Elvis - that fortunecookie is a real fantastic scream..!! I'm a-thankin' you for that wonder!! Others have told me to break down and spend some money on some good quality powder from Eastwood and other companies...but it takes seeing to get me goin'... I'm going to put in an order to Eastwood tomorrow - thanks so much for putting out this video...There isn't another video like this one out there - two thumbs up!! I've often wished that Harbor Freight had a blue and green, but forget that - I'm liable to buy some other colors (but at $10 a pop, maybe only a couple or three to start). And if the swirl method gets that no stick happening, we can sure go with your 4 /140 Elvis method (that's four one forty Elvis method - rolls off the tongue real good) or the tumbler. You've just opened up some bigger worlds of powder coating for a lot of casters... fantastic.. great work... Best to ya, FC Steve
hey Thanks Mr Fortune Cookie! I knew you'd like seeing my Fortune Cookie 45 lc foutune cookie ... : ) People have mentioned other powders in the past , but I thought I wouldn't want to pay that much if harborfreight powder was working. .. there for I couldn't see trying it and recommending it. But this one seemed reasonable. .. and man it's nice! looks great and applies great.. and we get blue! can't go wrong. . some of these powders can run 20 bucks and over for a pound. Some are sold by even smaller amounts for 20 bucks.. I think we got something here! thanks for all you do! love your videos! !!
+FortuneCookie45LC that's great Mr Fortune Cookie. ... we got colors flying around all over the place!!!! I got the beautiful blue. I heard there was a sale 10% + free shipping, I jumped on that. I bought 5 pounds of blue and 1 pound of dark green. it worked great to. I have another person ordering seafoam green. and another that got the sample pack and used the bright yellow! now we really have options! you'll have to do a video when you do your powder coating! I just released a video today to show my new green powder, because I knew people was in the process of ordering it... good day to ya sir! happy powder coating! ; )
First time seeing you I’ve watched a couple of your videos they’re great. This is just a regular working man’s procedures simplify everything. Thanks a lot keep them coming.
Elvis: Thank you for recommending this powder coat! This stuff sticks so easily to the bullets that I barely have to shake it. No BBs or vibratory tumbler needed. I didn't even need to 'pre-heat' the bullets with your 4-140F method. Kicks the crap outta the Harbor Freight red! Thanks for posting a quality video, extremely helpful!
thanks alot Denver DWC... I never get tired of hearing of a method making things so much easier!!!! that is my very favorite now ... Also it seems like it might be the toughest! thanks so much for telling me this.... and thanks for watching!
I just casted a lot of bullets last month and used my HF red with your preheat 140 and it worked great. I also brought Eastwood Ford light blue and gloss white. The blue works very well at room temp. Than I used their white and it coated twice as good. The powder just about jumps on the bullet. Just need to watch bullets sticking to other bullets with these two powders.
I've thought about using a higher quality powder and giving that a try, just wasn't sure it was worth it. after seeing your results, I would say it is definitely worth giving it a go! thanks for the heads up Elvis!!
I just wanted to say "Thanks" for the great tip Elvis Ammo, this new blue powder is a lot easier to use. I will continue to use the black from Powderbythepound for pistol bullets (until I use up the 5 pounds I have). The blue is working so good for be in my rifle bullets. At first I was having problems with chambering issues (after I got the RCBS die to fix the cases). I found I was being to careful with my screen when I separated the bullets from the powder. I was being so careful to not scar one or anything. It was making the tips of the bullets to fat (I have the same problem with me haha) so the long 300 Blackout bullets were getting stuck in the rifling. After I sifted then well and got all loose powder off the size what fine and the bullets still look good. This blue powder is letting me push my 153 grain bullet I have to over 1600 fps and no leading and 3/4" groups at 50 yards. I never would have figured this out with out watching you shack the crap out of yours, I was just being to careful THANKS
Tracked down the Eastwood powders here in Australia and they are very very nice to use. Great to see how they go from your clip before I ordered several colours. Many thanks mate.
I like using a small leather mallet for casting bullets and find it works well for separating stuck freshly coated bullets sitting on a folded towel or in your hand.
I have found basically through trial and error if you use the smallest amount of powder to still coat the bullets properly it coats a lot faster using the same kind of butter bowl Elvis is using.
Just tried this method with my 45 ACPs with harbor freight red. After 200 of them as a test through my Glock 21 with aftermarket barrel I use some frog lube on a wire brush for 10 scrubs than used bore snake pass through and the barrel is spotless with no lead. A++ :)
Good deal Mike Q.... I'm shooting 45 acp for 6 cent a shot ... they are more accurate than all my factory ammo!!! congrats! happy powder coating to ya! and thanks for watching!
Looks like this video may have caused a run on Eastwood's Light Ford Blue. I ordered several colors and the blue is backordered. LOL, I'm sure they are loving it. I used one of the eastwood greens with this quick shake, and they came out very nice. Thanks Elvis.
hey Erica Peltz.... yea it's a good chance that's true! : ) I know of lots of people using it now... and I have 6 pounds myself! !! thanks for the info..... and thanks for watching!
hey Karen Mills..... thanks for watching! Let me know how the powder coating goes for ya..... That's a great powder! My channel only has 4.7 % female viewership, it's great to see the interest! Happy powder coating to ya!
Well Elvis, there are three of us. we all reload together. Mary Karen and I. Your vids are good info for us. We have to get our lead from rotometals. One good thing about that is we do not have any trash in it. All pure. Keep up good work. Thanks
+Janet Meyer..... We'll I'm very glad to have ya on board! it's great that you're reloading together. .. that's awesome! Thanks for letting me me know my videos are helpful. .. best of luck to the New Crew!
+Mary Johns.... yhea I put 2 and 3 together and figured you were 1 of the 3 ! : ) did ya all get different uppers ? I love it that you three are working together. . you can accomplish a lot more that way! very good luck ya! and thanks for watching!
I used this method last night and it worked pretty well. Only flaw is there are "scars" where the coating doesn't cover any place the bullet was touching the wire basket or another bullet. I don't see any way around this short of standing the bullets on the base either after tumbling them or by spraying them, which seems like would be tedious and time consuming. And I'm not sure it's enough to matter. I will size, load and test them later, but it was easy to do and otherwise they look pretty good.
thanks for the reply elvis. yeah, I made lee 55 gr. I was sizing them after the lubing them with the liquid alox. Will try not sizing em and see if the do better. Thanks again Elvis.
hey elvis, just did my first batch with the harbor freight red and its on point with your method man. Before i powder coated, I casted some .223 and was having a hard time getting them to fly true, hopefully this fixes the issue.
hey Andres Crespo... another thing you can do is try not sizing them. I don't know what bullet your using but the lee 55 gr bullet has minimal contact with the rifling through the lube grooves. maybe give it a try! glad to know your powder coat worked out! thanks for watching!
Hey Elvis. Have you ever tried to pour the bullets from the tray/mesh straight in to a bucket with cold water? They will unstick from eatch other even when they are baked stacked upon each other and you dont need to knock them on the table to get them separeted. The water will do the job for you.That's how we do it in Sweden, works great.
I would love to start powder coating some bullets but I cannot find any primers or small pistol primers I guess I can start doing it one day we might have primers back in the gun stores .
I also started with powder by the pound and it works great. I have switched over to harbor freight red and found that I can't just dump them on my screen/tray and throw them in together. They stick and when I break them apart they remove a fair about of coating so I have to stand each one up. 1000 55-grain .223 bullets are a pain to stand up one at a time. I'll probably go back to powder by the pound.
