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Switching from moly coated bullets back to regular uncoated bullets?

Here's my situation.....I got a great deal on 500 moly coated 107 gr Sierra MK's from a buddy a few months ago ($100) and due to the added cost and availability issues I'm thinking about just shooting the regular bullets from here on out. I've shot 360 moly coated bullets down the barrel (that's all this barrel has ever seen) and I still have 140 left but I have 200 regular Sierra 107 gr MK's and 250 regular Berger 105 gr VLD target bullets on hand and thought about getting them moly coated but I wonder if it's really worth the time/expense? Right now I have just enough moly bullets on hand to load up for the wind reading clinic and match in 2 weeks up in Elk River, MN that I'm going to for my 1st ever event/match. I know what load I want to use with the moly bullets, 39.8 gr of IMR 4350 seated .005 off the lands. So I'm thinking about loading them up and setting them aside for that w/e and then start shooting the regular uncoated bullets from there on out.

So if I do switch to the regular uncoated bullets am I going to have to mess with a bunch more load testing again? Or can I just back off the powder by .1 to .2 gr and expect the same results?

Sorry for the newbie questions about this but I literally laid awake in bed last night worried/wondering what I should do............I know I'm a nutcase. :o ;D
 
Your only expense would be buying a bottle of Molybdenum Disulfide Powder (less than $20 will be a lifetime's supply).

Time? wash out a peanut butter jar (or better yet, let your dog do it), fill it half-full with bullets and a teaspoon of moly powder, put it in your tumbler and walk away for a couple hours.

But if you really want to get away from them, just trade your moly'd slugs for clean ones, someone will want them.

No question you will need to re-do your load testing, but the most desirable powder for your gun and bullet choice will probably stay the same.
 
I wondered about coating bullets myself as well. If it's as easy as you say then that's probably the route I'll go.

I'm also doing a build in 6BR in the very near future and may just keep the regular 6MM bullets for that gun.

My thinking on the moly bullets was mainly for my .243 to try and get more barrel life out of that but I see mixed opinions on that as well. I'm just not experienced enough at this point to know exactly what I want to do and seeing mixed opinions on some of this stuff makes me even more unsure. I guess I just need to make a decision and run with it for better or worse. ???
 
This is very good question to ask. I and others use moly to keep the rifle accurate through extended length of firing. It keeps the copper and fouling down to allow that. The bare bullets seem to require more cleaning to keep up the accuracy.
 
If you are going to be shooting long strings without cleaning, I would think about getting set up to moly your own bullets. Just remember if your bullets don't look pretty much like factory coated bullets that you may need to adjust your procedure till they do. There has been a lot written on this, the most interesting (to me) being a fellow that uses a wet process. I am not saying that you have to do it that way, but his results were excellent, and there seems to be some advantages to his method. I believe that he posted on this site.
 
+1 on hBN. Coat the bore too. Then just dry patch.

http://theswissriflesdotcommessageboard.yuku.com/topic/9031/hBN-again-and-this-time-I-ll-leave-it#.T3hkodnui00
 
I shoot a lot of molly bullets for varmint hunting, but not for short string kinds of competition. You must retest your load to go from molly to un-coasted bullets. The same load shot without molly will be too hot. I have a 243 with 1600 rounds of molly bullets and ball powder, that still shoots great. I think that is some kind of a record for a 243 for barrel wear.
 
mikegaiz said:
I shoot a lot of molly bullets for varmint hunting, but not for short string kinds of competition. You must retest your load to go from molly to un-coasted bullets. The same load shot without molly will be too hot. I have a 243 with 1600 rounds of molly bullets and ball powder, that still shoots great. I think that is some kind of a record for a 243 for barrel wear.

I have a factory barrel in - a 223,a Savage LRPV - which now nears 2500 rounds, all shot in competition. I have moly coated every bullet that went thru it. I recently considered setting back the barrel to freshen up the throat, and asked my smith to bore scope it first. He did so, and was amazed at how clean it was. He said it did not need to be re-chambered. I have tried HBN, but prefer the old molybedium. I do the same - clean bullets first with denatured alcohol, put them in a small RX bottle with a few grains of moly, run them thru the tumbler for 2-3- hrs.

You must reduce your load when using bare bullets. Otherwise, pressures will skyrocket.
 
tenring said:
You must reduce your load when using bare bullets. Otherwise, pressures will skyrocket.

I have heard the opposite from many people ???

They say that the reduction in friction reduces the pressure/velocity, so you must increase the powder charge to keep the same velocity you had in the first place??
 
CatShooter said:
tenring said:
You must reduce your load when using bare bullets. Otherwise, pressures will skyrocket.

I have heard the opposite from many people ???

They say that the reduction in friction reduces the pressure/velocity, so you must increase the powder charge to keep the same velocity you had in the first place??

That statement is correct. BUT if you are shooting a maximum load with moly then you will be over pressure with a bare bullet.
 
Back when moly was new, shooters found out that using the same load with coated bullets as they had with bare, gave less velocity, but that they could increase powder charge to compensate, and even exceed bare bullet maximum velocities by adding still more powder. I have always thought that this was because moly reduces the pressure required to start the bullet into the rifling. Examination of bullets shot into media that kept the bullet intact and undeformed has shown that the engraving of the lands in coated bullets is less pronounced, than uncoated. I think that this is because with less friction, and subsequent lower pressure, there is less "slugging up" in the throat of the chamber.
Getting back to the subject at hand, if you are at or near your pressure limit with coated bullets, you need to drop back and rework your load if you switch to bare bullets, because they will cause more pressure than you were getting with coated bullets.
 

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