shadowcastre.. It's not gonna be for everyone in every situation that's for sure. But it is interesting what we might learn from it! we'll keep ya posted! : )
Dumping the boolits in water causes the powder coat skin to seize up tighter. That’s a good thing. 👍🏻
You're so proud of your little babies.
Thanks EA
Your the best bullet powder coating I've seen I like the low heat method thanks for what you do, what is hardness of the powder coating?
Gave it try. Old method with WW. All PC with Powder by the Pound olive green.
Started with 20.9 BHN. water cooled. 400 degrees for 14 min. After 14.3BHN.
Elvis method same start point 20.9BHN, 225 degrees for 13 min BHN 15.4.Dropped in water to cool.
Your on to something friend! Nice work.
Hey Wayne Venable.. thanks for the feedback.. looks like it is going in the right direction. a bit surprised by the 15.4 after. seems a little low, But could be a change in the ingredient percentage? Getting consistent results for the most part. So it's not a one off or a fluke. I'll be looking back and forth through this comment section. gotta feeling there will be some interesting stuff in here.. thanks for posting!
Elvis, do u resize ur bullets before coating? Or can u resize them after coating. This jon
I use LEE molds. There very consistent as far as sizing. I think even in the instructions it says that you don’t need to resize after casting. I resize after powder coating and have no problem.
Thanks for all your efforts, it is not in vain.
Elvis can my kitchen Oven be used to heat the powder coated Bullets also Thanks for sharing love your Videos very informative for a new guy trying this bullet powder coating method etc.
MyREDTAIL since he didn’t answer yet, personally once a stove has been used for lead or an oven has been used for powder coating, I wouldn’t use it for food again. Nothing wrong with using a full size oven if you have a spare/junker, but a toaster oven can be had for cheap, runs on 110, and doesn’t take up as much space.
Eastwood instructions specify that you should not cure powder coat in an oven used for food. I can understand why. Gasses are released by the powder coat during the cooking process. These will likely deposit contaminants you probably shouldn't eat onto your oven's various surfaces.
As for the lead itself, seems like it shouldn't be a concern so long as the oven doesn't get hot enough to vaporize the lead (no problem) and you're extra careful to leave absolutely zero lead dust / powder / chunks / residue within the oven (much harder). Given the difficulties I experience whenever I need to avoid contaminant transfer (paint, grease, dirt, solvent, food, whatever), I think I'd have to completely and thoroughly scrub, rinse, and dry (with paper towels) every surface within an oven, including the racks, a few times before I'd feel safe cooking food in it again. Everything used for the cleanup would go into the trash.
Just get a cheap toaster from Walmart.
Great info thanks. Do you plan on a step by step video? I'm not clear on how you control the temperature.
Hey Rick LeClair....yep... I figured after a little feed back, We can do some fine tuning and more step by step ... coming soon! Thanks for watching!
Hay my brother , good thing we were separated at birth I don't wear v neck tee shirts. Great video . Don't take any crap from anybody. Maybe they need to visit New Jersey for a while and change there attitude.
I bought my PID from OBIII on cast boolits forum, and he sold me an extra probe for this purpose, to put in my toaster oven. I still haven't tried it, but I will soon. I get 60/40 lead /tin solder from work and use the tin to get harder bullets, but I want to see how this effects it.
Hey Elvis great video. I find that 350 for 15 min and a water quench doesn't soften as much when trying to get harder bullets. Wondering how that Arsenal. 223 mold is working out for you? I'm thinking about ordering one to try casting for my AR. Wondering if you are happy with the performance vs pressure on the bullet with no lube grooves. Good vid as always thanks;).
I would like to see an update on this. I just got my arsenal mold 225 elvis 61. It works pretty sweet and it was my Virgin attempt. I would love to here some more info on it.
Hey Elvis now that you have a way to keep the BHN up how about an update on the Elvis 61 223 mold.
Ok, Elvis, have you checked out the adherence of the coating, compared to the old method? Not talking about the BHN, but the overall "stick" of the coating.
P.S. that hammer test answered most of my question.....
hey Elvis! Nice vid, just to get this straight bake at 250° for 13 minutes! wow it doesn't get any easier than that thanks!