Elvis, I watch most of your videos , great entertainment for us old geysers. You are not using gas checks supersonic with powder coat. I was wondering how fast can you go without gas checks needed? Hard info to find. Thanks , Fooey
I bought 2lbs of eastwood in v twin orange. I couldn't get it to shake or tumble on my bullets worth a crap. I might try mixing it with my harbor freight red and see how that works.
great tip, thanks Elvis! I have been using Powder By The Pound for the past year and really love it, but the cost is significantly higher than Harbor Freight... The Eastwood looks like a great compromise..
Hi Elvis - did you consider wearing nitro gloves and dust mask ? I also use Eastwood, but it is very toxic... Even if it only touches your skin. Please take care ;) Greatings from Poland.
hey 1997LT1Camaro... a lot of the powdercoat from Eastwood works on contact. . but some of them require require the preheat method. .. I have the blue and green.
Tried this with .45 and had no luck. The bullets are sticking to the screen, and then when knocked loose the coating tears/rips off some. (not small amounts either) I went back for a second coat and same result. How critical is it for 100% coverage to achieve proper performance in the barrel? I am going back and going to try to use the nonstick foil in the oven and see how that works. I am just afraid the coating will be too thick after 3 coats now. I do have a sizing die from Lee however.
hey Larry Kool... thats a kool name!!! Im glad to see you found a way that works for ya!!! that why we like options!! thanks for watching and commenting!
Sir love your videos and watch them all the time, however; there is one thing I would like to bring up on the one "Powder Coating in Half the Time". I love powder coating and have had really good luck with it. On our neat little toaster ovens I recommend people get a oven temperature gauge to check the actual cooking temp. There is a reason that cooks use them. Dial knobs settings are no more than a reference point and if not calibrated correctly from the factory can be wrong, sooooooooooo, when you said to warm the bullets for 4 mins at 140 degrees and it was VERY important well then is actual temp of the oven. My Walmart 25 dollar one was off quite a bit, set at 400 internal temp was 450, yep 450, so my reference know setting are out of cal. Set at 140 was reading 155 almost 160. Anyways I wanted to pass this info on and it might be a good idea for people to purchase an oven temp thermometer to check actual inside temps. Ken
elvis, dude! Remember me? the 22lr reloader guy? Well I discovered yet another PC method by accident. I would be blown away if you tried it and told me what you thought. I started off doing the 4-140 method. (these are 40 grain 22lr bullets) Harbor Freight Red. They got an even coat but very light. Now I have been using kitchen strainers for my screen because of the small diameter of the 22s. I use a big kitchen strainer about 8" in diameter to bake them. But now I am using a small cheap strainer for applying the PC. When I took them out of the powder after 4 min at 140, dumped them into the small strainer to shake off the excess powder. The coat was thin so I took the powder that was now on the cardboard and poured it back over the bullets in the strainer and shook them out again with another piece of cardboard underneath. Then took that powder and poured it back over the bullets in the strainer again. I noticed that each time I did that they got a bit thicker coat. So I did it 4 or 5 times until I got the nice thick even coat of powder that I wanted. Then baked them at 400 for 20 min. They came out great. I don't know why it works but MAN it worked really well for me. The biggest difference I see is that because the kitchen strainers have so much smaller mesh, it takes a bit of "sifting" to get the powder to shake out so you are kind of shake n bake them in a strainer. You could try it with some 223 bullets. Let me know what you think. And thanks again for you great videos. Your method is being used by a lot of folks now. There is a guy on a forum that I frequent who is experimenting with hollow based round nosed bullets with powder coating. I found out that he uses your method too. Oh and by the way it is pretty common knowledge now that sizing between coats or after the one coat makes the PC harder and tougher. Some guys pushing the envelope with that too. Shooting over 3000 fps. Keep up the good work.
hey there Hans Pcguy. ...that's some fine info with the smaller screen and all that. that's exactly how we learn these fine new methods by trying different things. .. it's nice to hear about people in other forums using this method as well .... we have a very creative bunch in this craft.... the powdercoated bullets give us some real options don't they... thanks for the info. I'll have to try the small screen shake bake some time. .. great hearing from ya! !!!!
I must be doing something wrong. I threw some Airsoft BB'S and a scoop of powder in a #5 dish (cottage cheeze). Shook for about 1 minute, transfer to oven, and it's all good. EXCEPT it is adding about 0.004 to the bullet, seems like other people are getting 0.002. Maybe i added too much powder? I'd love to be able to shoot my .356 dropped bullets at .358 and avoid sizing... Have you ever found that things get too thick?
Hey Adam Mcintyre... Yep .. I've run into to thick. for one, Not that important but you can try without the bb's... And you may try less shaking in the powder. Also some folks like using only, like a table spoon or so of powder. This seems a little better for some... And if it's thick I like to shake it around in the screen really good. It dont hurt if light scaring occurs, It will fill out fine. There are some things that might help... let me know how it goes? thanks for watching!
I am thinking purchase powder gun and lay bullets in line then spray the powder then bake it altogether this way you will not have any dings or so . What you all take on this idea ?
Old Grumpy many people are doing this on the cast boolits forum, not really it's a waste of time and powder, and it makes a mess. The tumble and shake and bake works fine. The dings are negligible.
Question: is it possible to remove bullet lube from bullets that are 30+ years old . When I was in Georgia we could go out about anywhere and go shootings . Anyway I want to get back into reloading and just wanted to know if it is possible to remove the lube so I can powder coat these bullets. Thanks Ron 357VA
Hey Elvis: Does the 20 min @ 400º tend to "anneal" your bullets? Can it cause you to lose bh hardness? I saw on other videos you were water quenching them after the oven, I think. Is it for convenience or to preserve the bullet hardness?
Elvis- I am new to powder coating. I am using powder from Eastwood which is called Vermillion. I don't have molds yet so I ordered some Hornady .358 LRN which have a lube on them. I tried coating some as they came out of the box and some that I washed with paint thinner and could not tell any difference. I have two toaster ovens and my biggest problem is maintaining 400°F, just how critical is the temp?
I'll definitely give this a shot Elvis! But questions remain - does it work because it's hard cast or a particular alloy or doesn't it matter (a lot of my lead rounds are using 2-2-96). Do you still clean up the lead to remove finger oils, etc? Do you still size them after you coat them?
Have you tried the Airsoft bb method? i hear people put a few in a bag with the powder coat and the boolits then tumble all inside the bag. But this method seems like it works well.
Well, I think I may have figured out how to create some quality static for PC. While I've only tried with red (part lazy), the results are coming out quite nice. I took EA advice and warmed the bullets in preheated 150 @ 4 mins. Then comes the static...I took me a gray 5 gal Sherwin Williams PAINT bucket (clean the inside extremely well) and dropped thed bullets inside with 500 airsoft bbs plus Red HF PC. Now, when not in use I utilize my Rockford Arsenal Wet Tumblr to set my 5 gal bucket on sideways. I can assume we've all put the lid on the bucket at this point and taken the wet Tumblr off the rollers. Run them bullets for approximately 5 or so minutes and holy smokes. You can feel the static on the outside of the bucket. Nice thick coat of PC. I will say I do not ever touch the bullets with bare hands at anytime prior to PC to avoid oils from my fingers hindering results. I should add that i do stand the bullets on their base on non stick alluminum foil (dull side). Let's see if you get the same. Would be nice to see if others get good results.
hey treesablowin! swirl around to coat, agitate the bullets in the screen, throw em in the oven, Put some more bullets in the same powder bowl and repeat! I'm a fan of the blue myself!
