Powder Coated Bullets Flaking

[TNMTBik3r]

Digging through reloading components and organizing stuff, I discovered a bunch of .45 bullets I powder coated probably two years ago. At the time they looked and shot great (the couple hundred I loaded), but have been sitting in the garage since. Now a bunch of the powder coat has flaked/rubbed off. If I grab a handful there is flakes left in my hand as the PC continues to flake off.

Were these not properly baked when I coated them? Like I said they seemed great at the time. Any way to fix them or OK to just load and shoot? I don't want to coat my mags/barrel with powder coat flakes. Could these be melted down and the powder coat skimmed off so the lead could be re-cast?

The picture doesn't really show how flaky these are.

[Jct1911]

As a fellow bullet coater, those look like they did not cure all the way. Also looks like coating is quite thick. 

 

Eta: they can be melted down again, the PC floats to top and can be skimmed. Does smell pretty bad, so best done with good ventilation. 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Jct1911

[frankmako]

let us know what you did to fit the bullets/pc.  last year a found a coffee can that was full of some cast lead 44 mag cast lead gas check bullets that i did in 86.  the lube was all over the bullets and not in the lube grove.   a big mess.  i put them in the oven at a low temp.  most of the lube came off to the bottom of the pan.  i re-lubed them and they shot fine.  

[BrasilNuts]

I've seen them flake like that when the bake temp was to high, but if I remember correctly, they flaked as soon as they cooled.

You could load them and they will shoot fine, but you'll have a mess in your press, mags and gun.

If it were me, I'd melt them and recast.

[TNMTBik3r]

22 minutes ago, BrasilNuts said:

I've seen them flake like that when the bake temp was to high, but if I remember correctly, they flaked as soon as they cooled.

You could load them and they will shoot fine, but you'll have a mess in your press, mags and gun.

If it were me, I'd melt them and recast.

I forget what the bake temp of this powder was but my small oven was set to that temperature and I verified it a few times  I may not have verified the temp that day or maybe my timer was off, who knows now.

I don't cast, no equipment for it, so may load a few and see how messy they are or try to find someone local who feels like spending the time to melt them down. It's about 800 bullets.

[BrasilNuts]

Looking at the pic, it appears it's mainly the red ones flaking.  Are the blue ones ok?

It was red that flaked on us too and they looked exactly like that.

[TNMTBik3r]

3 hours ago, BrasilNuts said:

Looking at the pic, it appears it's mainly the red ones flaking.  Are the blue ones ok?

It was red that flaked on us too and they looked exactly like that.

The red does seem worse than the blue but the blue is flaking off as well.