To moly or not to moly, that is the question

[Glenn]

My 6mmBR is on order and now I am faced with the decision as to use moly coated bullets or not. Normally I would not have used moly, but after reading Tubb's article on the 6XC, and Norma's article on moly, I am leaning toward the use of moly bullets.

Tubb says he gets higher velocity with moly, and that shooters NOT using moly bullets should lower the powder charges from his recommendations,and of course expect lower velocity).

Seems lots of shooters are saying that moly provides longer barrel life, lower pressures and higher velocity.

I only use moly for my 17 calibers after I found that the fouling was less. What has been your experience?

Glenn

 

[jb1000br]

Since you are looking for opinions...NO MOLY FOR ME

YMMV,
JB

 

[SF340Driver]

Ditto JB. No moly for me either. Just too much work for maybe? some results.

Greg

 

[KLENCHBLAIZE]

A good and well-timed question. Right now I'm looking for sound reasons why not to use the stuff. By which I mean something other than the higher cost of molly coated projectiles.

Mind those crowns!

Klenchblaize
ENGLAND

 

[LeeinOH]

I use it on rifles that like it. My 17 Mach IV loves the stuff as does my .264 Long Range rig. I usually do some load testing with naked bullets to see if I can find a load I like. If not, then I may try moly. But I'd say I'm moving away from it. My .22-250 had a lot of build up in it. I had a hard time pushing a patched jag through the bore with Shooter's Choice on it. After several scrubbings with JB and various cleaners it is much easier to get a patch with SC through the bore. There had to have been something built up in there.

 

[Joe]

I wish more people had a bore scope. I use moly without negative incidence.

 

[Changeling]

For what it's worth I don't know anything about it on a personal level. I have asked this same question an still feel I don't know anything. There are actually two methods Moly and another substance/method. They are supposedly not interchangeable, meaning incompatible.
I can't see the problem with using it in regard to applying, as it is very simple with very little work. My only concern was did the stuff,Either) have any tendency whatsoever to collect moisture, but I never really received what I would consider a "qualified" answer. Sorry i couldn't be of more help.
Changeling

 

[TDuley]

The best grp's I ever fired,was with moly bullet's!! It not a big deal shoot them or not. I like shooting them for comp, but for a hunting gun. I just use plan bullets. Go for it!

 

[AckleyImproved]

Hi

I was faced with the same question...... and I went with what I know best.. NO MOLY.... Im not prepared to used a valuable gun for an experiment... when I know that it shoots great with naked bullets so why change?????

For sake of velocity.... if your around the 3000fps mark it doesnt matter.... Barrel life.... how many more rounds do you get???? Is that worth the hassle of making your bullets moly???

Anyway.. thats my opinion.....

Maybe when there is definitely a great huge advantage... then I'll go for it!!

Ackley Improved

 

[vmthtr]

No moly for me. Used to think it was the next best thing. Cleaned like Berger said to and got a build up right in fromnt of the throat and had pressure problems. Won't use it any more.

Mike

 

[Rust]

Well, unfortunately I've noticed an improvement in accuracy with every rifle I've tried moly in. The reason I say unfortunately is because of the extra inconvenience of coating bullets that are not available factory coated.

Initially I tried moly in a 700 chambered in .223. It was an OK shooter but nothing to write home about. I pondered using moly and decided to coat a few of the 40 gr Nolser BTs,which shot better than any other bullet in that rifle) very careful to clean the bullets prior to coating, remove excess moly and voila. Group size shrank immediately using my pet load of IMR 4198. Well, factory barrel had more than 10,000 rounds down it and so it was rebarreled. The new barrel,L-W) shot so well I haven't tried moly in it yet.

Then there is the .338 RUM. Well, initially it shot adaquately. Then I tried some moly'd bullets and it shot a lot better, cutting group size nearly in half. Then I got ahold of some Lapua Scenars, cleaned the barrel and shot them bare. Shot as well as the moly'd bullets. The Scenars seem softer so maybe they engrave hitting the rifling a little easier.

Then there is the 22-250. Aftermarket barrel. Pretty good accuracy, tried all the tricks reloading and it tightened up the groups but it just didn't seem to be there. Not enough consistancy. Well, it just happened to like the Hornady Vmax moly bullets a lot. Tightned up the groups a little but improved the group to group consistancy a lot.

I have a couple of rifles that have not seen moly and are not likely to, they shoot plenty good as is and I'm not changing the equation.

But if you have a rifle you wouldn't mind experimenting with I'd say go ahead. A few things I would recommend.

1. BEFORE switching to moly, clean the barrel down to the steel. Really really clean.

2. Precoat the bore with moly BEFORE firing the first shot. I use a pre-mix oil and moly available from Midway, run a patch of the stuff down the bore short stroking, and then two dry patches.

3. Fouling seems to be dependant on the powders compatability with moly. RL-15 has a more stubborn fouling than IMR 4198. Could also be due to the fact that the 22-250 burns more powder than the 223 too. Keep and eye on it. Ball powders definitely seem to have more fouling problems, deterent coatings maybe? At any rate, keep and eye on it.

4. A good cleaning regimen is still required. Bore Techs Moly Magic seems to work well. So does Butch's.

5. Don't store the rifle with a clean dry bore. Use the oil/moly mix to finish off cleaning, the oil provides protection, not the moly.