Alright, I've done the 4 mins at 140-150, with very little powder on them once I shake and bake. Are you doing this with HF PC? One thing I did add was the airsoft bbs and then stood them up as I've seen so many others do like LB & FC. Then of course bake @400 for 20mims. When you break the bullets apart do you find that PC is being pulled off to include pulling them from the grate. These were problems I encountered until I stood them up. Thanks for any and all help. I need to make the drive one day from Augusta and see you operate first hand now that I'm retired.
hey jay valley ..... no I really haven't. .. but I'm sure you want me to guess, anyway. if I had to to guess. . 5 to 10 thousand. . I know big spread. . at least 5 thousand! happy powder coating to ya!
Elvis- With your knowledge in powder coating I have a problem that I cannot solve. I want to add Hexagonal Boron Nitride to a powder coat to see if it adds to the lubricating ability of the powder coats. However I cannot get it to coat or stick to the bullets when dry, heated. will it work with the wet method using acetone?
Hi, my name is Tom Bunda, and I watched this video. Can you please, tell me where you buy that light blue East Powder, and also I would like to know if you size the bullets before or after powder? Do you use gas checks on the coated bullets?
I'm new to powder coating, I am using the Eastwood ford blue and heating to 400 for 20 minutes, but where my bullets are touching each other the powder is missing from one of the bullets. I'm getting a lot of spots like this. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks Frankie
+elvis ammo My Bad Elvis. It is Eastwood. I will let you know how I like it. I have only used harbor freight in the past so I am exited about this one.
Thanks for the improved method and powder info. Now what do i do with the Harbor Freight powers I ordered and have on hand but have never used yet. I ordered them based on your 4 at 140 method which seemed so much easier than tumbling or shaking. I don't like the Ford blue, never have since the 1960s. Didn't seem to be an appropriate color for an engine. Will probably use Chevy red.
hey Mature Patriot!!! Dodge Has some nice colors too!! : ) The Blue does seem to have great coverage....I still use my harbor freight powders as well! Thanks for taking the time to comment and Thanks for watching......
Want to thanks you for your videos on powder coating. Am about to retire and will have time now for more bullet casting and reloading. Powder coating seems to be the way to go for easier bullet making and reloading.
I have had great results with the eastwood blue however for some reason i can get the damn green to stick have you messed around with that green at all what sort of results have you found?
A question for Elvis: If I coat a lead bullet with a polymer coating as described here (GREAT videos BTW), can it then successfully be used in a pistol that has a polygonal barrel? Thanks!
hey tkarlmann... I do'n't want to tell ya what to do. But I can tell ya that i have 4 glocks and have shot thousands of rounds with 0 problems.! my lead in the semi autos usually run around 13-15 bhn. hope this helps... thanks for watching!!!
+tkarlmann it's the brinell hardness scale. .. I use wheel weights for my lead. I don't necessarily recommend pure lead. but some people say you can use it with powdercoated bullets. .
Excellent video Elvis. I'll be experimenting with Eastwoods hot coat gray, and diamond black metallic today. I know you are a trusted source of info, because I see the Dukes mayo jar in the background. 👍
Check out ordering the Eastwood powder through Amazon with free shipping for Prime members...it ships directly from Eastwood and fulfilled through Amazon.
I tried a Eastwood green, I used a wire screen. My bullets look like crap! Color and coating is good but they stuck to the wire screen and have lines all over one side of them.
Eastwood Powder is available from Amazon.com. Ford Light Blue is known as Henry's Light Blue American Car Color.(www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RL3BGWN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Prices of everything have gone up in the past 4 years and the price is now $13.99 but the shipping is free. Amazon has a large number of the Eastwood powder coating colors, including Full Gloss Clear ($14.99).
hey sicesp.... good question, after a lot of powder coating you may get boogers I call them stuck to your bullets. .. you can wire brush the mesh and solve the problem or replace the mesh.. I have a whole roll of wire ... thanks for watching!
Hey Elvis.. Looks like you have been thinking outside of the box with better quality Powder. You are right though, The Harbor Freight Powder coat does nicely, However it's not a pretty as that Ford Blue (Eastwood) stuff. as you know I don't powder coat, However it's the way to go. (Cost control my friend) I have spent thousands on Bullet molds, Lube seizer Presses and uncountable sticks of Lube claiming to be the "Best".. Just to get to the point of where I'm at now, All I need is a automated casting machine and I would be in Business, One thing that is awesome is the pride you take in what you do. I can see it in you that when you do a good job it's because you work hard at it and take pride in your work. You make Great Bullets that surpass what you could buy out there and that's what it's all about dude.. Have a good one Elvis. can't wait for the range time.. Dave.
hey thorsaxe777. .. yeah Joe Kikass told me about this and I could tell he really had sutem there. ... thankfully I ordered some. it's awesome! and yes I do take pride in my work! that's what makes it fun... Great quality powder. .. you can dump a lot of money as you know. .. you also know it's like crack!!!! ; ) doing it for less is always a challenge! thanks again! !!
Like you said.. Doing something Well is well worth doing. As soon as I see how to do it and wire it up, I'm going to make a PID control unit for a old Lee ten pound pot that I have had forever. The whole cost is less than fifty bucks. It provides thermal heat control that does not vary from Hot to cold and makes it More Precise for maintaining heat consistency. I would suggest you look into doing it to your Lee casting pot, I seen on ebay the whole main kit cost $33 for Controller, Probe and relay. Dave..
Just another option, I use a Lyman 10 lb pot to melt my ingots and flux. Then use a kitchen type ladle to replenish my Lee production pot, I have both pots side by side. This seems to maintain production pot temp very well and I can produce 1000 -1600 bullets in a long evening. I drop them from 6 cavity lee molds into a 5 gallon plastic pail half full (optimist) of water. The pail has a terry cloth towel with about a 1" hole, draped to the to the water level, the towel is secured with a very large screw type hose clamp. I am not sure I gain much in hardness of bullets from quenching, but the benefit from the towel and water is less dented bullets. The towel also minimizes water slash to the molten lead, pots are on a bench and pail is on the floor.
Hey Elvis what part of the country are you from? Just curious. I like to guess but I can't figure you out. I am from the heart of Texas. I love the polymer coating and I have been trying some from a commercial source. Shot some though my 45 and 2 9mms and just a dry snake and they were clean. No lead detected with a Lewis lead remover. It's amazing stuff. An indoor range is very bad with regular cast and lubed bullets. Polymer coated is the only way to go now...
hey guitarbootman ... I'm here in the fine State of SC.. .. yes powder coated bullets or polymer are the way to go... and a lot safer shooting steel too... no metal jackets flying back... Happy shooting my Texan friend!
Hmm, I've been a long time airsoft bb/HF red tumbler but this has me interested. I dont really fancy the color blue but I guess the target doesn't care what color they are. HF red is pretty tacky looking anyways. Any confirmed reports of other colors working just as well? How does it work with heavy bullets? I've always had trouble getting a good coat on my 230gr 30's and 440gr 50's using the airsoft bb shake n bake method.
hey rusty Shackleford.... yes Im coating my 230 grain 30's with dark Green and blue.... and reports of plenty of other colors working as well, Just like hf. powder one color may seem to give a prettier coat than another. But they (so far) seem to all work. (virgin powder) happy powdercoating to ya!