Hey Kaye Szymanski.. Yep! I start from a cold oven. other wise it seems the heat can get away from me to quick....Thanks again!
Hi sir
Have you tried to coat your bullets with epoxy paint ?
And what's your opinion about it ?
I've seen some one coating bullets mixing 2 parts epoxy paint 1 part hardener and 1 part thinner .
Then
Once it is dried he bake them .
I did Some Testing with Eastwood Orange Vermillion Powder Coat Powder, and I was surprised by the outcome. My Test was done with 7 Batches of 40 Cast projectiles @5,7,9,12,15,18 & 20-minute Intervals. The projectiles were cast with A MP 359-125 Penta Hollow Point Flat Base (132.4 Grain) Mold. Then they were heated with A Black & Decker Toaster Oven @275°F after powder coating the projectiles were loaded on a dual endoscope fitted Dillon 1050 Super Press. All the bake times passed the acetone and smash test.
Fantastic information as usual. Thank you for sharing your time consuming testing and knowledge. IF google should EVER get their Liberal Heads out of their Rear End and realize the errors of their ways, they should Establish a Tuber Hall Of Fame for Unselfish tubers and YOU Should Certainly Be one of the Members.
Hey archersfriend.. Group thinkers will always think alike! they drink the same koolaid and hate the same people .... even if they don't know why! I'm liken the sound of the tubers hall though!! i wander if there's a prize as well!!! : ) Thanks again !!!
Hey Elvis. I bought a very old piece of photo equipment. It is a little drying oven. The inside is about 3"x4"x5". It has a variable heat knob. The heat can be maintained from about room temp to about 160 degrees F. It has a little fan that just barely moves the air through it. I bought it for $2. I was thinking about using it to dry out the coating powder. I noticed in the middle of the winter here in WI it was -20 degrees F in the garage where I store and use powder coat. At that temp the powder literally froze together and I had to break it up. It must have been from moisture in the powder. So I figured I would try drying it first. What do you think?
Have you checked to see if the powder effects the coating, on the long term?
Elvis. Love your channel. Just added you to my front page on my RUclips channel in the link accounts. Keep the videos coming.
Does the coating come off the bullet in the barrel, when baking it at the lower temp?
"Hey, youtube! It's Elvis ammo here... hey... today..."
Thank you Elvis for all your research in casting an powder coating. I have had great results with the Eastwood blue in my ported S&W 9mm's. I am a production painter using Sherwin Williams liquid coatings for over 35 yrs, needless to say I have gotten to know my supplier. So I was able to convince him to make available to me a sample of there product line, 3.5 llbs of JD green (nothing runs like a deere). It covers and flows as well or better than the Eastwood in my opinion. I am hoping to run to 200 gr SWC 45's at about 650 FPS made from tape weights. Any opinion on this would be appreciated.
Hey Victor Reitan... Cool beans.. John Deer! Just do a small batch and give it a shot.. If ya dont mind let me know what ya did and how it worked out, I enjoy the feedback!
Hey elvis! I been watching all ur videos I love em! I just got into reloading a couple months. Just started casting the other day. I used the hf black matte on my first run they turned out like crap! I guess I'll try that eastwood blue!
Are you just using the controller to take a temp reading? if so, you ( or anyone else) could save some money and just get a digital thermometer.
What temp and time for soft lead bullets. John
YOU are the KING! Great vids!
what kind of paint did you use and where do i buy it?
Elvis, have you tried any other styles of powder coat? I was looking at the East Wood site and they all seem to be Polyester based. I know there are other powders out there like acrylic. Looks like everyone in the powder coat bullet community uses polyester. Has there ever been a study of what works best on cast bullets?
Hey Jon Lockhart... Great question.. Kinda hard to give a good answer. I'd love to try some different materials! Gonna have to check some stuff out. That's worthy of a good go! : )
elvis ammo I look forward too it. Epoxy is probably out but maybe not. I think there is also a polymer based powder coat. I am sure there are more.
