If it's no too far off topic are you guys using straight powder coat or adding something to it?
I'm just starting out and tried forming gas checks for the 358156 and had trouble getting the checks to stay on. And you know... the check metal needs to be annealed, or I should switch aluminum alloys, switch to brass, or maybe even make a very careful modification to the bullet mold to allow the checks to seat better in the sizer. But for now my solution was to switch to the 358429 and 358477 and I've started experimenting with powder coating. So Terry, I think we may be exploring a similar path though you are farther along.
I tried shake-on Harbor Freight powder coat, the white one. It works OK. Two coats works better. I tried adding the finest grade of alumina polishing powder to the powder coat, which what the old NRA tests recommended as an additive for wax bullet lubes, and the surface texture was not good. I shot them anyway and the bullets shoot fine. It was a one-off test, and maybe later I'll try again with different and smaller amounts of alumina in a carefully controlled test. I switched to a better commercial powder and want to try adding hexagonal boron nitride and/or molybdenum disulfide. It could be added in the mix or shaked on after the bullets come out of the oven.
I've switched to the powder coat that a guy in the bullet casting community selected after some testing. Sorry I don't remember his name but I think you guys know him already. I ordered directly from him. Initial testing with shake application looks great. I got the Eastwood powder gun and am going to switch to powder coating as my "standard lube" for a while and see how things go. I'm planning to switch to a hollow-point mold for the next batch of bullets because it seems like the easiest way to fixture the bullets for spraying is to use a metal plate with pins pressed through for the bullets to rest on. The ground clip for the sprayer goes to the metal plate and the whole plate goes into the oven. I haven't constructed the spraying fixture yet, but this is another trick I found on a forum or youtube video while searching for answers. The hollow point mold is a 4-cavity mold from MP Molds in Slovenia and works great.
Keith