Hey Elvis Really enjoyed your video. Very interesting and informative! Thanks for taking the time to make it.. I'm getting ready to start casting for my new Smith&Wesson Performance Center 500 Magnum. I was and well - still am worried about leading the barrel. But it looks like powder coating my bullets may be an easy solution. Do you think the Eastwood coatings will be ok to push up around 1800 fps? I don't believe I'll go much past that with this monster! Thanks again bro.. Denis
hey Denis McCarthy. ..you go ahead and push em as fast as you want. ... that's some tuff stuff. ... just make sure you are at least 1 thousands over on your bullet size... let me know how those monsters fly ; )
Hey Elvis - Thanks for the quick response bro! So I have a few questions for ya. Since I'm going to be powder coating, do you still recommend using a gas check? Thanks to you I ordered my Lee furnace and two molds from Midway as well as the Lee sizing die. In your comment above, you said "make sure you are at least 1 thou over your bullet size" - My sizing die is .501. So once they are coated the bullet is going to be a bit larger than that.. Is that going to be a issue? And since I will be powder coating, I'm assuming the lead alloy is not going to be as important as it would be without the coating in regards to how hard the lead is... - correct? Also, are you on Facebook? It would be nice to follow you there as well. Thanks!
+Denis McCarthy .... no gas checks , yes 1 thousands over bore diameter , and no the hardness isn't as important with pc. bullets. bullet fit is the most important. And yes I have a face book "elvis ammo " Thanks for watching! : ) I just uploaded a new video with some helpful info pertaining to some advantages of the powdercoat bullet... oh btw. you cast the bullet, then powdercoat, then size... and bingo. .. load my friend! .501
hey Papa's Place... well... it just depends. .. I do find myself kinda going to the Eastwood powder alot.. but I also like the great coat it provides. But I have absolutely no problems at all with HF. It offers different colors and easier to coat. Nothing major! you can always watch for sales and (free shipping ) that's how I got my last batch!
hey Julio Cuevas... it takes the place of lubing the bullets and gives it a sort of jacket. Prevents leading your barrel, and it allows us to load ammo closer to what the data books say to load fmj ammo....
Elvis. I was getting caking on my bullets from possibly overheating. I cut back to 2 minutes and I'm not having an issue with caking, but now there are semi-transparent coatings. Kind of 'marbled'. Is this ok?
Hey Elvis, I'm having trouble getting harbor freight red to coat in one coat..tried preheating the bullets but still won't coat with hand tumbling..maybe the bullets aren't warm enough to coat without doing twice..any suggestions? ..thanks!
Try using a plastic container with the number 5 inside the recycle triangle on it. They seem to create more static electricity than other types of plastic containers.
Maybe it would be nice to know how you made your basket in a video. oh and I just scored a very nice brand new $180 toaster oven for $25. it was hard to make it a powder coat oven. it has convention and a rotisserie. nothing but the best for my bullets, lol
I SSMDad.... I got some hardware cloth from the hardware store and cut it out, bent up the edges to the size of my toaster oven. .. that's it! the holes in the mesh are 1/4 inch by the way.... happy powder coating to ya!
Hey Edad Martin... I only water quench when I need a little xtra hardness... Most of the time Im working to soften the wheel weight alloy... if you can believe it... Funny because people spend a lot of time effort and conversation around making them harder! : ) I'll run out of soft lead before I use my hard stuff....
hey Joel Blanco. .. no I haven't. .. but I know I must do it soon! I get a lot of requests. .. Thankyou for asking. people are also interested in the ingot mold I use as well... I'll put it on priority list! thanks for watching!
+elvis ammo thank you they are some of the cleanest looking ingots ive seen and thanks for the quick response also im new to all this can i just go to the junk yard and buy the wheel weights in bulk?
+Joel Blanco I've never done it but you may be able to get some from a mom + pop scrap yard. .. anywhere near 30 cent a pound is awesome, I get them from tire shops... depends on where you live, some states have banned the use of lead wheel weights. . I live in the south. .. but there talking about banning them here to! around here I'm getting about 80% lead out of each load. but that may differ, depending on the state you live.
Elvis - that fortunecookie is a real fantastic scream..!! I'm a-thankin' you for that wonder!! Others have told me to break down and spend some money on some good quality powder from Eastwood and other companies...but it takes seeing to get me goin'... I'm going to put in an order to Eastwood tomorrow - thanks so much for putting out this video...There isn't another video like this one out there - two thumbs up!! I've often wished that Harbor Freight had a blue and green, but forget that - I'm liable to buy some other colors (but at $10 a pop, maybe only a couple or three to start). And if the swirl method gets that no stick happening, we can sure go with your 4 /140 Elvis method (that's four one forty Elvis method - rolls off the tongue real good) or the tumbler. You've just opened up some bigger worlds of powder coating for a lot of casters... fantastic.. great work... Best to ya, FC Steve
hey Thanks Mr Fortune Cookie! I knew you'd like seeing my Fortune Cookie 45 lc foutune cookie ... : ) People have mentioned other powders in the past , but I thought I wouldn't want to pay that much if harborfreight powder was working. .. there for I couldn't see trying it and recommending it. But this one seemed reasonable. .. and man it's nice! looks great and applies great.. and we get blue! can't go wrong. . some of these powders can run 20 bucks and over for a pound. Some are sold by even smaller amounts for 20 bucks.. I think we got something here! thanks for all you do! love your videos! !!
I love it when a good plan come together. : )
+Vengenace Early ME TOO! ; )
Elvis - Got the powder order on the way - got some of that blue plus orange and purple...going to be fun, Elvis style..!! FC Steve
+FortuneCookie45LC that's great Mr Fortune Cookie. ... we got colors flying around all over the place!!!! I got the beautiful blue. I heard there was a sale 10% + free shipping, I jumped on that. I bought 5 pounds of blue and 1 pound of dark green. it worked great to. I have another person ordering seafoam green. and another that got the sample pack and used the bright yellow! now we really have options! you'll have to do a video when you do your powder coating! I just released a video today to show my new green powder, because I knew people was in the process of ordering it... good day to ya sir! happy powder coating! ; )
For those who don't want to wait for nearly 10 minutes, the actual explanation starts at 9:20 your welcome ; )
Thank you.
Thanks!
First time seeing you I’ve watched a couple of your videos they’re great. This is just a regular working man’s procedures simplify everything. Thanks a lot keep them coming.
Elvis: Thank you for recommending this powder coat! This stuff sticks so easily to the bullets that I barely have to shake it. No BBs or vibratory tumbler needed. I didn't even need to 'pre-heat' the bullets with your 4-140F method. Kicks the crap outta the Harbor Freight red! Thanks for posting a quality video, extremely helpful!
thanks alot Denver DWC... I never get tired of hearing of a method making things so much easier!!!! that is my very favorite now ... Also it seems like it might be the toughest! thanks so much for telling me this.... and thanks for watching!
Wow just got through doing 200 bullets in the same color. Great video and thanks for sharing the knowledge and tips. Keep up the great videos
I just casted a lot of bullets last month and used my HF red with your preheat 140 and it worked great. I also brought Eastwood Ford light blue and gloss white. The blue works very well at room temp. Than I used their white and it coated twice as good. The powder just about jumps on the bullet. Just need to watch bullets sticking to other bullets with these two powders.
I tried your new method of preheating the bullets first, it works a treat. I'm going to use that method from now on,so easy.