I use a pid controller for my smoker I got on Ebay cheeeeap, works fantastic just reads Celsius no problem tho considering the cost savings
Hey Elvis, I guess if it melts the coating onto our bullets what difference does it make for how long or for how hot :-)
I tried washing bullies in acetone power wont coat with out showing lead, so I tried heating to 120 and it come out in one big clump !! then tried not cleaning the bullets sizing still on it ( carbide - I lube every thing ) the power did better , so I put them on a pan unwashed in the sunlight 20 min and it did better , but out of all this it is messy but not like pan lube !!!! so I have 1500 to day coated in red ( H.F ) looks like a bunch of lipsticks some have a good coating and some are needing maybe a second coating I will fin out tomorrow I will burn up 300 rounds and see -I did not resize the bullets after coating I used 134gn 3.7gn Titegrupe (LEE 126gn RN -6 mold ) is 134gn =) 5000 more to go yellow next batch . your help gave me the Inspiration to coat . THANK YOU .
Hey Stephen Salamone.... Glad things are improving! Perfection takes a little practice. Always do very small batches until ya get the hang of it,. If the bullets come out in clumps, it's always because they had too much heat. Our ovens are not so good at giving us the temp it says, But if ya put the bullets in until they are hot but not too hot to hold in your hands that's about right. Next step is to put them in the powder and get it all moving asap. otherwise this will cause it to clump. The hotter the bullets the faster you got to work when using the preheat method. Keep up the good work... You'll be a pro in no time!! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I preheat at 150 degrees for about 5 minutes and yeah I had same experience once where I overheated and the black harbor freight paint stuck in such nasty clumps I spend hours scrapping, it wasn't big batch either! I should have just remelted them, would have been faster. But yeah, like Elvis said, play around with small batch until you get it right with your oven. I've tried acetone, but I found that it's not needed, it sticks, it's extra step and it's extra expense and it works just fine without it.
I've been making bullets for a long time. I've made benchrest, hunting, cast pistol, and now I'm going to try powder coating pistol bullets. I have something I'm testing... a theory... going to combine two worlds and see what shakes out. I'll let you know the results.
Hey Elvis, I just tried your low heat method. I'm new to this powder coat stuff, but have been casting bullets for over ten years. The biggest problem I'm having is getting the powder coat to stick at a thick enough constancy to get a good coat. Are you guys washing your bullets in something before coating? I use paraffin as a flux as I cast to bring up the dross during the process. I'm wondering if this has a bit to do with my problem. Any suggestions? - Thanks
I wash mine in acetone,and at room temp. when coating. 👍
This is a brilliant tip.
Elvis , I hear tell that powder's with Nitro in them slowly disolve the powder coating? any info would be greatly appreciated Amigo....KEEP ON ROCKIN IT.....elvis ammo!................
Awesome as always!
Thats a lot of ingots in the back! Where can I get some cheap ones? It seems that price or lead is going up with inflation like everything else nowdays. Thats a nice blue color 👍🏻
Where do you get your lead?
I'm having a few problems. With my powder covered bullets. I will send a video. Any info would be great. Thanks. The power coat come soft when I seat the bullet and crimp. T
First attempt at powder coating, 400 deg for 4 min melted the bullets like gum drops. Need to try lower temps or more accurate thermostat.
I'm bit confused, with the temp and time at 4.59 . wouldn't the highest temp 247 F have the lowest bake time 5 min and not 12 minutes as shown on the chart. And the same with the lowest temp would have the longest bake time. Like your vids just wanted to check this out before putting them in the oven.
How did you make those wire strainers.
Elvis, I will try this out. Now...all my lead comes from range scrap. Using FC45LLC's fingernail method for determining BHN, I think mine are around 16-18 and I pc them. I load mostly 9mm and .45 acp. What I just don't understand is why I get leading. Its really frustrating because pc is supposed to prevent that and they are "soft enough" that they should be obturating very well. Thoughts?
Alan Bycroft most range scrap is soft, 10 or so bhn, wheel weights are harder 15 or so but they need some tin to cast well.
Alan Bycroft by chance are you not sizing them large enough. I was told .357 gives a nice tight seal between the bullet and the rifling.
Alan, You need to up the tin content of your material. Tin is a gliding metal and assists the lubricity of the metal going down the barrel if you are getting scrape off of the powder coating. I would give that a try. Dave.
