powder coating bullets

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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by Tuco Ramirez »

That is an under statement........ :lol: Looks like Donhuff Ammo works and power coating.
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by Gunner-CWO4 »

Galena is not to be coated with colored nail polish, thank you very much. Well, perhaps the stuff mined at Brokeback Mountain!! Dude! when you asked me about powder coating I assumed you had something a bit more masculine (read Hetro- and pardon the pun) in mind ;)
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by donhuff »

had to look up galena. Never heard of that before.

I guess I could get "clear" powder for those that are afraid to show there feminine side. Better yet, Olive drab or desert tan, that would be more masculine!
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to bad those that know it all, cant do it all!
16" SS 92 357
20" BL 92 357
20" SS 92 44
20" BL 92 44
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by Gunner-CWO4 »

donhuff wrote:had to look up galena. Never heard of that before.

I guess I could get "clear" powder for those that are afraid to show there feminine side. Better yet, Olive drab or desert tan, that would be more masculine!
Galena is the naturally occuring sulfide containing lead ore.

The hetero reference is a bit more nebulus, unless you're familiar with organic chemistry. Heteroatoms are atoms other than carbon or hydrogen. Stable antimony and tin have 5 members with two heteroatoms each-sulfur and nitrogen. I thought it a humorous pun, in a nerdy sort of way

Yes olive drab and desert tan would be somewhat more masculine, provided the applicarion resembled something akin too MARPAT Digital. Remember tan resides in a spectrum, to remain this side of masculine avoid the use of the shades toupe, dun, camel,sheer and tawney :D
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by donhuff »

So now I gots to sit here and read a dictionary to understand what your talking about eh?

I'm really bad color blind ya see. So if it aint bright and shinny, then to me it's just another shade of gray!
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by Gunner-CWO4 »

donhuff wrote:So now I gots to sit here and read a dictionary to understand what your talking about eh?

I'm really bad color blind ya see. So if it aint bright and shinny, then to me it's just another shade of gray!
No dictionary will be necessary. Fortunately, that's about all the word play chemistry will allow. At times the nerd in me has got to come out. Just couldn't resist.

BTW nice looking bullets though it conjures a rather humorous imagry of green ammo can labeled:

1000 CAL .45 CARRTRIDGES
BALL M 1911
LOT WCC 2 16
COLOR SALMON
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Re: powder coated bullets results

Post by donhuff »

So I went to the range today to give the powder coating a torture test. I was fully believing that it could not possible be as tough as "they" say. So all the loads that I shot were very strong/max loads, in order to give the powder coat a real test.

The loads.....
357 mag----------------------------------------13.5/2400 170 grain Kieth bullet lyman 358429 punkin orange
and 17.0 300MP and 18.0 300 mp and slick sided lyman 358156
32-20 (the real 32 mag in my mind)--------8.0/Blue Dot and lyman 311008 / 118g. Darth Vader black
41 mag-----------------------------------------9.5 power pistol and 220g kieth Every color in the rainbow

I shot 250 rounds through the rossi 357
200 rounds through the 32-20
and 100 in the 41 magnum
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16" SS 92 357
20" BL 92 357
20" SS 92 44
20" BL 92 44
20" Bl 92 45C
20" Bl 92 454
SS Rio Grande 30-30
Bl Rio Grande 45-70
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by donhuff »

I forgot to say something.
The old codgers at the range gave me some funny looks when I started loading "lipstick" into my guns!

Actually nobody said a dang thing, even though I poured them all over the shooting bench. Looked like Barbie was shooting! But then I showed them to a couple of guys. The old (haha, I'm old but he was OLDER, but he had a 5 shot group @ 100yds about 3/8" wide!) guy liked them, and said that he would email me and sell me cheap, some old IMR 4227 and AA1680 that he does not use anymore. UH... OK, I'll take it if you don't want it!
Don Huff

to bad those that know it all, cant do it all!
16" SS 92 357
20" BL 92 357
20" SS 92 44
20" BL 92 44
20" Bl 92 45C
20" Bl 92 454
SS Rio Grande 30-30
Bl Rio Grande 45-70
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by Ranch Dog »

Wow! Looks like it worked and worked well. Now you have me thinking orange!
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Re: powder coating bullets

Post by donhuff »

Yeah RD, as far as this test went, I'd say it was a big success. Meaning, no leading after 250 rounds of magnum loads in the rifle was really good news. Granted they all had my homemade gas checks on them though. Now I'll load up another test batch and leave the checks off this time. That will be real nice if they still don't lead, AND the accuracy holds up.

The 32-20 has never shot very small groups. But has done a lot better than it did yesterday. But the load I was shooting was a little too hot, and the primers were beginning to get flat. Also I did not size these bullets cause I was trying to keep them as large as possible to fill up the throats @.3135. Some of the bullets had a little paint sticking out on the base, this stuff is so strong that it just pushes the brass out of the way as it goes into the case. I'll have to size all of them from now on, some of them were hard to get into the cylinder because of this.

The 41 mag load was pretty strong and NOT gas checked. Not a magnum type powder though and that might make a difference in leading. I'll try that next. I usually load the 41 with 8.5 unique and it is super accurate. I was thinking that the power pistol might do the same but it didn't happen. I'll drop the charge some and try again, and also try some 800X loads too.

Did you notice that I said that some of the 357 bullets did not have grease grooves? I have an old lyman mold 358156 that my brother in law mangled up 40 years ago when he decided he was going to start casting. He must have used a chisel to get the slugs out of the mold cause it looked awful, and would not cast a decent looking bullet no mater what I tried. He cast about a hundred of them and shot maybe 20 to try them out. They left a lot of lead in his Python barrel cause he sized them at .357 and used soft lead. That was the end of his casting. He passed away last year and I got the mold and what was left of those 100 bullets! I reamed out the gas check step and that helped but still not good. SO....I reamed out ALL the grooves in one hole, just to see what would happen to the mold and the bullets. Well, the mold drops pretty good with no grooves as one might expect. The bullets look odd without grooves. And one of the two targets that I had pictures of, were shot with them, so the accuracy is there. The other target is the same bullet with grooves. I wish I had a decent scope for 100 yd testing, I think the groups would shrink, cause I can't hardly tell what I'm doing at that distance.

That brings up a question in my mind. If you were to design a bullet, say a 357 bullet. And did not have to put grooves in it for grease or crimping (I taper crimped them). What would it look like?
Don Huff

to bad those that know it all, cant do it all!
16" SS 92 357
20" BL 92 357
20" SS 92 44
20" BL 92 44
20" Bl 92 45C
20" Bl 92 454
SS Rio Grande 30-30
Bl Rio Grande 45-70
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