Advice required

[JOHN F]

Can anyone advise where I can obtain molycoat to enable me to coat my own bullets?I have been using 53grn hornady match bullets in my 22/250 with great results but my supply has now dried up. Any insruction how to do this in my case tumbler would be much appreciated.
Regards
John F

 

[Muir]

Can anyone advise where I can obtain molycoat to enable me to coat my own bullets?I have been using 53grn hornady match bullets in my 22/250 with great results but my supply has now dried up. Any insruction how to do this in my case tumbler would be much appreciated.
Regards
John F

I don't know if this will be of any consolation/use but we used to do this procedure a couple of decades back for NRA High Power Rifle Shooting. It was messy and the results were spotty. There is a reason why they are stopping production of moly bullets. It is a fad that has run it's course.

That said, get some Moly-D, and put it in a tumbler with your bullets til it takes. Sometimes 12 hours, sometimes 36 hrs. It is an awful process and frankly, again, not worth the efforts.~Muir

 

[1066]

As Muir say - At one time it was thought to be the "Holy Grail" now almost a thing of the past, even not recommended. If you want to find out more here's a very good article about different systems.
http://www.6mmbr.com/bulletcoating.html

 

[finnbear270]

I read that corrosion underneath moly residues in barrels were found to be a problem, anyone else hear this?

 

[see it shoot it]

get some acetone down your barrel to clean it out and shoot normal bullets,you may be surprized

 

[Frog]

You can get all the kit to molycoat from http://www.neconos.com/category/Main-Shop-1

Personally I wouldn't bother. I tried this for a year in calibres from 22-250 to 308. The first thing is that all your load development data goes out the window. Moly does reduce pressure and therefore more powder can produce increased velocity with no pressure signs. Accuracy may be ever so slightly better but I did not get enough reliable statistical information to confirm. Rifles are easier to clean after shooting moly.

​All in all though I did not find the extra effort worthwhile and prefer nice shiny heads!

 

[lister]

be careful using acetone make sure you do not have any plastic parts ie trigger floor plate
​cheers lister

 

[andycanman]

I read that corrosion underneath moly residues in barrels were found to be a problem, anyone else hear this?

Yes i heard that many moons ago when i used moly coated B/T's and thats why i stopped using them.

 

[webley701]

John,

I used to use the NECO kit to moly coat bullets (mid 1990’s).

The kit consisted of two tubs of ball bearings which are used in the tumbler along with a pot of moly powder & one of carnuba wax powder.

You can find the full details on-line but basically the bullets are tumbled with one set of ball bearings & moly powder then tumbled again in another container with the other set of bearings plus some of the carnuba (this puts the wax coat on them). With care it’s quite possible to get good looking results but I found that the wax powder applied better if the ball bearings were warmed prior to tumbling. It’s possible to get some very ugly looking results otherwise.

I got the kit jointly with a shooting friend & I probably shot about 300-400 bullets (.308 for fullbore target rifle shooting) before I came to the conclusion I was seeing no detectable difference either on test targets at short range or on the real targets at somewhat longer distances. I carried on coating bullets for my friend for a while & then happily gave him the kit – I don’t think he ever used it after that.

One problem (for my use) was that in some fullbore TR comp's we had to use ‘issued ammunition’ which of course wasn’t coated; going from coated to uncoated bullets (or the other way), even with a good bore cleaning, resulted in differences in the expected elevation for the first few shots. Bear in mind that one day I’d be shooting at 300 yards & the next 1000 yards & at 1000 I’d want the first of my 2 allowable sighting shots to be the right elevation (i.e. level with the bull) – at shorter ranges I’d want my first sighting shot to be in the bull – there was no room for ‘shooting the barrel in’.

As I was getting good results with my normal uncoated bullets I only saw real disadvantages to the moly with no gains (at least for my usage). I've not used coated bullets since then.