Alan Bycroft what kind of firearms? If you are using something like a Glock, H&K, or a Walther. With polygonal rifling it can be tricky shooting lead bullets even powder coated. It's possible but it usually takes more tinkering. Be sure to slug your barrel and size your bullets .001-.002 over your groove diameter. 10-15 BHN is plenty hard for .45 (10-12 BHN)and 9mm (12-15 BHN), and standard rifling is easier to get good performance and no leading. The Lee 2nd edition has a good chapter on pressure and bullet hardness and how they relate.
Will have to give it a go
Hey Elvis. I've got a bunch of .45acp lead swc 200g. I'm kinda having a slow go at getting the right bullet/lead Combo. I'll be loading for my s&w m&p and SR1911. I've got bullseye, unique, and win.231 to work with. Do you have any pet loads with that bullet and one or more of those powders? I'd be much obliged if you could throw me a bone. Love your videos by the way.
Hey Josh Wideman... I don't load 200's but you'll probably find 231 to work really well. Or even Unique. SWC in the 45 acp might be a little tricky for reliable feeding, you will need to play around with your OAL I usually work with my load data for fmj using Powder Coated bullets. somewhere below the max for a similar bullet. If unsure just start low and work up a bit for reliability and accuracy. Bullseye might be a little hot for that load.. Hope this helps a little. Let me know how it goes....
elvis ammo thanks Elvis.
I you are looking for good expansion in hp boolits wouldn't you want lower bhn? It seems rifle rounds would benefit more from higher bhn?
Hey Silver Back... yep you are correct. not sure if yer referring to the comment shoot in the gel? They just want to see the powdercoat on the bullet.. any damage..
elvis ammo hopefully you will do some gel testing on these
Hey elvis, is the powder coating you're using from eastwood or from some other company? My harbor freight powder didnt look as good. Thanks
Hey Marty Martinez... Yep , it's the Ford Light Blue from eastwood. I tried Hf Red. It worked but was weak compared to the eastwood. Maybe a little more heat or something could work! play around with it a bit!
@Marty Martinez ...I know this video is a couple of years...but search Amazon for Eastwood powder coat...Ford Light Blue for $13.99 per pound with free shipping with Prime...it ships directly from Eastwood...by ordering through Amazon it’s half the cost when you add on Eastwood’s ridiculous shipping rates...go figure???
When you re-size the higher BHN bullets through the re-sizing die (.356), are they more difficult to re-size than the ones that were baked at 400 degrees? In other words, are they harder to run through the press?
Hey Larry Kool.. Great question... I was meaning to bring that up.. I found it was easier to size using a little spray lube in a bowl of bullets.. twirl em around!
I make a home-brew lube using pure alcohol and liquid lanolin (I'm sure others use the same formula). I've used it on cases (and it works wonderfully) but, never on powder coated bullets. I'll have to try it it the PC bullets.
I have been doing 400 at 20 min, and end up with some blemishes where they touched each other or the basket.
I was thinking of trying an initial brief low temp, then break them up and rearrange them, followed by 400/20 and water quench.
It would be nice to get the hardness up a bit, and not have blemishes.
have to give it a try! good work like vidieos
Elvis let me ask you a question: Why don't you use the PID to control your oven instead of just measuring the temp? Or did I miss that? Keep going.
dear Katharina Zimmer: please read ALL the comments before you start to blabla....
Ok - so i tried this. I'm using the .45 ACP Lee 230 grain TC, that i cast from a mixture of wheel weight and linotype, on about a 5:1 ratio. I cast all my bullets on the same day about a month ago.
I'm using Harbor Freight Red.
I cooked my first batch of bullets at 400, for 20. Water quenched. Then, after drying, ran them through my Lee .45 resizing die. Most went through fairly easily, with about 5% resisting a bit, but nothing excessive.
My second batch was on the 250 x 12 min. Water quenched. After drying, i tried to run them through my resizing die, and had to put my full body weight on it (i run about 210 lbs). After 5 bullets, i was afraid i was going to rip my lee press off my bench. Of note, it shaves the paint down and leaves the bullet dark, but it's not usually bare metal showing.
