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Posted: 9/27/2013 12:23:23 PM EDT
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Some of you may remember that a while back I posted a thread about moly coating bullets.
Moly Coating Rifle Bullets Since then, I have learned a couple of important things that I thought I would share. 1. There is no need to pre-wash the bullets. The original instructions I received when I started to moly coat bullets was that it was "very important" to remove ANY trace of oil from the bullets. It was said that they needed to be washed in Dawn detergent to remove all oil, then rinsed and thoroughly dried before moly coating. One day I tried coating some right out of the box, and was surprised that it did not seem to make any difference at all. Washing them was a real pain, especially if they were hollow points. It took forever to get the water out of the hollow points. Now I just drop them right out of the box into the vibrator/polisher. 2. It doesn't take long to do the job. The instructions I originally had said to vibrate them for a "couple of hours" and that's what I did. But one day, I decided to open up the vibrator after 15 minutes, and they seemed to be completely done. Now I just run them for 15 to 20 minutes. That's all that's really required. 3. It is not required to coat them with wax. This is done by bullet manufacturers with their moly-coated bullets, but I believe it is mostly done to keep the moly from coming off and getting on your hands when you handle the bullets. Now I just drop the finished bullets onto an old rag and wipe the excess moly off of them and then dump them into the bullet box and they are ready to go. Not a big deal, but I learned a few things and thought I would share it with my friends on Arfcom. 
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| Yep, you have discovered how simple this is to do. I have coated and fired thousands of .22 cal. bullets, primarily for shooting sage rats of various sizes. Please note that you WILL have some build up of moly so use a good cleaning routine just for this purpose. I have fired as many as 300 rounds before cleaning, maybe not the best plan for a high volume varmint rig, but we were being over run on Hill 109 by ground squirrels. I also have found that using CFE 223 powder helped keep copper/moly layers from becoming an issue. I do see accuracy benefits using moly coated bullets, barrel/ throat erosion has been less than I expected when last measured in my .22-250. With all that said, I have not used moly bullets lately in a new .223 barrel, using just CFE just to see how this keeps copper down. It does work! |
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Yep, you have discovered how simple this is to do. I have coated and fired thousands of .22 cal. bullets, primarily for shooting sage rats of various sizes. Please note that you WILL have some build up of moly so use a good cleaning routine just for this purpose. I have fired as many as 300 rounds before cleaning, maybe not the best plan for a high volume varmint rig, but we were being over run on Hill 109 by ground squirrels. I also have found that using CFE 223 powder helped keep copper/moly layers from becoming an issue. I do see accuracy benefits using moly coated bullets, barrel/ throat erosion has been less than I expected when last measured in my .22-250. With all that said, I have not used moly bullets lately in a new .223 barrel, using just CFE just to see how this keeps copper down. It does work! I have worn out at least 10 AR match barrels and several standard barrels using moly, never ran a brush through any of them, just used bore solvent. Unless you use wax, there's no build up of "moly", according to my Hawkeye bore scope. ETA using moly, the throat or bore doesn't wear out as quick. 'Borg |
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I have worn out at least 10 AR match barrels and several standard barrels using moly, never ran a brush through any of them, just used bore solvent. Unless you use wax, there's no build up of "moly", according to my Hawkeye bore scope. ETA using moly, the throat or bore doesn't wear out as quick. 'Borg Interesting. I also have not seen any build-up with moly bullets. Cleaning the barrel is easier also. |
| I should have been more clear, without cleaning, a layer of moly is built up, much like copper fouling. The combination of a copper grabbing bore and moly on top will eventually leave a hard to remove layer...IF not addressed with a reasonable cleaning interval. Once clean, I pushed a patch of liquid moly down the bore. Not all barrels will layer up, but my Remington Varmint barrels sure did. Sinclair and others have always trumpeted this warning about moly build up, although it is blown out of proportion. A more real issue is moisture attraction, which I address with a patch of Kroil after each use. Once i learned when to to do the cleanup, the cleaning occurred before I pushed 300 rounds down the tube :) Varmint Al did tests of this corrosion/moisture thing and it showed stainless barrels were not really bothered by such concerns, though some etching occurs on chrome moly barrels. Really not an issue if the weapon is taken care of properly. Many thousands of rounds...you learn a thing or two. Sadly, a few knuckle heads believed they didn't need to clean if they used moly coated bullets. I firmly maintain that the biggest plus is accuracy is very good and stays that way longer. Loading up a batch of 50 gr V-Max today that are the last of a big batch, I need to order some more moly powder :) Cheers. |
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Quoted:
Some of you may remember that a while back I posted a thread about moly coating bullets. Moly Coating Rifle Bullets Since then, I have learned a couple of important things that I thought I would share. 1. There is no need to pre-wash the bullets. The original instructions I received when I started to moly coat bullets was that it was "very important" to remove ANY trace of oil from the bullets. It was said that they needed to be washed in Dawn detergent to remove all oil, then rinsed and thoroughly dried before moly coating. One day I tried coating some right out of the box, and was surprised that it did not seem to make any difference at all. Washing them was a real pain, especially if they were hollow points. It took forever to get the water out of the hollow points. Now I just drop them right out of the box into the vibrator/polisher. 2. It doesn't take long to do the job. The instructions I originally had said to vibrate them for a "couple of hours" and that's what I did. But one day, I decided to open up the vibrator after 15 minutes, and they seemed to be completely done. Now I just run them for 15 to 20 minutes. That's all that's really required. 3. It is not required to coat them with wax. This is done by bullet manufacturers with their moly-coated bullets, but I believe it is mostly done to keep the moly from coming off and getting on your hands when you handle the bullets. Now I just drop the finished bullets onto an old rag and wipe the excess moly off of them and then dump them into the bullet box and they are ready to go. Not a big deal, but I learned a few things and thought I would share it with my friends on Arfcom.