Note that I tried moly after not being satisfied with the results of bare bullets and tried it more or less as a who cares if it works last resort once the usual tricks were used up. Improvements in accuracy varied by rifle, but consistancy improved in every case. More uniform groups more often. Still, moly is more work, especially if you have to roll your own and let me tell you, not doing it right can cause more problems than you want to know about.

Now, if Lapua just sold the 139 Scenar coated...

 

[Forum Boss]

Lapua DOES sell the 139gr 6.5mm Scenar moly-coated. They call it the Silver jacket model. From www.powdervalleyinc.com :

LAPCPL6018 .264 139 HPBT SJ SCENAR In Stock $21.59
LAPCHL6018 .264 139 HPBT SJ SCENAR In Stock $180.00/500

You'll have to ask Lapua what they put in their coating. It may be slightly different than the composition of the do-it-yourself kits, and I bet they apply a thin wax coat. Tests by Norma indicated wax + moly worked a LOT better to extend barrel life than did moly alone.

 

[Rust]

Checked the web site for Powder Valley, they have the 250 gr Scenars in moly coat too, wooo hooo!!

 

[338 dude]

For what it's worth I don't know anything about it on a personal level. I have asked this same question an still feel I don't know anything. There are actually two methods Moly and another substance/method. They are supposedly not interchangeable, meaning incompatible.
I can't see the problem with using it in regard to applying, as it is very simple with very little work. My only concern was did the stuff,Either) have any tendency whatsoever to collect moisture, but I never really received what I would consider a "qualified" answer. Sorry i couldn't be of more help.
Changeling

Hbn ? Hex boron nitride

 

[#40Fan]

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

Hahaha

 

[mongo chicago]

After an extensive conversation with some benchrest shooters (who also work for a components seller), I decided not to use molly. They related that it rather quickly promotes rust between the molly and barrel - and they in fact stopped stocking the bullets. Must be special ordered. It also takes a special routine to reliably remove it all. Not worth the hassle or taking a chance on ruining my guns. A friend of mine stopped using it also.

 

[Greyfox]

I've been shooting coated bullets for about fifteen years. Initially I used moly but after seeing all the negative written about it I switched to WS2 commonly referred to as the trade name Danzac. It appears to have the benefits of moly without the downside. I've never had any damage to any bore and frequently shoot an entire agg without cleaning and no loss of accuracy. I shoot in UBR benchrest competition and believe that it has increased the life of my barrels mainly because I clean less and so don't do any damage due to poor cleaning techniques. I do understand that most benchrest shooters don't damage their barrels cleaning, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. I do tend to clean my barrels thoroughly using JB and Rem Clean about once per season. I have used boron nitride and found it to do about the same as WS2, but I wasn't able to get the coating to my satisfaction. I do think it is a viable alternative to WS2 and saw no real downside except that the bullets are so slick they are difficult to pick up. Coating bullets is no big deal. I clean by soaking in acetone, drying and putting 500-1000 in a jar with a tiny amount of WS2 and tumbling in a Thumler tumbler for a couple of hours. It works well for me, but I wouldn't recommend moly. BTW- I shoot roughly 10,000 rounds per year, mostly .224 and some .243, all light bullets and most of that # in competition.

Rick

 

[Mozella]

I find it funny that those who claim Moly coating is too troublesome are the same folks who will take a Q-tip and laboriously lubricate the inside of each case neck before seating their bullets. I use Moly as a bullet/neck lubricant when seating bullets more than for anything it may or may not do for my barrel with regards to accuracy, velocity, or what-have-you.

If you use the proper procedure, coating is easy, pretty quick, and not messy. Do this: Find a large plastic applesauce jar at Walmart. Eat the applesauce. Put two or three hundred bullets in a clean bucket, squirt with Simple Green or some similar powerful decreasing agent, swirl them around, rinse carefully (I use boiling water). Put 'em in the applesauce jar and add water to cover. For the first run add half a tsp of Moly powder; after that about 1/16 tsp or so.

Put the jug on a Harbor Freight tumbler. You must use the longer dual drum model; otherwise, the jug won't fit. The jug has a round top and bottom so it rolls well, but the middle has a molded hand grip with tumbles the bullets very nicely. If it slips, dry the drum and rollers. Let it run for 90 minutes.

Now put a funnel into an empty 1 pound powder jug and put a sieve on top of that. Dump in the bullets and Molly slurry. Cap the powder jug and save the Molly slurry for next time. Rinse the sieve full of Molly coated bullets under running water and watch all the mess go down the drain. If you don't have a good divorce lawyer on retainer, do this in a utility sink in the garage.

Now shake the water out of the sieve and dump the bullets into a metal baking pan lined with paper towels. Shake them around and pat the dry. The towels will now be very wet, so change them and shake the bullets around for 30 seconds or so. Then hit them with a heat gun for a minute while shaking them back and forth. Expect to see tiny black dots on the paper towels as the water is driven out of the meplat area. Let cool and if you're a perfectionist, repeat the heat gun treatment for another minute. Shaking the pan will do a nice job of polishing the bullets.

You will now have a batch of very shiny Molly coated bullets which look like they've been black-chrome plated. What you will NOT have is a big mess, a lung full of black dust, smudges everywhere, or bullets which make your fingers black if you rub them.

Make up your own mind if Molly coating helps when you fire the round, but you should certainly notice a nice smooth and consistent seating effort when you seat these Molly coated bullets. Toss your Q-tips and bullet seating lube.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Some people moly better than others.