So...not sure if it's so much harder that it's resisting my resizer, or if the bullet is bigger due to the paint and it has something to do with the cooking letting the paint stay thicker.
But it's nearly unusable, and i'm probably going to have to re-smelt 100 bullets.
Hey Matt Lee.. Yeah.. this is common the bullets are a lot harder and will require a little squirt of liquid lube and twirl in a bowl, then they will go through the sizer without damage. If your using linotype with clip on wheel weights, This may be overkill using this method, I say no need. Also using this method if the coat is not satisfactory you can always put them back in the oven for a redo! Thanks for the feedback, Very interesting!
I put the batch back in the oven for 20 min at 400 - and they ran through just fine.
hadn't considered lube with the powdercoat, since the elimination of bullet lube was kind of why i did the powdercoat in the first place.
Good stuff though.
I look forward to running these through my dan wesson to see if i get any leading. I just put the "forced" bullets back in my melt and will make new ones.
thanks for all you do..
Matt Lee I use Dillon lube for my resize process and it works great get a small bowl and spray the lube in it and mix your bullets around in the bowl and you will be all set. You may also want to look at your BHN being too high. It’s a bitch to resize it so it might be the lead being to hard in general otherwise it would go smoother.
I had sam problem last time. That was my first try with powder coat. I tried low heat method and bullets were very hard to size and paint tends to chip off. Few bullets was perfect, I guess those which were heated longer. I used European paint and pan with cover.
Where do you buy your Eastwood ford blue powder coat?
If you use high heat Method.Than quench in water immediately.Will it retain the high BHN?
nope. no affect
Can you powdercoat leadfree ammo such as brass or copper?
No real need to
Do you always water cool after powder coating?
Hey Wayne Venable,, Almost never after powder coating...
Does bhn testing work after powder coating? How do you verify the bhn on the pc new method bullet?
Hey Edad Martin... I just file the bullet flat on one side as usual. Then test it. Most of my testing is after about an hour. Although, I have got the same result within 15 min. or so.....
What would happen if you kept the heat the same and extended the time in the oven?
Hey Barrett Neely... Not exactly sure. but my gut says there will be a slight decrease in BHN. for longer exposure times to the heat..
Hell yeah, Elvis 😃
M85FSLUVR Thanks brother! and thanks for taking care of my trash on my eclipse video! ; )
elvis ammo I've been subscribed so long I feel like we're friends. I just couldn't let that stand. And that comment was so over the top disrespectful, it needed a similarly "colorful" response. All the best.
M85FSLUVR ...yeah. . some folks are just too "intelligent" like they have a higher power ... either from college or mars!!! ; ) real wackos out there. . got what he deserved! I appreciate it.
I did a small batch of NOE 454-237 Pb:Sn 16:1 with this procedure and it worked very well. I have not performed the smash test yet. but will in the future
if you put the bullets on a cookie sheet they will not stick. I know its time consuming to stand the bullets but you dont have the buggers as you call it when you stand them up.
Elvis Ammo, I would just stick with the 400° method and be done with it. This is a perfect example of people complicating a method that works perfectly well for you, and thinking they have a better method, without knowing the whole story on what they're talking about. I have tested this Theory ... and that's what it is ... a Theory, and there is absolutely no difference between a bullet that is powder coated at 400° and one that is 'Step' heated to stay below 250°. This is just another example of "Internet Professionals" making things more complicated just because they want to be the one you listen to. The BHN of a bullet comes back between 3 to 7 days of sitting in storage, loaded, in a freezer, etc ... PLUS, 99.9% of people out there wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a bullet that has a BHN of 10 versus one that has a BHN of 21 where Performance is concerned. Why we worry about BHN in the Cast Bullet community is mainly due to ability to be able to shoot bullets through high velocity cartridges and have them retain their shape both in the barrel and downrange. When you have a Powder Coating on that bullet ... and it passes the Smash Test ... it will perform the same on any thin skinned, or even medium skinned animal on the Planet. After all, we aren't shooting Cape Buffalo or Elephants with these, and if you are ... you're using a Solid Copper Bullet anyway. Keep up the good work, and don't let internet 'jargon' complicate an otherwise simple process.
do you mean 5+7+11+12 min at those temperatures?? or just one of those ??