doesn't a little bit of water help with the coating? I know I heard that somewhere 
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Someone told me recently that you could get higher MV / reduced pressure with Moly. Is this true? So they say, but I think its more that you can reduce charges and get the same velocity. What you need to look out for is moly build up around the throat, a lot of the excess in the barrel gets blown out of the muzzle. |
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I dont need to keep same velocity with less powder, I need a velocity increase with same charge weight. Start with a load and work your way up checking for pressure signs, even if you start shooting moly its not going to do it right from the start. you have to condition the barrel with the stuff. |
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(doesn't a little bit of water help with the coating? I know I heard that somewhere)
DON'T, Moly is already hygroscopic, it draws water from air, from the "salts" it leaves in the barrel. That's why a chrome moly barrel will rust. That's why I only buy SS and chrome lined barres now. I ruined a brand new Krieger on an M1A by not keeping oil or preservative in the bore. Moly will use more powder to get the same vel, but allows you to load faster loads with less pressure, and cleans a heck of a lot faster. The only time I saw ANY build up in the throat was when someone was using wax on them, it was all wax, not moly. Factory bullets do have a coating of wax, I coat my own with no wax. As long as you clean and keep a good coat of oil in the barrel, you're fine and will not have any problems ETA, I have been using moly for over 22 years and had no problems, except that M1A |
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(doesn't a little bit of water help with the coating? I know I heard that somewhere) DON'T, Moly is already hygroscopic, it draws water from air, from the "salts" it leaves in the barrel. That's why a chrome moly barrel will rust. That's why I only buy SS and chrome lined barres now. I ruined a brand new Krieger on an M1A by not keeping oil or preservative in the bore. Moly will use more powder to get the same vel, but allows you to load faster loads with less pressure, and cleans a heck of a lot faster. The only time I saw ANY build up in the throat was when someone was using wax on them, it was all wax, not moly. Factory bullets do have a coating of wax, I coat my own with no wax. As long as you clean and keep a good coat of oil in the barrel, you're fine and will not have any problems ETA, I have been using moly for over 22 years and had no problems, except that M1A But how would using water to coat them then letting them dry out effect them holding moisture? I heard to use water from a reputable guy in a magazine i was reading, just cant remember who or which 
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Someone told me recently that you could get higher MV / reduced pressure with Moly. Is this true? Actually using moly coated bullets will have a lower velocity than the same load with regular bullets. It reduces the friction in the bore and therefore the pressure drops. Less pressure means less bullet speed. So, to get more velocity you add more powder. By adding more powder you can speed up your bullets while maintaining safe pressures. You need to work up your loads slowly though. |
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what kind of increases have you been able to get with Moly? I had thought Moly had been proved to be not advantageous and had fallen out of use Well, I'm getting 2925 to 2950 vel out of a 20" Bbl with 80 gr SMKs, out of my Service rifle, the most I could before was about 2800fps. 600 yards is a long way, and the faster you can drive them, the less time for conditions to act/change on them. Don't get me wrong, moly isn't for everyone, and some are disillusioned with it, but I've had good experience with it for my purpose |
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Actually using moly coated bullets will have a lower velocity than the same load with regular bullets. It reduces the friction in the bore and therefore the pressure drops. Less pressure means less bullet speed. So, to get more velocity you add more powder. By adding more powder you can speed up your bullets while maintaining safe pressures. You need to work up your loads slowly though. Quoted:
Quoted:
Someone told me recently that you could get higher MV / reduced pressure with Moly. Is this true? Actually using moly coated bullets will have a lower velocity than the same load with regular bullets. It reduces the friction in the bore and therefore the pressure drops. Less pressure means less bullet speed. So, to get more velocity you add more powder. By adding more powder you can speed up your bullets while maintaining safe pressures. You need to work up your loads slowly though. Memsu is correct. Moly "lubricates" the bullets, and if you do not increase the charge, it will slightly lower velocity. No big problem, and easy to adjust. The ease of cleaning the bore makes it worthwhile.
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doesn't a little bit of water help with the coating? I know I heard that somewhere No, just the opposite. 
The bullets must be clean and dry of water or oil. My post was to note that I have found that most bullets come from the factory just fine and ready to moly coat. |
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