My friend said he got slightly higher velocities with his 210 grain bullets (for ‘match rifle’ at 1000 to 1200 yards) for what appeared to be similar pressure when he’d sorted his loads out but not enough to make any worthwhile reduction in wind drift.

For sporting work & using only coated bullets you won’t have my problems with elevation & there’s probably no other great disadvantage to using moly (take note of the comments above regarding corrosion though) but equally I doubt there’s any noticeable gain in practical use. This doesn’t matter too much if ready coated bullets are available & you like them (confidence in equipment is important) but I’d seriously doubt buying a kit & spending the time using it is worthwhile.

 

[Brithunter]

I seem to recall it was Walt Berger who found pitting under the Molycoat in one of his match rifles. He was not impressed and stopped using it right away.

I nearly bought a P-H model 1000 in .243 several years ago. That had been shot using the Honady 58 Grn Moly Coated bullets. The rifling was nearly filled up with that awful Moly coating stuff and it was a right bitch to remove. Once out yep there was pitting in the bore and once the rifle was clean other "issues" and signs of abuse came to light. All hidden under muck and grime. Just how someone who relied on their rifle for their work could allow it to get in such a state still make me wonder and the abuse ????????????????

However it's your rifle so do with it as you will.

 

[paul o']

tryed it in my br days and stopped it as rifle'g was getting cruded up, i had it put it a ultrasonic tank to try get it out then left in a solvent tank luck would have it it all came off i had no damage to the barrel and i was glad the barrel n'action was in stainless steel , just use copper pills thay are made that way for a reasion .

 

[JOHN F]

Thanks to everyone who replied....food for thought !!!!
Regards
John F

 

[alasdair]

Has anyone any experience of using Moly on the barrel rather than the bullet?

- as in treatment using "SMOOTH-KOTE" by SENTRY SOLUTIONS as suggested and sold by Moray Outfitting q.v. this forum.

I've been trying it as a way of reducing the copper fouling I get with Barnes TSX in my .243 Sako stainless barrel.

So far I would say it does slow down the rate of fouling. I'm one of those who likes to have a clean barrel to start the day.
Without the Smooth-Kote I was finding a significant shift between first shot POI (clean cold barrel) and an immediate follow up shot - 40-50mm.(i.e. I needed a fouling shot before going hunting)
With the Smooth-Kote, less than 10mm between first three consecutive shots (so no fouling shot required!).

According to the makers the Smooth-Kote treatment is completely removed by convential barrel cleaners and so requires re-application after "normal" cleaning. However that only adds marginally to the regime of a "compulsive" barrel cleaner.
I can not see how this regime could increase the risk of barrel pitting. This way round the moly is not getting applied over carbon, powder residues or anything.

Any thoughts/experience on this approach?

thanks,

alasdair.

 

[Sharpie]

It was a fad which has pretty much run its course.

Some of the proponents have now moved onto other materials such as hexagonal boron nitride or tungsten disulphide.

If you really want to do it, there is a good article here: http://www.6mmbr.com/bulletcoating.html

 

[Sharpie]

I can not see how this regime could increase the risk of barrel pitting. This way round the moly is not getting applied over carbon, powder residues or anything.

The corrosion problem with moly is supposed to be that free sulphide impurities in the moly itself form corrosive compounds when combined with moisture from the air. The moly also breaks down at high temperatures to form corrosive compounds.

With moly coated bullets it was difficult (and thought undesirable) to clean it all out of the barrel, so the corrosive compounds could fester.

See http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm#Corrosion for some discussion.

I'd be dubious about how long a barrel coating would remain in place. I'd have thought it would wear off pretty quickly.

With coated bullets the moly is replaced with every shot. This isn't the case with a barrel coating.

 

[Brithunter]

There was also one called "Fastex" this was a bonded on bore treatment and yes it reduced copper build up but had it 's own issues and once they came to light the guy, name of Geoff, who was handling in the UK dropped it quick and did a runner.

​They also offered a cartridge sizing lube which was great but of course when Geoff did a runner that became unavailable too.................. pity as I am about out of mine now.