Well, the shortage of bullets and my own curiosity has compelled me to experiment with plating bullets. I could have bought a commercial plating kit and gone that route, but where's the adventure in that. You can find almost anything on the interweeb, and some of it is even true..(I think) Looking at different experiments in copper plating bullets, I embarked on my own journey. I remember using copper sulphate crystals to dabble in plating as a high school kid, didn't work very well, but it was a starting point. I bought a container of copper sulphate crystals from Lowes, they sell it for root removal from your septic system.
My first experiments were with vinegar with the copper sulphate crystals dissolved in it until the solution was at saturation. (crystals would no longer dissolve in it.) I used a 5 volt wall transformer type power supply and some copper flashing for the anode. I got some small amounts of copper deposited on the bullets, but it was not of the quality I was looking for. I added some muriatic acid to the solution and it sped up the process quite a bit, but still left a lot to be desired in plating quality.
After talking with my son the chemist, I abandoned the solution I was working with and started a new one. I dissolved more copper sulphate crystals in about 32 ounces of water and then added 20 ounces of 35% sulphuric acid to the mix.
The little power supply I was using was going into shutdown due to the low resistance of the plating solution, so another power supply was needed. I had an old microwave oven that I had been saving to rebuild the power transformer from it, so that started that phase of the project. Removing the transformer, cutting the core apart, removing the secondary high voltage winding, rewinding with 8 turns of #10 ga stranded insulated wire, rewelding the core, adding a diode and a large rheostat to control the current.
Now with .7 volts I am getting a decent plate on the lead with the new solution. I will have to experiment with different anode configurations and different methods of holding the bullets to be plated, but I think I am going to be able to make my own plated bullets. They sure aren't pretty and shiny like the commercial double struck bullets I was buying, but if they shoot well, I don't really care about how shiny they are. I will be logging the plating density vs time and current in my next series of experiments.
P.S. I've spent more on protective gear for handling the acids than I would have spent on just buying the bullets, but that's part of the game as well...
My first experiments were with vinegar with the copper sulphate crystals dissolved in it until the solution was at saturation. (crystals would no longer dissolve in it.) I used a 5 volt wall transformer type power supply and some copper flashing for the anode. I got some small amounts of copper deposited on the bullets, but it was not of the quality I was looking for. I added some muriatic acid to the solution and it sped up the process quite a bit, but still left a lot to be desired in plating quality.
After talking with my son the chemist, I abandoned the solution I was working with and started a new one. I dissolved more copper sulphate crystals in about 32 ounces of water and then added 20 ounces of 35% sulphuric acid to the mix.
The little power supply I was using was going into shutdown due to the low resistance of the plating solution, so another power supply was needed. I had an old microwave oven that I had been saving to rebuild the power transformer from it, so that started that phase of the project. Removing the transformer, cutting the core apart, removing the secondary high voltage winding, rewinding with 8 turns of #10 ga stranded insulated wire, rewelding the core, adding a diode and a large rheostat to control the current.
Now with .7 volts I am getting a decent plate on the lead with the new solution. I will have to experiment with different anode configurations and different methods of holding the bullets to be plated, but I think I am going to be able to make my own plated bullets. They sure aren't pretty and shiny like the commercial double struck bullets I was buying, but if they shoot well, I don't really care about how shiny they are. I will be logging the plating density vs time and current in my next series of experiments.
P.S. I've spent more on protective gear for handling the acids than I would have spent on just buying the bullets, but that's part of the game as well...
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