Moly: What am I doing wrong??

[1shot]

The moly bug has recently bitten me, so not having the proper equipment at the time, a fellow shooter offered to do them for me. He had never used the water method, but gave it a try per the instructions I gleaned from this site and all the bullets came of looking great.
Now I have my own gear and followed the instructions that I read from several posters on here. I have an old food dehydrator that I use to warm the bullets, water before combining them. I'm using separate plastic 1lb. powder containers for both the moly and the wax. I combine the cleaned, dried and warmed bullets with the warmed water/moly solution with just enough water to cover the top of the bullets. I did my 1st test run with 50-60 Norma 6.5mm 130 gr. bullets that had been previously mollied and then had it removed. (When I bought them, I wasn’t shooting moly) so they seemed like a good test bullet. I washed them in Acetone, dried them, warmed them and placed them in the container with the warm water just covering the bullets and 8 gr. of moly. After 3 hours, they looked the same, so I added another 8gr. (total of 16gr.) and ran them 5 more hours. I then strained off the water/moly and the bullets still look the same!!! , totally uncoated. What am I doing wrong?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Lloyd

 

[Immike]

I don't wax the wet moly bullets at all to start with. I didn't read where you tumbled them in a tumbler. The moly must be applied to clean bullets by itself not mixed with wax. Warming the bullets and water is not necessary for moly coating. The waxing yes but it is applied dry (no water ). Wax is for the dry method to help keep it on the bullet and off your hands. I had trouble with the wax building up in the seating dies and don't use it anymore.

 

[jonbearman]

Are you mixing the wax with the moly directly?

 

[1shot]

Mike,
Sorry about not being clear on my method of application. The bullets are first cleaned with acetone and dried before putting them in the moly/water mixture. I haven't had the opportunity to wax any bullets yet, because the moly won't stick to the bullets. Also,
I’m using a Thumblers Tumbler for the process.

 

[Immike]

Try some new out of the box and don't clean them or do anything but dump them in. You might have something on the other bullets that is causing it to not stick. The water will clean them on it's own as they tumble in the water moly mix.

 

[kolar55]

Are you using the thumlers container? If so it could be the rubber is absorbing the moly. I tried that approach with Danzac and after about 4 hours the bullets and steel shot came out uncoated. The shot had been used previously and was fully coated. The only thing I could think of was the rubber absorbing the coating material. Possibility? Put them in my usual containers and in the vibratory tumbler and they coated just fine.

 

[1shot]

Kolar55,
I'm using 1lb. powder containers inside the tumbler. They are wedged in tight so they don't move within the drum.
Lloyd

 

[1shot]

Well I tried a fresh batch of SMK bullets. Right from the box to the warmer to the moly container with an additional 8 gr. of moly. Same result no plating. I'm going to try putting the container in my vibratory tumbler tonight.
Lloyd

 

[Ole]

I never heard of using water + molly to coat bullets. How's the molly going to stick on wet bullets?

Ole

 

[Rtheurer]

Good Gosh Lloyd, some times I think your the most UNLUCKY guy I know.... Is there a permanent spot for Mr Murphy where ever you go and do?

Geeez..

Good luck Lloyd, wish I could help.

RussT

 

[LRPV]

The water and moly works very well in my very limited experience with it. I use a Lyman vibrating tumbler. I use a 10oz. thermos (because i thought it would seal up good) and reuse the water/moly mix everytime. I use more water than was discussed in a very good thread that is probably a page or two down in this same reloading forum. I'm using 4oz. of water and adding a teaspoon of moly to each batch. It's more than enough water to cover the bullets and I really don't know how much moly is in there because I keep adding to it. I only do around a 100 at a time depending on how many are in a sorted batch and they come out good. I have been putting the bullets in another bottle with some cleaner that is like simple green diluted with water and I throw them in the tumbler for just a little while and then rinse them off good. The guys that have been using this method say there is no reason to clean the bullets when using the water/moly.

 

[Citysmasher]

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3798399.0

 

[Heavy barrel]

How are you putting the cans in the tumbler? If the tops of the cans are toward the side of the tumbler (the lid of the tumbler) the bullets won't actually tumble.

 

[1shot]

Heavy Barrel,
I'm putting the container in from side to side and not giving the container any room to budge by using a piece of high density foam between the lid and the side. When putting the drum on the tumbler the bottle rotates top to bottom. I'm either not using enough moly, or my water is so hard that it won't let the moly stick. Other than that, I'm out of ideas.
Russ, you may be right. I amaze myself that I even hit the target!
Lloyd

 

[Immike]

When you dip your finger in the mix it should come out black.

 

[1shot]

lmmike,
It does with a silvery sheen.
Lloyd

 

[Immike]

lmmike,
It does with a silvery sheen.
Lloyd

OK, is your container half full of mix and bullets so they can fall as it rolls over?

 

[DOGCAPPER]

I use a dedicated vibe bowl with a medium amount of corncob media and a generous amount of moly....Dump the bullets out of the box ..turn the vib on for 15 20 min...They come out with a light coat no clumps....The moly works wwith only a couple of molecules thick ..You can use the charge until it thins out then add more moly..LT

 

[Citysmasher]

Your results are not typical.

Water moly is like falling out of a boat. It's so easy.

I use about a heaping teaspoon of moly per cup of water. It really doesn't matter if you use a lot, as you are going to re use the moly water over and over. Heck try twice that... My moly water is like thick like clothes dye or something.

I use my large Dillon tumbler. I just let the bottle hop around in that thing like crazy with the powder bottles lying on their side. I did 250 6mm 105s the other day with 125 105s per 1 lbs powder container. I tumble for 4 hours.

I suggest you try brand new bullets out of the box. I don't prep mine at all and I get the best looking moly I have seen bar none hands down after 20 years of moly coating.

The only other thing I can figure out is your tumbler is too whimpy for the weight of bullets you are doing.

I am going to do a Youtube video soon to show my method. I have a fast and easy process that produces amazing results.

 

[1shot]

My last batch were bullets right out of the box. I have it narrowed down to two possible causes. 1. Either the coating that was on the powder that was in the bottles (didn’t clean the bottles prior to start the moly process) is not allowing the moly to stick. Or 2. my well water is so hard that it's causing a chemical reaction not allowing the moly to adhere to the bullets. Other than that, I'm out of guesses.
Lloyd