PE J ... 12 min. at 250 F seems to be the sweet spot to maintain your Bhn
ahh, ok. I thought you meant to higher the temperature in 4 different steps. But you tried all 4 and the best one was 12 min at 250 - ok. Thx - you make great videoes of reloading. I have watched a lot og your videoes now. They are awesome. :-)
Elvis. I'm not out to Kill your Rock 'N Roll Okay? However, I know this is a family orientated channel so excuse the expression, Making Bullets "Hard as a Whores Heart" isn't necessarily a good thing.They have to not only engrave But also obturate and fill the lands and groves under the low pressures of handgun velocities. I find that making them as Cookie put's it "Hard enough for the pressure they are shot at" the only way to go for best accuracy. I find that target ammo only needs to be around 8-11 BHN, Moderate to near Magnum pressures to 13-16 BHN and Magnum pressures to 18-and above to whatever. I'm not a powder coater, You know that. So you may get the base ball bat out and chase me out of the room, I would understand. I could see a huge benefit in making them hard for rifle use and powder coated though because of the pressures involved. Dave.
yes ,a bullet must be somewhat thicker than the grooves in the barrel,using a soft lead bullet it is a pre for not leading the barrel ,gascutting is the mayor course of leading (and a good lube is also needed).and also a hard cast bullet must fit the barrel otherwise leading wil also occur
I am pretty sure the intent is for rifle bullets.
Elvis what ratio of clip on to sticky weights are you using. I just stated casting and have heard 4 parts clip on to one part sticky, I was told straight clip on wouldn't fill the mould properly, I would love to know your alloy. Sounds like you're running straight clip on
yeah Geeber... i am running straight cowws ... I will add a sticky ingot when I want softer alloy. I make the ingots separate. I seem to get decent fill out ... You can always experiment with your alloy to see what works best for you...
elvis ammo thanks for the quick response, we all appreciate the hard work!
It doesn't look like you're using the PID to control the toaster oven. Have you tried doing that?
Good eye Psyko Klown... I was trying it the hard way to see if it can be done.. Like most people will... I know that will work though! : )
I am new to this what is BHN?
Brinell Hardness Number
hello ! you used DС 356-125-2R
I did mine as low as 200 degrees and even less time and still I lost BHN!
Morning routine away bullets after powder coating does one thing you can handle them afterwards LoL
Thanks!!
thanks for stopping by bwelsh8544.... : )
What is b h n
Cold day I find that it only starts curing at 36 minutes, possibly easier to just add the 5+7+11+13 in the recipe.
He needs to test the BHN before powder coating, then test it after powder coating by scraping off the powder.
👍👍
Loads of bacon has thumbs!!!💣
2 of 'em, and they're both up. (Some days it seems I'm all thumbs.)
I'm wondering .... why are you worried about your BHN of the lead? After all ... it's the jacket that needs to be hard on powder coated bullets. After all .... have you seen how soft copper jacketed bullet lead is? At 400° for 20 minutes .... I get proper flow out and curing of the Eastwood powder coating. I don't care how the bullets come out looking. It's how properly cured the powder coating gets. From using powder coating in the auto industry for a decade or more .... you need high heat in order to properly cure your powder coat. If you don't get it that high .... why not just stick with plain lead bullets? You're overthinking it. Why confuse new shooters?
roostershooter76 ..Not worried at all! just another tool in the drawer for other applications. . What works is the main thing! I wanted to put out some info that I have. this will blossom on its own, then we will find out more about the real benifits!
Earrl has struck again
Hey Timothy Robinson... EARRL is at it again! : )
Wouldn't you want a lower BHN for better expansion?
Keith Gee ...yes. for expansion we want them pretty soft.. most of our handguns won't benifit from soft ..Unless we have hollow point bullets. .round and flat nose don't deform, If at all. at subsonic velocity. .
If powder coated bullets dont leave lead in the barrel, why is it important that bullets be hard?
John Davis
Johnn Davis that's what she said!
Are you joining the johnnies reloading boarding club please don’t?
Please you tell me how made this,i'm Chinese don't buy this thank you
Where do you buy your Eastwood ford blue powder coat?
eastwood.com
👍👍