This really works great. Quick, reasonable price, great results.
I've thought about using a higher quality powder and giving that a try, just wasn't sure it was worth it. after seeing your results, I would say it is definitely worth giving it a go! thanks for the heads up Elvis!!
you so welcome trojan horse!!!!
Thanks for the video, finally I have found a European distributor for a powder paint that I am sure it will work! Greetings from Belgium.
thanks for the greeting Greg S.... Great Powder Coating To Ya.......!
Grate looking bullets I really like Eastwood powder thanks Elvis
I just wanted to say "Thanks" for the great tip Elvis Ammo, this new blue powder is a lot easier to use. I will continue to use the black from Powderbythepound for pistol bullets (until I use up the 5 pounds I have). The blue is working so good for be in my rifle bullets. At first I was having problems with chambering issues (after I got the RCBS die to fix the cases). I found I was being to careful with my screen when I separated the bullets from the powder. I was being so careful to not scar one or anything. It was making the tips of the bullets to fat (I have the same problem with me haha) so the long 300 Blackout bullets were getting stuck in the rifling. After I sifted then well and got all loose powder off the size what fine and the bullets still look good.
This blue powder is letting me push my 153 grain bullet I have to over 1600 fps and no leading and 3/4" groups at 50 yards. I never would have figured this out with out watching you shack the crap out of yours, I was just being to careful
THANKS
Tracked down the Eastwood powders here in Australia and they are very very nice to use. Great to see how they go from your clip before I ordered several colours. Many thanks mate.
hey Hayden Birch... Glad to see ya found some over there! Thanks for letting me know. .... And thanks for watching Mate!
I like using a small leather mallet for casting bullets and find it works well for separating stuck freshly coated bullets sitting on a folded towel or in your hand.
hey Jim G... that sounds like a good idea. .. break em apart after powder coating. ...
I use the mallet after baking them.
I have found basically through trial and error if you use the smallest amount of powder to still coat the bullets properly it coats a lot faster using the same kind of butter bowl Elvis is using.
Just tried this method with my 45 ACPs with harbor freight red.
After 200 of them as a test through my Glock 21 with aftermarket barrel I
use some frog lube on a wire brush for 10 scrubs than used bore snake pass
through and the barrel is spotless with no lead. A++ :)
Good deal Mike Q.... I'm shooting 45 acp for 6 cent a shot ... they are more accurate than all my factory ammo!!! congrats! happy powder coating to ya! and thanks for watching!
Looks like this video may have caused a run on Eastwood's Light Ford Blue. I ordered several colors and the blue is backordered. LOL, I'm sure they are loving it. I used one of the eastwood greens with this quick shake, and they came out very nice. Thanks Elvis.
hey Erica Peltz.... yea it's a good chance that's true! : ) I know of lots of people using it now... and I have 6 pounds myself! !! thanks for the info..... and thanks for watching!
Glad you are doing powder coat. We just ordered 2 sample packs from eastwood. We girls really like your vids... thank you.
hey Karen Mills..... thanks for watching! Let me know how the powder coating goes for ya..... That's a great powder! My channel only has 4.7 % female viewership, it's great to see the interest! Happy powder coating to ya!
Well Elvis, there are three of us. we all reload together. Mary Karen and I. Your vids are good info for us. We have to get our lead from rotometals. One good thing about that is we do not have any trash in it. All pure. Keep up good work. Thanks
+Janet Meyer..... We'll I'm very glad to have ya on board! it's great that you're reloading together. .. that's awesome! Thanks for letting me me know my videos are helpful. .. best of luck to the New Crew!
Yes I am number three. Very good info. We just got our 300 black out upers
+Mary Johns.... yhea I put 2 and 3 together and figured you were 1 of the 3 ! : ) did ya all get different uppers ? I love it that you three are working together. . you can accomplish a lot more that way! very good luck ya! and thanks for watching!
I used this method last night and it worked pretty well. Only flaw is there are "scars" where the coating doesn't cover any place the bullet was touching the wire basket or another bullet. I don't see any way around this short of standing the bullets on the base either after tumbling them or by spraying them, which seems like would be tedious and time consuming. And I'm not sure it's enough to matter.
I will size, load and test them later, but it was easy to do and otherwise they look pretty good.
thanks for the reply elvis. yeah, I made lee 55 gr. I was sizing them after the lubing them with the liquid alox. Will try not sizing em and see if the do better. Thanks again Elvis.
Andres Crespo. .. the most important thing about powdercoated bullets is the fit...... no worries bout leading.
hey elvis, just did my first batch with the harbor freight red and its on point with your method man. Before i powder coated, I casted some .223 and was having a hard time getting them to fly true, hopefully this fixes the issue.
hey Andres Crespo... another thing you can do is try not sizing them. I don't know what bullet your using but the lee 55 gr bullet has minimal contact with the rifling through the lube grooves. maybe give it a try! glad to know your powder coat worked out! thanks for watching!
Hey Elvis. Have you ever tried to pour the bullets from the tray/mesh straight in to a bucket with cold water? They will unstick from eatch other even when they are baked stacked upon each other and you dont need to knock them on the table to get them separeted. The water will do the job for you.That's how we do it in Sweden, works great.
I would love to start powder coating some bullets but I cannot find any primers or small pistol primers I guess I can start doing it one day we might have primers back in the gun stores .
I also started with powder by the pound and it works great. I have switched over to harbor freight red and found that I can't just dump them on my screen/tray and throw them in together. They stick and when I break them apart they remove a fair about of coating so I have to stand each one up. 1000 55-grain .223 bullets are a pain to stand up one at a time. I'll probably go back to powder by the pound.
hey tonsofgunsoffun. .. that's way too much standing of bullets! !!! thanks for watching and commenting!
Due to owning 4 Fords I will order some and try it, Love the blue! Will wait and do these 300 Black out subsonic at 220 Gr.
Harbor freight only sells White & Black powder here now.
Same here, wanted red, but had to get black. Will use it since cheap. If I like powder coating will get some other. Want to try enamel coating also.
Elvis, I watch most of your videos , great entertainment for us old geysers. You are not using gas checks supersonic with powder coat. I was wondering how fast can you go without gas checks needed? Hard info to find. Thanks , Fooey
Just tried powder coating the "Elvis Way" for the first time. WOW, work real good. Thanks for the info
hey James Ananopulos.... that's so awesome. ....! thanks for letting me know! !!
I bought 2lbs of eastwood in v twin orange. I couldn't get it to shake or tumble on my bullets worth a crap. I might try mixing it with my harbor freight red and see how that works.
hey exdxgxe4life.... I've tried mixing things up similarly and no luck. .. try very small batch and see....
great tip, thanks Elvis! I have been using Powder By The Pound for the past year and really love it, but the cost is significantly higher than Harbor Freight... The Eastwood looks like a great compromise..
your welcome ...Joe p!!!!!
Hi Elvis - did you consider wearing nitro gloves and dust mask ? I also use Eastwood, but it is very toxic... Even if it only touches your skin. Please take care ;) Greatings from Poland.
paused the video at 15:03 and bought me some Eastwood. thanks for posting! can't wait!
regards,
Nate
hey. .. 12521252... good move.. I'll be getting more! thanks for watching! !
Elvis did you notice that the ford blue sticks easier from eastwood, or does it matter with other colors from them?
hey 1997LT1Camaro... a lot of the powdercoat from Eastwood works on contact. . but some of them require require the preheat method. .. I have the blue and green.
