Tip Sheet for Coating Bullets with Bullet Kote
There has been a lot of talk about Moly bullets and patents but, like anything else, there's more than one way to skin that old cat. The fact is this process should not be as hard as some companies are making it out to be, and based on our 40 plus years experience with using Moly, we have come up with a system that is simple, less time consuming and a hell of a lot less expensive. Actually KG first introduced a Moly bullet coat in the 1960s. Needless to say it did not go over then. KG also produces the well known Gun Kote. The point is, we know our coatings well and will be able to help you if you get in any trouble. Following are some tips we put together that will help you coat your bullets.
Preparation: The key to coating bullets, or for that matter anything, is to first have them as clean as possible. Using Acetone, MEK or Hexane will, we found, give the best results. If you have problems getting these we do carry a Hexane based solvent in an aerosol called KG-3 which cleans very well and evaporates really quick.
Tip: Do not use solvents that leave any kind of residue.
Once you have cleaned any oil and grease from the bullets be sure you don't pick them up with your fingers. I've done this a couple of times and the oil from my fingers has wreaked havoc on the coating. Latex surgical gloves or white cotton gloves will do. After coating the bullets and they have air dried, (about 10 seconds) you can touch them with your fingers.
Laying Bullets Out to be Coated: We found several different methods work well; However, Using the Badger Model 250 Air Brush along with the Universal Templates will give the best results. (See Bullet Kote Kit)
If you are so inclined you can make the templates if you have access to a table saw and router and some wood. You can use cardboard and slit grooves in it and lay the bullets in these grooves and spray them. The wood works well especially well if you make two, then when you spray and get ready to turn them over, you only have to place the second board made on the top of the first, and flip them over. This is the same principal we designed the templates from. If you use this method be sure to make the grove just under half of the diameter of the bullet you're coating. The Universal Template uses a 3/16 wide "V" groove.
One method I found works well is to make a basket about 16” x 16” from Aluminum screen (the kind that are found on Screen Doors) . I twisted each of the four corners so that the screen had a concave basket. I then dumb the bullets in the basket, clean them, place them in the oven to preheat (300 degrees for about 15 min.) Vmax and Nosler at 250.
After the bullets are heated , place the basket with the bullets on a piece of cardboard. I then take pot holder and spread the bullets out flat and make my first pass with the spray gun. I then take each of the corners that I had twisted, pulling up and so as to roll the bullets to the other end and I spray then while rolling. I pull from all four sides. If the bullets cool (become glossy) I simply reheat and do the same process over. The nice part of this method is you never touch the bullets.
Preheat: the coating will dry quicker when the surface is heated and you get a better flow of material. You can heat two ways. Preheat in an oven to about 150 degrees or preheat bullets by leaving them sit in the sun for a while (I do this and found that it works well and you can leave them on the template). Now I know this next line is going to sound dumb but, do not, under any circumstance, put a loaded round in an oven.
Spraying: The thing to remember is this coating is very forgiving. If you make mistakes you can simply fix whatever you screwed up by using MEK or Acetone. Spraying is self evident. Hold the spray gun at about a 30 degree angle. Use the lightest setting possible on the air gun and spray using slow passes.
Tip: If you do not let the bullets dry they will stick to each other. The cardboard will dry slower then the bullets!
Tip: Make the groves in the cardboard 1/2 the diameter of the bullet your coating.
Tip: Spray as many bullets as possible, given the size of your oven, and you will use less material and be able to coat that many more bullets.
Baking: Baking will provide a cured coating that cannot be rubbed off under any circumstance or be damaged by chipping or any kind of solvent and it will not come off when inserting the bullet into the case like simple spray on coatings. Once you have coated the bullets put them in the oven at 300 to 325 degrees for one hour (Nosler and V-Max 250 F.) You can check to see if they're done by taking one out and trying to rub the coating off with solvent. If you can't they're done! Don't worry about baking longer than one hour.
Polishing: You can, after baking, polish the bullets by using a medium and tumbler. I use a vibrator type tumbler and corncob.
Black Powder: When coating bullets made for black powder follow the same procedure for spraying and baking as above. What you will have to look out for is even with a Moly baked conical you will have to re-lube the bullet to allow it to seal in the bore. In the first tests we ran we found that, due to the diameter of the conical in relation to the bore, the bullet would not seal well and we lost half the velocity. This can also pose a very dangerous situation. Coating round balls is no problem since you coat only the patch. When testing Moly coated patches the results showed increased velocity and the only thing you need to do here is simply dip the patch into the Moly solution and let it air dry. We have tried using patches without any lube and it was harder to push the ball down the bore. The best test results were with Moly patches and a very small amount of lube. Coating Sabots is easy. Just spray them let air dry and load them.
Coating Thickness: Using the recommended producer that
comes with the Bullet Kote Pro Starter Kit will give the best results. A
coating of .03 to .05 overall is doable. Even if you build up a thickness of
over .05 there is no reason for concern as the coating is soft and will simply
burnish off when seating. When spraying bullets with the Badger and templates
you should be able to get 3500 to 4000 223's coated, Dipping bullets also
provides a thin film.
Back to Bullet Kote
Information provided by the Folks at KG
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