Does anyone know a good place to get powder coated bullets for a good price. Went to look for some 38/357 and found out bayou and Brazos are both out of business! I would also consider plated or fmj for the right price. Thanks in advance.

powder coated cast lead?

I've never bought them but I've made them. Do you cast? The powder coating isn't hard. I put a little powder in with the bullets and some acetone in a plastic jar. Slosh it around until they're evenly coated then put them on a tray in a toaster. start with a low temp (100F) to get the solvent evaporated away, then crank it up. If I skipped the slow start with the temp sometimes they catch on fire. So its an outside activity.

these folks work https://acmebullet.com/product/9mm-125-grain-rn-nlg-green/
I have a local shop that stocks them I have bought thousands there is a stack of the little wood boxes they sell them in as organization on my reloading bench


x-treem bullets are copper plated but priced very close , cabelas carries them , when we are running low I will stop and buy a thousand , they work well
https://www.cabelas.com/p/x-treme-bullets-copper-plated-rnfp-pistol-bullets

I know you asked about coated but the plated are close enough in price these days they are worth looking at if you can avoid shipping.

Missouri bullets

Wolfie knows how to do this, I'm sure he will chime in when he sees this thread.
If you search around in the archives a few years ago you will find where he was showing how to do it.
That guy is a genuine George Washington Carver.

I do the dry method

shake the bullets in a type 5 food container with the matte black air soft BBs and harbor freight red powder coating , then with a nitrile glove on dip the fingers in the powder then pick bullets out and set them on the baking tray on parchment on their base

I have a little convection oven I set to 400 and cook 10 minutes

it is all about if you have time , sometimes it is just wanting to get ammo loaded for a match or something so buy a case of coated from the store.

I tried dry but didn't get as even of coverage. I didn't have airsoft BBs in it, maybe that's why. I got the wet method working well enough and made buckets of them. I haven't done much recreational shooting the last 5y. Prior to that I was shooting quite a bit and regularly casting & powder coating. It will be years before I get around to powder coating again. I think I still have a couple ammo cans full of 158g powder coated.

I do not cast currently. Just looking for the beast deal on bullets that I can get. Don't want to mess around with lube and chance of leading the barrel. Last time I bought the cast lead with the Hytek coating was the best deal I could find. Looks like about 10 cents each and up is the new normal. How much are you guys able to cast and powder coat for?

The big cost question is your source of lead. I bought hundreds of pounds of it years ago, and family gives me some occasionally (remodeling old plumbing, etc).
If you pay $ for it, just do math to get your lead cost per bullet. There's 7000 grains in a pound. You should have nearly 0 waste because all scraps just get thrown back into the pot to melt again.

So for example with 158g bullets, you'll get around 44 bullets per pound. The powder coat paint jar will last a very long time so that's nearly a 1 time cost.

On equipment...

I'm a huge fan of Lee 6 cavity molds. You can go fast with them. Handles are sold separately but you can easily move the handle to whatever mold you're using at the time. sample here
A bottom pour lead pot helps you go fast, but you can get by with a hot plate and ladel too. sample here
You'll need to size them, but the dies are cheap.
To powder coat I use a cheap convection toaster oven. here's an example but just get whatever is on the shelf at goodwill for $5.
And a cheap bottle of paint sample here. I avoid the matte finish powder coat. I read somewhere they put an abrasive additive in it to knock off the gloss. I don't know if that's true, but if so I'd rather it not go down my barrel.

If you'll never upgrade to the bottom pour lead pot, you might be happy with a 2 cavity mold and save some $. But if you eventually get the bottom pour pot, you'll want the 6 cavity mold.


Super low budget start: $70 + lead & paint ($40 for a cheap mold + hot plate, pan, ladel, toaster from goodwill)

For a little more money, you can probably get going for around $100 + lead & paint ($70 for a good mold & handles, then hot plate, pan, ladel, toaster from goodwill)

Then if you stick with it, look at adding the bottom pour lead pot at some point. You'll still use the hot plate and pan you started with, for doing the initial melt of dirty lead (to skim the garbage off it). A thermometer is helpful not necessary.

Do not use pans ladels, ovens, etc that you use for cooking! lead poisoning isn't something to flirt with.

the lead cost and time cost

you get many thousands of bullets to the pound of powder coating

I get lead from a tire shop in the past , now I get reclaimed 22 bullets from some target shooters who have lead traps , that might be a little soft for some types of casting.

mostly I need to find the time to smelt and pour , and coat and size

back during the 22lr shortage I was loading with 2 cent primers 38spl for about 4-5 cents a round using reclaimed wheel weight lead.
I would shoot with a coat that had big pockets right pocket loaded ammo , left pocket empties
your primer cost is going to be the most expensive thing if you start casting , well once you have your equipment purchased

I need to get back to it , I am seriously considering a second 20 pound pot because I get a rhythm going dropping bullets and then the pot is empty so with 2 pots one can be heating while I empty the other then I can just keep going

it would be nice to sit down and rip out 50-60 pounds of bullets then just coat and load them all year

I cook my own also.

I second the Lee 6 cavity , they take a bit to get heated up but once you are at operating temp , your dropping bullets fast

I have several of the 6 cavity , including a 6 cavity round ball .490 mold I got from track of the wolf (lee mold , made for TOW as a special run) that lets me keep 4-H muzzle loading in round balls I drop a 30 cal ammo can of those and they are set for a while.

Go to youtube and watch a guy named Elvis Ammo. You'll learn everything that you need to know about powder coating. Get a whip cream container, some lead bullets, powder coat from a guy named Smoke on castbullets.com and a toaster oven and thermometer and have at it. It's actually pretty simple. I pour my own bullets and do my own powder coating and load them hot in 454 Casull and do not get any lead in the barrel.

Rickey