Tried this with .45 and had no luck. The bullets are sticking to the screen, and then when knocked loose the coating tears/rips off some. (not small amounts either) I went back for a second coat and same result. How critical is it for 100% coverage to achieve proper performance in the barrel? I am going back and going to try to use the nonstick foil in the oven and see how that works.
I am just afraid the coating will be too thick after 3 coats now. I do have a sizing die from Lee however.
I couldn't get the Harbor Freight Red to work even using the 4 for 140 method. I switched over to Eastwood powders and it worked great
hey Larry Kool... thats a kool name!!! Im glad to see you found a way that works for ya!!! that why we like options!! thanks for watching and commenting!
Simply outstanding!👍👍👍👍👍
Sir love your videos and watch them all the time, however; there is one thing I would like to bring up on the one "Powder Coating in Half the Time". I love powder coating and have had really good luck with it. On our neat little toaster ovens I recommend people get a oven temperature gauge to check the actual cooking temp. There is a reason that cooks use them. Dial knobs settings are no more than a reference point and if not calibrated correctly from the factory can be wrong, sooooooooooo, when you said to warm the bullets for 4 mins at 140 degrees and it was VERY important well then is actual temp of the oven. My Walmart 25 dollar one was off quite a bit, set at 400 internal temp was 450, yep 450, so my reference know setting are out of cal. Set at 140 was reading 155 almost 160. Anyways I wanted to pass this info on and it might be a good idea for people to purchase an oven temp thermometer to check actual inside temps. Ken
Thanks for the video. I tried the Ford Light Blue powder coating and came out great. The white too from Eastwood..
Sir pls help or email ME vmceubunz@yahoo.com i need to buy POWDER COATING POWDER FOR my BULLET HEADS PLS
elvis, dude! Remember me? the 22lr reloader guy? Well I discovered yet another PC method by accident. I would be blown away if you tried it and told me what you thought.
I started off doing the 4-140 method. (these are 40 grain 22lr bullets) Harbor Freight Red. They got an even coat but very light. Now I have been using kitchen strainers for my screen because of the small diameter of the 22s. I use a big kitchen strainer about 8" in diameter to bake them. But now I am using a small cheap strainer for applying the PC. When I took them out of the powder after 4 min at 140, dumped them into the small strainer to shake off the excess powder. The coat was thin so I took the powder that was now on the cardboard and poured it back over the bullets in the strainer and shook them out again with another piece of cardboard underneath. Then took that powder and poured it back over the bullets in the strainer again. I noticed that each time I did that they got a bit thicker coat. So I did it 4 or 5 times until I got the nice thick even coat of powder that I wanted. Then baked them at 400 for 20 min. They came out great. I don't know why it works but MAN it worked really well for me. The biggest difference I see is that because the kitchen strainers have so much smaller mesh, it takes a bit of "sifting" to get the powder to shake out so you are kind of shake n bake them in a strainer. You could try it with some 223 bullets. Let me know what you think. And thanks again for you great videos. Your method is being used by a lot of folks now. There is a guy on a forum that I frequent who is experimenting with hollow based round nosed bullets with powder coating. I found out that he uses your method too. Oh and by the way it is pretty common knowledge now that sizing between coats or after the one coat makes the PC harder and tougher. Some guys pushing the envelope with that too. Shooting over 3000 fps. Keep up the good work.
hey there Hans Pcguy. ...that's some fine info with the smaller screen and all that. that's exactly how we learn these fine new methods by trying different things. .. it's nice to hear about people in other forums using this method as well .... we have a very creative bunch in this craft.... the powdercoated bullets give us some real options don't they... thanks for the info. I'll have to try the small screen shake bake some time. .. great hearing from ya! !!!!
VERY EASY BREEZY!
yes sir! Been keeping an eye on the fit specifically. I will let you know how they do in a few days. thanks man.
Do you shoot 308 powder coated without gas checks
I must be doing something wrong. I threw some Airsoft BB'S and a scoop of powder in a #5 dish (cottage cheeze). Shook for about 1 minute, transfer to oven, and it's all good. EXCEPT it is adding about 0.004 to the bullet, seems like other people are getting 0.002. Maybe i added too much powder? I'd love to be able to shoot my .356 dropped bullets at .358 and avoid sizing... Have you ever found that things get too thick?
Hey Adam Mcintyre... Yep .. I've run into to thick. for one, Not that important but you can try without the bb's... And you may try less shaking in the powder. Also some folks like using only, like a table spoon or so of powder. This seems a little better for some... And if it's thick I like to shake it around in the screen really good. It dont hurt if light scaring occurs, It will fill out fine. There are some things that might help... let me know how it goes? thanks for watching!
Im with ya elvis i got a NONharbor freight powder & it works great
hey bodyxpolitic, what kind of powder you use? thanks again!
Its called Pro-Tec fishing lure & jig powder zombie green. i got it off ebay
I am thinking purchase powder gun and lay bullets in line then spray the powder then bake it altogether this way you will not have any dings or so . What you all take on this idea ?
Old Grumpy many people are doing this on the cast boolits forum, not really it's a waste of time and powder, and it makes a mess. The tumble and shake and bake works fine. The dings are negligible.
They look great! How do they shoot? Thanks for sharing.
Awesome video.
Question: is it possible to remove bullet lube from bullets that are 30+ years old . When I was in Georgia we could go out about anywhere and go shootings . Anyway I want to get back into reloading and just wanted to know if it is possible to remove the lube so I can powder coat these bullets.
Thanks Ron 357VA
Can we powder coat ar 15 - 55gr bullets and if we tried to run them about 2500 fps would they stay together?
Hey Elvis: Does the 20 min @ 400º tend to "anneal" your bullets? Can it cause you to lose bh hardness? I saw on other videos you were water quenching them after the oven, I think. Is it for convenience or to preserve the bullet hardness?
Elvis- I am new to powder coating. I am using powder from Eastwood which is called Vermillion. I don't have molds yet so I ordered some Hornady .358 LRN which have a lube on them. I tried coating some as they came out of the box and some that I washed with paint thinner and could not tell any difference. I have two toaster ovens and my biggest problem is maintaining 400°F, just how critical is the temp?
That's one Good True Man there everyone! Knowledge is key to success.
thanks Kyle, thanks for watching! ; )
Elvis you are the man brother!!! Come back to youtube man!!
why is the harbor freight black unsafe to use?
I'll definitely give this a shot Elvis! But questions remain - does it work because it's hard cast or a particular alloy or doesn't it matter (a lot of my lead rounds are using 2-2-96). Do you still clean up the lead to remove finger oils, etc? Do you still size them after you coat them?
Have you tried the Airsoft bb method? i hear people put a few in a bag with the powder coat and the boolits then tumble all inside the bag. But this method seems like it works well.
Don’t waste your time with the plastic bb’s. They are a pain in the rear and add nothing to the process
@@wannabe4668 thank you. I have not used them and don't plan to.
Well, I think I may have figured out how to create some quality static for PC. While I've only tried with red (part lazy), the results are coming out quite nice. I took EA advice and warmed the bullets in preheated 150 @ 4 mins. Then comes the static...I took me a gray 5 gal Sherwin Williams PAINT bucket (clean the inside extremely well) and dropped thed bullets inside with 500 airsoft bbs plus Red HF PC. Now, when not in use I utilize my Rockford Arsenal Wet Tumblr to set my 5 gal bucket on sideways. I can assume we've all put the lid on the bucket at this point and taken the wet Tumblr off the rollers. Run them bullets for approximately 5 or so minutes and holy smokes. You can feel the static on the outside of the bucket. Nice thick coat of PC. I will say I do not ever touch the bullets with bare hands at anytime prior to PC to avoid oils from my fingers hindering results. I should add that i do stand the bullets on their base on non stick alluminum foil (dull side). Let's see if you get the same. Would be nice to see if others get good results.
