Powder coating cast bullets.

[drone]

I'm about to embark on casting some bullets for powder coating for the first time, any guidance to help me would be really appreciated.
I have all the equipment and a pot of eastwood hotcoat powder in ford light blue which seems to be favoured by a lot of folks.
The bullets are 150 grain 308 cal flatnose for use in my 30/30 levergun.
Many thanks in advance.

[dromia]

Total and utter waste of time.

Tried it extensively years ago just to see and it gave no benefits over lube grooves plus the extra set up costs.

All other cast bullet methods still apply for accuracy and efficacy, soft lead, good bullet fit and good quality control.

If you must coat then Tumbling in Xlox is just as effective and easier, you just don't get the Smartie colours.

[drone]

I can see you're not convinced of any benefits then.
The school of thought I was aligning myself to was the one that preaches a heavy bullet cast in soft lead at the highest possible velocity for shooting pigs and deer sized game.
The view was double coating the bullets provides a tough, deformable jacket that allows expansion but inhibits fragmentation. The ford light blue powder has been arrived at as getting really good coverage and the satin version is or can be multicoated.
One of the benefits is no leading another is the wound channel is not contaminated with hydrocarbons. Some folks add gas checks prior to coating, some afterwards.
I agree there are initial costs, tbh my car uses more fuel (aka money) on trips to my local range per month than the £50 it cost me for an oven and half a pound of powder. A couple of extra cycles through the resizing die is a pain, I admit, but as you say QC is paramount.
I enjoy researching stuff like this with an open mind and, as a retired miserable old git MOG, I reserve the right to blow raspberries at you.
Pshaw he don't like silvalube, he don't like powder coating and them that likes em are soon forgotten, ahh Paul Robeson where are you when needed.

[Alpha1]

Who is Paul Robeson.

[drone]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyJtGNk9iEU

[drone]

When I was responding to the post it was my almost 80 year old way of softening my message. If it didn't I'm in the doghouse.

[dromia]

I can see you're not convinced of any benefits then.
The school of thought I was aligning myself to was the one that preaches a heavy bullet cast in soft lead at the highest possible velocity for shooting pigs and deer sized game.
The view was double coating the bullets provides a tough, deformable jacket that allows expansion but inhibits fragmentation. The ford light blue powder has been arrived at as getting really good coverage and the satin version is or can be multicoated.
One of the benefits is no leading another is the wound channel is not contaminated with hydrocarbons. Some folks add gas checks prior to coating, some afterwards.
I agree there are initial costs, tbh my car uses more fuel (aka money) on trips to my local range per month than the £50 it cost me for an oven and half a pound of powder. A couple of extra cycles through the resizing die is a pain, I admit, but as you say QC is paramount.
I enjoy researching stuff like this with an open mind and, as a retired miserable old git MOG, I reserve the right to blow raspberries at you.
Pshaw he don't like silvalube, he don't like powder coating and them that likes em are soon forgotten, ahh Paul Robeson where are you when needed.

Well you have swallowed the hype, probably due to your seemingly poor understanding of cast bullets.

Firstly soft lead bullets don't fragment so an answer looking for a solution. I also doubt the claim even if using say an antimony rich fragmenting alloy, as a far tougher epidermis, copper jacket, doesn't stop bullet fragmentation. There is this flight of fancy masquerading as a viable theory which disappears as soon as it is applied to a target.

Stops leading, hell's teeth what stuff and nonsense! Proper cast bullets do not lead! I have been making and shooting cast bullets for over 50 years and never had leading so another solution looking for a problem. If you do have leading then you should tackle the cause not look for sticking plaster/coating to cover it up.

Wound channel/Hydrocarbons, when has this become a problem and what actually is the problem?

So no benefits just internet myth and waffle.

Still your choice to spend your time and money as you choose and your choice to place whatever value you deem on any replies, however if you come onto forums like these and post such questions then you shouldn't be so perplexed at getting a variety of replies.

You asked and I gave you the benefit of what little experience I may have, which you choose to conflate and belittle as attitudinal. Referencing some one I have never heard of and answering that with a dodgy link, which I won't follow, as an excuse has failed. If you don't want to run the risk of having to deal with an alternative view then don't post and you won't get your feathers ruffled.

As a forum member I have in good faith tried to answer your questions and share what little I may know when I have felt able, trust me though this will be the last time I do this for you.

[meles meles]

We've used powder coated bullets and found them to be very good. Tested them at the Badgerkademy using the Scientific Method and satisfied ourselves and others that they are significantly better than old fashioned lubed lead. Not all progress is bad, Dromia. :)

[dromia]

I don't doubt your experiences, to me however that begs the question(s) what were the fault(s) with your original un-coated cast bullets?

[meles meles]

Most of the time we have had no problems with cast lead bullets, but then we had a good teacher ! (Many thanks again for all the help you gave us when we were starting out.) However, we have had an issue with leading on two of our bangsticks which we weren't able to resolve no matter how we tried - slugging and correct sizing, lubing, trying different hardnesses of lead, gas checks and so forth. It just seemed the rifling in those two (one a Carl Gustav, the other a MAS 36) didn't like lead bullets. They had no issues with copper jacketed bullets. So, we tried some powder coated bullets in each and they worked fine with no need to fettle them. We experimented a little and found that they could be driven at higher velocities if we desired, and a side benefit was that they left our paws clean even after handling hundreds of them over a loading session. We took a few to the Badgerkademy, sectioned them, analysed them. We found them to be consistently made with a uniform coating and examination of fired and recovered bullets showed the coating didn't break up but deformed evenly into and took up the form of the rifling. We tried them in a few other of our bangsticks, again with no fettling, and they worked in those too. They didn't out-perform the standard lead bullets (other than being able to be driven faster, not a major requirement in our usage), they just equalled them. So, our conclusions were:

* Most of the time, proper cast lead bullets work fine
* Powder coated lead bullets can match lead bullets and are seemingly more tolerant of some rifling
* Powder coated lead bullets don't seem to require as much fine tuning so perhaps are more suited to those just starting out on the cast bullet route

Where we have cast bullet loads that work in our bangsticks, we continue to use them. For our awkward guns, powder coated fills the niche nicely.