Why no powder coated hollow points?

[NoirFan]

Just got back into loading for my revolver after close to half a year and I’m enjoying myself. I was loading up some 38 special SWCHPs and got to wondering, why doesn’t anyone sell powder coated hollow points? It seems like a no brainer!

You get the cleanliness of the powder coat plus the expansion of soft lead HP - especially important with low-speed calibers like the 38 which have trouble expanding many jacketed hollow points. Conversely, powder coated bullets are also low-friction so they get better velocities for a given powder charge either than lead or jacketed, but suffer no accuracy penalty. If I could buy reasonably priced 158gr coated LHPs for 38/357 I would probably never buy any other kind of bullet.

 

[ATLDave]

You know... this is a good question. I wonder if someone here knows a good answer.

 

[Bat Rastard]

This is only speculation on my part, but wouldn't the magic goo they coat them in pool up in the hollow point ?

 

[ATLDave]

It doesn't seem to puddle up too badly in the lube grooves for bullets cast using those kind of molds.

 

[rsrocket1]

There's no reason you can't make PC HP lead ammo. Just mask off the tip when powder coating. HP lead ammo takes more time and is more expensive (need a more complicated mold for automated processing) and the PC process will have to mask off the tip. For the individual caster and PC'er, it's a minimal effort if using an ES spray gun. For a commercial manufacturer, it would add to the cost. PC solid lead bullets add minimal cost. Making HP cast bullets is more expensive and the masking process during PC would add more.

Eventually, someone will sell PC HP bullets. But there is virtually no reason to make a PC SP bullets.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

I can't say for certain but I'll take a guess at it. If you cast the bullets with the hollowpoint and then try to coat them, I can imagine the cavity getting plugged up during application of the coating.

The other option would be casting a solid bullet, coating it, then forming the hollowpoint. I've read of swaging dies that can form a shallow hollowpoint, more of a hollowpoint to aid in accuracy rather than expansion. And I've read of lathe style case trimmer that have drill bit adapters to drill hollowpoints into a cast bullet. I haven't used either of these tools and I'm not surr how they might effect the coating.

 

[reddog81]

No special precautions are needed to powder coated HP bullets. I use the shake and bake method and have attached a pic of a random bullet I had sitting on my desk. I'm guessing commercial sellers are hesitant to sell them because it would take more time to ensure 100% coverage inside the HP and that customers would probably complain about the slightest irregularities that have no effect on the performance of the bullet.

 

[Texas10mm]

I've powder coated thousands of hollow point bullets. There's no trick to it and the cavity doesn't fill up with powder....often. If it does you can easily tap it out.

To the OP.

How many places do you see selling hollow point cast bullets? You have to have the bullets before you can coat them.

Hollow point molds are problematic on a Magma caster, though the inset bar style could be made to work.

Then you've got the problem that most places that sell cast bullets sell bullets that are WAY to hard to work as hollow points.



Lyman Devastators with gold Hi-Tek



Same bullet with pc.

 

[kcofohio]

Federal had their Nyclad (nylon-coated) bullet a little while back. The blue bullet. Not sure what the difference is compared to H-Tek type coating. From what I read, with bare gelatin, it expanded well. With denim, the bullet would pass through with little to no expansion.
https://www.tombstonetactical.com/c...se-.38-special-125-grain-nyclad-hollow-point/

 

[jmorris]

I think the answer is how great and problem free machines cast bullets that are not hollow point.

 

[Hondo 60]

This is only speculation on my part, but wouldn't the magic goo they coat them in pool up in the hollow point ?

That was my 1st thought.

 

[cadet3]

Magma Engineering pretty much owns the commercial casting equipment market.

Most commercial casters are using either Magma or Accurate molds. Neither of them offer hollow point molds.

I own a Mark 8 Bulletmaster and I think if either of those companies offered hollowpoint molds then you would see more cast HP bullets on the market.

 

[Rule3]

Hunter suply offers some HP lead but not coated

As mentioned above not many places offer HP lead bullets let alone coated in Polymer or "Painted"

 

[splattergun]

I suspect the aforementioned pooling of material in the hollow might change the expansion and/or ballistic characteristics. Something to be tested.
Any manufacturing process to prevent the clogging of the hollow would add costs. Ready to pay more for your bullets?
Making coated HPs yourself could be an interesting venture, if you want that much added processing.

 

[res45]

I've never had any issue powder coating my own HP bullets in 38/357 or 45 ACP, done properly the HP cavity gets the same even coating as the outside and the HP's expand just as well coated. I agree with others if you want coated HP lead bullet your going to have to make them yourself for the time being.

 

[Texas10mm]

I've never had any issue powder coating my own HP bullets in 38/357 or 45 ACP, done properly the HP cavity gets the same even coating as the outside and the HP's expand just as well coated. I agree with others if you want coated HP lead bullet your going to have to make them yourself for the time being.

View attachment 812701

View attachment 812702

I've got that same .45 ACP mold. NOE makes good molds.

 

[Texas10mm]

This is only speculation on my part, but wouldn't the magic goo they coat them in pool up in the hollow point ?

The "magic goo" is just powder paint. It's a POWDER, it doesn't pool. In fact if one used an electrostatic gun to coat the bullets there would be no excess powder. You could even put the bullets hollow point down on a post and not have any paint in the cavity. With the tumble method if you have too much powder in the container you can get extra powder in the cavity but it just taps out. I always tap the bullets to remove any excess powder.

With Hi-Tek, which is applied as a liquid, you don't use enough to pool. 5ml to 5 lbs of bullets, bake, repeat, done. Most hollow points I use Hi-Tek on have very little product in the cavity or the grooves.