Oh yeah - and is this only working on HF or would it also work with Eastwood, Hitech, etc also?
hello Thanks for your vidéo i tried but the powder does not stick on the bullets. Any ideas about that?
will be trying it thanks Elvis.
They look great, I'm a fan of the color blue. Can you reuse the powder? I wish I still cased would like to try powder coating.
hey treesablowin! swirl around to coat, agitate the bullets in the screen, throw em in the oven, Put some more bullets in the same powder bowl and repeat! I'm a fan of the blue myself!
Alright, I've done the 4 mins at 140-150, with very little powder on them once I shake and bake. Are you doing this with HF PC? One thing I did add was the airsoft bbs and then stood them up as I've seen so many others do like LB & FC. Then of course bake @400 for 20mims. When you break the bullets apart do you find that PC is being pulled off to include pulling them from the grate. These were problems I encountered until I stood them up. Thanks for any and all help. I need to make the drive one day from Augusta and see you operate first hand now that I'm retired.
have you ever figured out approx how many bullets 1 pound of powder coat covers..?
hey jay valley ..... no I really haven't. .. but I'm sure you want me to guess, anyway. if I had to to guess. . 5 to 10 thousand. . I know big spread. . at least 5 thousand! happy powder coating to ya!
another great video, getting ready to powder coat bullets myself.
Harleychromeman. ... thanks again for watching and commenting! !!!!
Elvis- With your knowledge in powder coating I have a problem that I cannot solve. I want to add Hexagonal Boron Nitride to a powder coat to see if it adds to the lubricating ability of the powder coats. However I cannot get it to coat or stick to the bullets when dry, heated. will it work with the wet method using acetone?
Hi, my name is Tom Bunda, and I watched this video. Can you please, tell me where you buy that light blue East Powder, and also I would like to know if you size the bullets before or after powder? Do you use gas checks on the coated bullets?
Powder coating God father love that!..lol
Man always a placer to check out your videos thank you!
Elvis check out powder from pendry on eBay, low temp polymer
I'm new to powder coating, I am using the Eastwood ford blue and heating to 400 for 20 minutes, but where my bullets are touching each other the powder is missing from one of the bullets. I'm getting a lot of spots like this. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks
Frankie
Great video, Elvis. Thumbs up!
thanks floorpizza....!
Powder coating king
Just got my first pound of Eastland powder today.mwill try it out soon! Thanks Elvis!
hey crazycasting Bonnifield. .. you said Eastland. .. But I know you ment eastwood! Let me know what ya think of it?
+elvis ammo My Bad Elvis. It is Eastwood. I will let you know how I like it. I have only used harbor freight in the past so I am exited about this one.
Thanks for the improved method and powder info. Now what do i do with the Harbor Freight powers I ordered and have on hand but have never used yet. I ordered them based on your 4 at 140 method which seemed so much easier than tumbling or shaking. I don't like the Ford blue, never have since the 1960s. Didn't seem to be an appropriate color for an engine. Will probably use Chevy red.
hey Mature Patriot!!! Dodge Has some nice colors too!! : ) The Blue does seem to have great coverage....I still use my harbor freight powders as well! Thanks for taking the time to comment and Thanks for watching......
Want to thanks you for your videos on powder coating. Am about to retire and will have time now for more bullet casting and reloading. Powder coating seems to be the way to go for easier bullet making and reloading.
I have had great results with the eastwood blue however for some reason i can get the damn green to stick have you messed around with that green at all what sort of results have you found?
A question for Elvis: If I coat a lead bullet with a polymer coating as described here (GREAT videos BTW), can it then successfully be used in a pistol that has a polygonal barrel? Thanks!
hey tkarlmann... I do'n't want to tell ya what to do. But I can tell ya that i have 4 glocks and have shot thousands of rounds with 0 problems.! my lead in the semi autos usually run around 13-15 bhn. hope this helps... thanks for watching!!!
What's a bhn?
+tkarlmann it's the brinell hardness scale. .. I use wheel weights for my lead. I don't necessarily recommend pure lead. but some people say you can use it with powdercoated bullets. .
elvis ammo Thanks for clarifying.
Excellent video Elvis. I'll be experimenting with Eastwoods hot coat gray, and diamond black metallic today. I know you are a trusted source of info, because I see the Dukes mayo jar in the background. 👍
hey slugmaster64 God Bless Ya about the Dukes! you can trust that! : )
Check out ordering the Eastwood powder through Amazon with free shipping for Prime members...it ships directly from Eastwood and fulfilled through Amazon.
do you find that by powder coating you can still load at supersonic velocities and don't need to worry about leading the barrel?
I tried a Eastwood green, I used a wire screen. My bullets look like crap! Color and coating is good but they stuck to the wire screen and have lines all over one side of them.
Eastwood Powder is available from Amazon.com. Ford Light Blue is known as Henry's Light Blue American Car Color.(www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RL3BGWN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Prices of everything have gone up in the past 4 years and the price is now $13.99 but the shipping is free. Amazon has a large number of the Eastwood powder coating colors, including Full Gloss Clear ($14.99).
What molds do you use???
Is it any trouble that the mesh becomes powder coated after a few batches?
hey sicesp.... good question, after a lot of powder coating you may get boogers I call them stuck to your bullets. .. you can wire brush the mesh and solve the problem or replace the mesh.. I have a whole roll of wire ... thanks for watching!
Hey Elvis.. Looks like you have been thinking outside of the box with better quality Powder. You are right though, The Harbor Freight Powder coat does nicely, However it's not a pretty as that Ford Blue (Eastwood) stuff. as you know I don't powder coat, However it's the way to go. (Cost control my friend) I have spent thousands on Bullet molds, Lube seizer Presses and uncountable sticks of Lube claiming to be the "Best".. Just to get to the point of where I'm at now, All I need is a automated casting machine and I would be in Business, One thing that is awesome is the pride you take in what you do. I can see it in you that when you do a good job it's because you work hard at it and take pride in your work. You make Great Bullets that surpass what you could buy out there and that's what it's all about dude.. Have a good one Elvis. can't wait for the range time.. Dave.
hey thorsaxe777. .. yeah Joe Kikass told me about this and I could tell he really had sutem there. ... thankfully I ordered some. it's awesome! and yes I do take pride in my work! that's what makes it fun... Great quality powder. .. you can dump a lot of money as you know. .. you also know it's like crack!!!! ; ) doing it for less is always a challenge! thanks again! !!
Like you said.. Doing something Well is well worth doing. As soon as I see how to do it and wire it up, I'm going to make a PID control unit for a old Lee ten pound pot that I have had forever. The whole cost is less than fifty bucks. It provides thermal heat control that does not vary from Hot to cold and makes it More Precise for maintaining heat consistency. I would suggest you look into doing it to your Lee casting pot, I seen on ebay the whole main kit cost $33 for Controller, Probe and relay. Dave..
