Steel Valley Casting Coated Bullets (PGH Area) (Yippie Bullet Pictures)

[DucatiRon]

Well we finally finished up all of our first batch of powder coated bullets. For you guys that haven't used them yet I think this is going to be the new hot ticket for shooters. I know Roger over at Kings on the other side of the state has his own line in production now also. These things are really great to use no matter who you buy them from.

Our house color is flat black but with a selection of over 6500 colors available we can make almost any color you want. We have experimented with several different colors already.

[Remington788]

They look really cool, especially those DEWC 38s.

School me on the coating, please. What does it do ?
I see no lube in the rings, so I am guessing that it lubes the barrel.

[DucatiRon]

The coating itself is an automotive/industrial coating. Same stuff you would use on a motorcycle frame or car part. Although there are a few different types of powder coat we use a TGIC Polyester coating. A epoxy based coating has also been used with similar results.

As for lube it dosent actually lube the barrel. Simmilar as how a copper jacketed bullet does not lube the barrel. It provides a barrier between the lead and the barrel to eliminate leading that is traditionally found with exposed lead bullets. The coating is baked on so when it goes down the barrel it does not peel off or strip away. It simply compresses into the bullet. Belive it or not what the coating is made out of is less important than most would think. As long as you have a durable barrier that sticks to the lead you get good results.

Coating bullets is very popular overseas and is just catching on here. The guys over at the cast bullet forums have been messing with this stuff for over 2 years now and pretty much perfected the technique. You can even do it yourself in small batches with an initial investment of about $100 if your already casting your own.

The biggest problem is its a bit more labor intensive if your working in bulk. One of the biggest reasons Federal, Remington, and the big guys probly haven't started it yet. All the work they do is cold press swaging. This process would require a retool of pretty much everything they do and ovens the size of city blocks to process the amount of bullets they make in one day.

[Remington788]

Sounds like a great product for those that don't want FMJ but still want to avoid leading. I have a 1920s .38 and can't really shoot modern factory loads through it.

[DucatiRon]

Funny you should mention that. I have a friend of mine shooting some of the 38 semi wad cutters in an old S&W 38. And I mean a 38 not a 38 special. He using them coated and unsized at .362 dia and getting good results with it.

[GeneCC]

Well we finally finished up all of our first batch of powder coated bullets. For you guys that haven't used them yet I think this is going to be the new hot ticket for shooters. I know Roger over at Kings on the other side of the state has his own line in production now also. These things are really great to use no matter who you buy them from.

Our house color is flat black but with a selection of over 6500 colors available we can make almost any color you want. We have experimented with several different colors already.

Nice looking bullets....

1. What is the effect of powder coating on barrel materials? I don't want you to reveal Trade Secrets just a word on possible issues with barrels.

I know that you wouldn't deliberately damage anyone's firearms BUT what is the history of using these Powder Coatings on bullets?

2. Do you plan to offer a Powder coated bullet for 44 caliber?

3. Do you plan to expand your distributors more towards the East of Pgh?

[DucatiRon]

Gene let me fill you in on the best of my knowledge and research that I have done. And there is no trade secrets here. I am following in the footstepts of the castboolit forum pioneers who have blazed this path. All I have done is taken there process and expanded it into a larger production.



1. So far no negative effects. Coating bullets have been used widely in Europe now for about 20 years or so. This tech is just recently being used here in the U.S. about 3 years ago. There are various coatings being used. The two most popular choices are a polymer coating that we use or the HyTech coating that Jerry Miculek's brother uses from Bayou Bullets. Jerry's brother owns Bayou Bullet company. HyTech is product from a coating company in Australia. This was pretty much the first real bullet coating introduced into the U.S. If you Google powder coated bullets you will find hours of reading.

Myself personally I have spent well over 20hrs reading about bullet coatings and various application techniques before I even started the coating process. Then I made some small batch stuff gave it to friends and we started using them. Personally I have shot about 1k each through my Kimber and Glock 20 with a factoy barrel this year in IDPA shoots. Both guns are chambered in 10mm and I normally load the 180grn bullet to 1150fps through my chrony. No leading or coating residue in the barrel all season. Matter of fact I never even cleaned the barrels all year just to see if there was any build up and nope nada zero.

There is even many reports of making cast rifle bullets and pushing them well into the 2600fps range w/o any issues. It does seem that 2600fps is the speed cap for coatings although I have seen some say 3k but not as well documented. As of right now the most people are using rifle bullets for are 300blk and .223. Those shooting coated bullets in suppressed 300blk say no signs of coating even in their suppressors.

Now I will say after all that there is 1 yes ONE report of a guy who claims his barrel wore out after 10k rounds. It was a Lone Wolf Glock replacement barrel. Most call the story BS or that it was a junk barrel to begin with because he so far is the only story. And you know how stories spread on the net. If it was more than one guy we would have heard about it by now.




2. I would love to offer coated bullets in 44. I even made some. My current issue is that my casting molds cast oversize bullets. This is common in commercial casting to make oversized bullets to size them to many different sizes w/o changing molds. Commercial casters generally cast bullets approx. 4-5 thousands over finished diameter. With the 44's they cast at .434. After the coating is applied they measure .437-.438. Trying to knock them back down to .430 basically destroyed the gearbox on my sizing machine costing me a few hundred dollars to rebuild and about a week of down time while gathering replacement parts . Way to much diameter and bullet bearing surface to over come. I will have to buy a new set of molds costing about a thousand bucks for a set to get a reduced diameter bullet. Right now just getting this business started an extra 1k is a bit hard to come by.

I did try sizing the bullets prior to coating to help overcome this problem. Well it sucked. I did not think the coating adhered to the bullet as well and basically scrapped the idea for now.



3. I would love to expand. Right now travel time is a limiting factor. I have driven to almost every gun shop within an hour and a half drive of me. So far 6 dealers is what I got. Shipping of lead bullets is going to be the most limiting factor for dealers farther away.

I am always willing to ship to people outside of my area. I have been giving out free sample packs to a lot of people. I've probably given away over 50k bullets at this current time to get people to try them.

People interested like you and many others get sample packs all the time. I always tell them get your LGS to stock them. I didn't get into this business to compete with my friends in the gun stores. I got into this business because I love reloading, shooting, and making money. And selling my product to a LGS is the best way for all of us to make money.


I hope I have answered your questions w/o rambling on to much.

[GeneCC]

You did fine, Ron.

The key phrase for me was "polymer". People have been using polymers on bullets for ages. Some Polymers can be very hard. Most are pretty mild. What is good about them is that they seal in the lead.

Are you considering doing direct sales to the public? Shipping items in lots of 250 could be good for you. You would need to place a price premium on consumer orders to make it worth your time. Retail sales can be difficult. If you use only CC and Paypal you would have good records and faithful collection of sales taxes. That would make the PA DOR happy.

I understand that you have to take care of your dealers too. Some of us know what Dillon did to its dealers. Don't want to see that again. So you could have the online shopping cart measure the distance from dealers and say "Hey, you're close. How about supporting one of my dealer? Here's their hours and location".

Just some suggestions.....

[DucatiRon]

Yes I do direct public or retail sales. But I try to do this for customers outside my area or for products a dealer dosent have. I also have bullets listed on Gunbroker to help spread the word. Right now its the cheapest advertising I can get.

I haven't really considered a box of 250. I can't really say anyone has asked me for a smaller quantity than 500. If it becomes a request I'd be more than happy to fill it though.

The nice part is we are a small company. It's pretty easy for me to change and adapt to help get customers what they want.

[nitro570]

You could also try the hi-tech method,check out castboolits.com.