My way of making powder coated bullets using a heat gun.

[the count]

For me alox tumble lubed bullets work just fine but after watching a couple videos on powder
coated bullets I got curious. Not not want to pollute my toaster oven or buy another one just for bullets. So I came up with this approach. Plastic container with the powder and a couple pieces of styrofoam which will create static electricity. A couple minutes of shaking is enough to get the bullets coated well enough. Used tweezer to pick out the bullets and place on a baking sheet lined with non stick aluminum.

First warmed up the bullets a couple minutes on the low setting and then switched to high. Don't get closer than 10 inches or you might melt the bullets. Keep moving the hot air around from different angles until you can see the paint starting to melt. Keep going until they all look uniformly 'wet'. The whole thing took less than 10 minutes. Results: Not perfect but good enough. This approach is obviously only sensible for smaller batches.

Here some 250 grain .45's

 

[200Apples]

Nice.

How thick is the coating on the slugs in your photo, there? In other words, what size dia. were the bullets before you coated them, and what size dia. are they now? Or am I misguided in my assumption that the powdercoated layer on a bullet is considered in it's final, "sized" diameter?

 

[the count]

I run them through the sizer after being coated, that way no issues for sure.

 

[GBExpat]

Not not want to pollute my toaster oven or buy another one just for bullets. So I came up with this approach. ...

You could also keep an eye peeled for yard sales ... and a cosmetically-challenged ~$3-$5 "PC-only" toaster oven could be in your future.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

IMO replacing the heatgun will cost more than an inexpensive toaster oven. Add the intensive labor and i don't think the heat gun would work for me.

Thanks for sharing, those bullets don't look all that bad and I'm sure they will work just fine.

 

[DeadEye9]

That's awesome idea man, thumbs up. I love to see outside the box thinking like this. How do they shoot/load? I.E. do they behave more like a jacketed bullet now? I would be curious on the accuracy if you could up the velocity a bit and see better groups. Has me thinking now haha.

 

[jmorris]

Where there is a will there is a way.

If you get on Craigslist you can get a toaster oven for $10 or less.

 

[Reefinmike]

I tumble coat mine using black air soft bb's and bake in a $5 goodwill toaster oven. The airsoft bb's help give you an even coating. Ive driven bullets cast from clip on wheel weights over 2,000fps without issue.

Op- have you hammer tested those bullets? If the coating is good then you should be able to hammer a bullet flat without any chipping of the coating.

 

[mdi]

You've already heard "You are wasting your time" and "You're working too much", but I think if you want to use your method, go for it. A lot of answers to questions and idea posts are overly critical, and since there are no Reloading Police to stop you, do it anyway you feel fit. I was reading a bunch of bad mouthing about Lee Loaders, so I got out my old 38 Special Lee Loader and pounded out about 35 rounds. My time, my money, my fun/satisfaction!

I have dry tumbled a bunch of bullets in PC, but I already had a toaster oven that I used for pan lubing (and a few other uses in my shop). I got mine on sale at a Wally's or Costco or wherever for less than $20 and have used it for several operations (I even heated a burrito for breakfast once. Tasted good and I'm not dead yet)...

 

[the count]

Might just pick up an old toaster oven if i come across one. Comes in handy for other stuff besides PC anyway. Don't really think I will be doing much PC because I might be the only guy left who thinks plain old lead look good!
Somewhat smokey and not good for full tilt magnum but for that I have my jacketed stash ;-)

Hard hitting .44 magnum, oh yeah!

 

[Cannibul]

Powder coat is funny stuff.

There's a recommended cure time and temperature for each one.

Sure you can melt the paint on. But it will easily come off.

I use a fluid bed to paint fishing lures and jigs. You heat the item up and dip it on the paint on the fluid bed. You can fish the lures at that point but the paint easily chips and comes off.

Curing them however, means the paint is very hard to chip.

Rap one of those bullets with a hammer and see if the paint holds up.

A decent oven at Walmart is about $30. Make sure you use a good oven thermometer to check the temp as most of them tend to run a bit warm.

If using dark powders be careful because there's a catch where they can absorb enough heat to melt the lead.

 

[Swampman]

If using dark powders be careful because there's a catch where they can absorb enough heat to melt the lead.

That sounds like an Internet myth to me, I doubt its ever actually happened to anyone.

 

[jmorris]

It couldn't happen the way I did it, the temperature wasn't hot enough to melt lead, even if I left them in there longer than the 10 minutes required to bake on the coating.

 

[GBExpat]

If using dark powders be careful because there's a catch where they can absorb enough heat to melt the lead.

A toaster oven set to ~350°F can melt cast bullets?