Moly Coating using the Wet method

[NCVarhtr]

I've been Moly coating bullets for over 20 years using the original dry method. I've heard so many good things about the "Wet" method I was hoping that some of you guys could give me chapter and verse on how to use the wet method. In Mic McPherson's book Metallic Cartridge Handloading, he states that "The addition of water to the Moly, to create a slurry, is extremely beneficial. The water will evaporate as plating progresses. After the water has fully evaporated, bullet plating will be perfect"....How much water? How much moly? How long would it take for the water to evaporate??? I've also read, maybe on here, that some guys have used a fairly thin liquid (that they use over and over) with moly and water to plate their bullets. I would really appreciate any suggestions, help or a good exact formula. Thanks guys....

 

[Steve Ladino]

I use the wet method and really like it. The bullets come out looking like black chrome with no or hardly any moly rubbing off on your fingers. I use a white plastic bottle with a screw on lid typical of the kind that 500 daily vitamins come in. I add bullets (100 125 grain 30 cal TNT) to the bottle and add enough water to just about wet all the bullets but not so much to cover them. Use a tablespoon to add until about right. I then use the large strait blade screwdriver bit from my assortment kit as a shovel and put in two scoops of powdered Moly. Put bottle in my model B Thumblers tumbler and tumble for about three hours. You will learn to make more and more precise doses of water and moly that suite your requirements as you go. My water does not evaporate and i re use it and just add whats needed ....more moly and more water. I lastly just pour out the bullets on newspaper to dry then sort of shoe shine them in an old t shirt. Easy and quite clean too.

I've been Moly coating bullets for over 20 years using the original dry method. I've heard so many good things about the "Wet" method I was hoping that some of you guys could give me chapter and verse on how to use the wet method. In Mic McPherson's book Metallic Cartridge Handloading, he states that "The addition of water to the Moly, to create a slurry, is extremely beneficial. The water will evaporate as plating progresses. After the water has fully evaporated, bullet plating will be perfect"....How much water? How much moly? How long would it take for the water to evaporate??? I've also read, maybe on here, that some guys have used a fairly thin liquid (that they use over and over) with moly and water to plate their bullets. I would really appreciate any suggestions, help or a good exact formula. Thanks guys....

.

 

[jwing]

You will never do dry again, I have a sidewinder, put bullets in water to cover add moly I tend to use a little more moly, temple 4 hours, strain moly off and reuse liquid back to drum, wash bullets off hot water, dry them.

If you want them real shiny, you can sure corn cob for a min or 2. No wax will not rub of like the dry method..

 

[NCVarhtr]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the replies. I will be using a sidewinder also. How much water? How much Moly. Lets say, I will be moly coating 200 87 Gr V-max bullets. ??one cup of water? two cups of water?
I would think the slurry needs to be thick enough to give a good coat but thin enough for the bullets to be able to fall hard enough to impact plate the moly....?????? Thanks again for the help....

 

[jwing]

Just add enough water to cover bullets, enough moly to get your water a good moly color, does not matter like the dry method.. and you get to reuse the moly in the left over water and I use di water..

 

[NCVarhtr]

Jason,
Thanks very much for your specific help. Going to try it today...I'll let you know hope it works out...Thanks again......

 

[Barrel Nut]

Here's my recipe. I put 200 or 300 bullets in a bucket with a couple of squirts of Simple Green and swirl them around, add water, swirl them some more, rinse, and then rinse again in boiling water to remove any grease.
I use a cheap Harbor Freight twin drum tumbler dedicated to wet moly coating but I put the bullets into an empty Walmart applesauce jug. It has a "grip" molded into the side so it tumbles the bullets well. I add water to cover the bullets along with a scant teaspoon of Moly power to start on the very first load. Subsequent loads get 1/8 tsp or so. I add water to cover.

Tumble for 90 minutes and dump the load through a sieve over a funnel leading to an empty 1# powder jug, all in my utility sink. The slurry jug gets capped and saved. The applesauce jug gets a quick rinse and goes back on the shelf. The bullets get rinsed in the sieve along with any spills. The mess is similar in quantity to dry coating, but it all goes down the drain; therefore, it's much like having no mess at all.