Just another option, I use a Lyman 10 lb pot to melt my ingots and flux. Then use a kitchen type ladle to replenish my Lee production pot, I have both pots side by side. This seems to maintain production pot temp very well and I can produce 1000 -1600 bullets in a long evening. I drop them from 6 cavity lee molds into a 5 gallon plastic pail half full (optimist) of water. The pail has a terry cloth towel with about a 1"
hole, draped to the to the water level, the towel is secured with a very large screw type hose clamp. I am not sure I gain much in hardness of bullets from quenching, but the benefit from the towel and water is less dented bullets. The towel also minimizes water slash to the molten lead, pots are on a bench and pail is on the floor.
Hey Elvis what part of the country are you from? Just curious. I like to guess but I can't figure you out. I am from the heart of Texas. I love the polymer coating and I have been trying some from a commercial source. Shot some though my 45 and 2 9mms and just a dry snake and they were clean. No lead detected with a Lewis lead remover. It's amazing stuff. An indoor range is very bad with regular cast and lubed bullets. Polymer coated is the only way to go now...
hey guitarbootman ... I'm here in the fine State of SC.. .. yes powder coated bullets or polymer are the way to go... and a lot safer shooting steel too... no metal jackets flying back... Happy shooting my Texan friend!
thanks elvis I like your videos your a good old country boy like me
thanks John Kovolchik... thank God for country boys!!!!! ; ) thanks for watching
Hmm, I've been a long time airsoft bb/HF red tumbler but this has me interested. I dont really fancy the color blue but I guess the target doesn't care what color they are. HF red is pretty tacky looking anyways. Any confirmed reports of other colors working just as well? How does it work with heavy bullets? I've always had trouble getting a good coat on my 230gr 30's and 440gr 50's using the airsoft bb shake n bake method.
hey rusty Shackleford.... yes Im coating my 230 grain 30's with dark Green and blue.... and reports of plenty of other colors working as well, Just like hf. powder one color may seem to give a prettier coat than another. But they (so far) seem to all work. (virgin powder) happy powdercoating to ya!
I also have a video (green bullets) 230 grain Eastwood. you can see if you like the green!
+Rusty Shackleford sounds like a plan Rusty.... Thanks for watching!
Hey Elvis
Really enjoyed your video. Very interesting and informative! Thanks for taking the time to make it.. I'm getting ready to start casting for my new Smith&Wesson Performance Center 500 Magnum. I was and well - still am worried about leading the barrel. But it looks like powder coating my bullets may be an easy solution. Do you think the Eastwood coatings will be ok to push up around 1800 fps? I don't believe I'll go much past that with this monster! Thanks again bro..
Denis
hey Denis McCarthy. ..you go ahead and push em as fast as you want. ... that's some tuff stuff. ... just make sure you are at least 1 thousands over on your bullet size... let me know how those monsters fly ; )
Hey Elvis - Thanks for the quick response bro! So I have a few questions for ya. Since I'm going to be powder coating, do you still recommend using a gas check? Thanks to you I ordered my Lee furnace and two molds from Midway as well as the Lee sizing die. In your comment above, you said "make sure you are at least 1 thou over your bullet size" - My sizing die is .501. So once they are coated the bullet is going to be a bit larger than that.. Is that going to be a issue? And since I will be powder coating, I'm assuming the lead alloy is not going to be as important as it would be without the coating in regards to how hard the lead is... - correct? Also, are you on Facebook? It would be nice to follow you there as well. Thanks!
+Denis McCarthy .... no gas checks , yes 1 thousands over bore diameter , and no the hardness isn't as important with pc. bullets. bullet fit is the most important. And yes I have a face book "elvis ammo " Thanks for watching! : ) I just uploaded a new video with some helpful info pertaining to some advantages of the powdercoat bullet... oh btw. you cast the bullet, then powdercoat, then size... and bingo. .. load my friend! .501
With freight included the Eastwood powers are about 2x the HF powders. Is the increase in price really worth it?
hey Papa's Place... well... it just depends. .. I do find myself kinda going to the Eastwood powder alot.. but I also like the great coat it provides. But I have absolutely no problems at all with HF. It offers different colors and easier to coat. Nothing major! you can always watch for sales and (free shipping ) that's how I got my last batch!
what is the purpose for powder coating cast lead bullets
hey Julio Cuevas... it takes the place of lubing the bullets and gives it a sort of jacket. Prevents leading your barrel, and it allows us to load ammo closer to what the data books say to load fmj ammo....
When you bake,your vids look like you start timer when bullets are cold. Do you start timing after powder gets glossy ?
hey mikesfarm mikesfarm. .. yes correct. . you saw right... I do start from cold. .. thanks for watching!
Elvis. I was getting caking on my bullets from possibly overheating. I cut back to 2 minutes and I'm not having an issue with caking, but now there are semi-transparent coatings. Kind of 'marbled'. Is this ok?
Hey Elvis, I'm having trouble getting harbor freight red to coat in one coat..tried preheating the bullets but still won't coat with hand tumbling..maybe the bullets aren't warm enough to coat without doing twice..any suggestions? ..thanks!
Try using a plastic container with the number 5 inside the recycle triangle on it. They seem to create more static electricity than other types of plastic containers.
pretty, but how do they shoot? have u done a "crush" test to see if powder peels off....
Maybe it would be nice to know how you made your basket in a video. oh and I just scored a very nice brand new $180 toaster oven for $25. it was hard to make it a powder coat oven. it has convention and a rotisserie. nothing but the best for my bullets, lol
How'd you make the mesh screen you baked them in? Going to try this since I'm almost ready to start casting.
I SSMDad.... I got some hardware cloth from the hardware store and cut it out, bent up the edges to the size of my toaster oven. .. that's it! the holes in the mesh are 1/4 inch by the way.... happy powder coating to ya!
Sweet. Thank you! Love your videos too!
Hi realy like your vid now how long after casting do you powder coat them
What is the purpose of powder coating?
hey Carpe Diem...Here's a video that might help with the question....
ua-cam.com/video/pPU4wNqkkG4/v-deo.html
Thank you - just watched it. Now I understand. Thanks for all the great knowledge.
+Carpe Diem ... Awesome! Thanks for watching... And for commenting!
No more water drop eh? So what was the thought on the water drop in the first method ??
Hey Edad Martin... I only water quench when I need a little xtra hardness... Most of the time Im working to soften the wheel weight alloy... if you can believe it... Funny because people spend a lot of time effort and conversation around making them harder! : ) I'll run out of soft lead before I use my hard stuff....
have you done a video on making those lead blocks ingets
hey Joel Blanco. .. no I haven't. .. but I know I must do it soon! I get a lot of requests. .. Thankyou for asking. people are also interested in the ingot mold I use as well... I'll put it on priority list! thanks for watching!
+elvis ammo thank you they are some of the cleanest looking ingots ive seen and thanks for the quick response also im new to all this can i just go to the junk yard and buy the wheel weights in bulk?
+Joel Blanco I've never done it but you may be able to get some from a mom + pop scrap yard. .. anywhere near 30 cent a pound is awesome, I get them from tire shops... depends on where you live, some states have banned the use of lead wheel weights. . I live in the south. .. but there talking about banning them here to! around here I'm getting about 80% lead out of each load. but that may differ, depending on the state you live.
+elvis ammo thank you so much ill look into it
Have u tried putting hollow points in ur powder coated bullets
have you tried it at a indoor range also how is the smoke i use the indoor range that's why I'm asking thanks have a nice day.
hey ocean374...just maybe a little more than factory. . can't see it being a problem like lubed bullets. . but I haven't shot them indoors. ..