I dump the rinsed bullets into a large metal baking pan lined with several layers of paper towel. I shake the pan back and forth for a minute and then remove the bullets and wet towels as one damp package. I reline the pan with two or three layers of dry paper towel and transfer the nearly dry bullets back into the pan, tossing the wet toweling in the trash.

Then I heat the bullets with my heat gun for about a minute while I shake them back and forth in the baking pan. This drives any moisture from the tiny "hollow point" at the meplat. If this step produces little black dots on the paper towel, you know you're doing it correctly.

That's it. The bullets look like black chrome and the Moly doesn't come off on your fingers. The mess is down the drain and the slurry is ready for your next coating event.

In your case you might consider using a dedicated tumbling drum or perhaps a couple of smaller plastic jugs which will fit through the mouth of the tumbling container. Otherwise you will find yourself doing too much drum cleaning as you switch from tumbling brass to Moly coating bullets.

Enjoy

 

[NCVarhtr]

Thanks very much for the detailed narrative.. You guys have been great and I really appreciate all the help. I'm getting ready to put 200 87 Gr V-Max bullets in my Sidewinder now. That is my dedicated moly coating unit and I use a vibrator for cleaning... I have the sieve, funnel and bucket ready.. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again.......

 

[jwing]

You will be happy.. let us know

 

[NCVarhtr]

I used 1 measuring cup of distilled water and 1 1/2 teaspoons of moly. There was a little moly left in the drum from dry coating. Its been in about and hour now. I will check it in another hour and see how it looks. Thanks again for all the help.....

 

[Ketosan]

I used 1 measuring cup of distilled water and 1 1/2 teaspoons of moly. There was a little moly left in the drum from dry coating. Its been in about and hour now. I will check it in another hour and see how it looks. Thanks again for all the help.....

I've used basically the same methods already described in this thread---on a couple of occasions the bullets would not accept the moly as readily as expected--this was in the winter time with lower than normal temps so prior to coating I put the bullets in my "toaster" oven at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes to warm the bullets--this made the coating process work much better?
Just another possible step to maybe help if you are not getting desired results.

 

[Steve Ladino]

I used 1 measuring cup of distilled water and 1 1/2 teaspoons of moly. There was a little moly left in the drum from dry coating. Its been in about and hour now. I will check it in another hour and see how it looks. Thanks again for all the help.....

Off hand it sounds like way to much moly......

 

[NCVarhtr]

Stephen, I think you are right. After checking it, I decided to add just a little more water and it worked out great. They came out like black chrome...Beautiful. Thanks to all you guys for your help, thoughts and suggestions. I couldn't have done it without you... Next time, I feel like I will know the exact amount of water and moly to use....Thanks again guys.....

 

[mikegaiz]

I put a foam block in my rotary tumbler with a hole cut in the middle for a 1 Lbs. empty plastic powder jug. I first tumble a batch of bullets (around 200) in a jug with HOT water and some dawn disk detergent, for about 15 min. Then rinse with HOT water. then dump them into a different Jug add Half Teaspoon Moly, fill with HOT water to cover bullets by about one inch, Tumble for around 20 min and check. Should look like shiny dark chrome. Then strain bullets out dumping the Moly water into a different Jug to reuse on next batch (back in main moly jug. You need three one Lbs. jugs (1 for wash, one for coating, 1 for recycle of moly water. Usually add more Moly and more HOT water for next batch to coat. I then rinse the coated bullets thoroughly dump into old towel or T-shirt to dry. Back in storage bow and done.

 

[NCVarhtr]

I think you may have something with the Hot Water.. I'm going to try that with the next batch that I coat. Are you using Hot Tap water or are you using Boiled water???

 

[mikegaiz]

No, Just hot tap water. I think the key is removing oil with Dawn soap and hot water.

 

[pauls]

Will the same wet technique work with HbN ?

 

[mikegaiz]

I do not think so.

 

[JohnKielly]

Will the same wet technique work with HbN ?

Does anything allow HbN to plate on easily?

 

[JAM-MAN]

Does anything allow HbN to plate on easily?

I've tried tumbling with dry 0.5 micron HBN with stainless pins. Slippery bullets, but not much of a visible coating. Make sure the bullets are dry, a few of mine ended up with some stained areas - may not have been completely dry even though in 200 deg. Oven for 20 min.