Moly-coating...has anyone tried this?

[klausg]

Hey gang-

I've got duty again, & have been scratching my head over this one for a bit. When I got my case tumbler I also picked up a moly coating kit on a deal, (Midway had a deal on the Frankford Arsenal set up, way back when, still haven't used it). Now the instructions leave a lot to be desired, particularily for highly ignorant types like me. Basically I've got two extra tumbler containers, (one for cast, one for jacketed) and a jar of molybendum disulfide dust. Near as I can figure I'm supposed to throw a bunch of bullets in the container, a little of the moly dust & turn the thing on, for how long, who knows?

a) Has anyone out there tried this method? Did it work? Probably more importantly is it worth the extra step/mess?

b) Is my interpretation of the rather scant instructions correct?

c) Would the moly-coating replace lube? If I still have to lube should I do it before or after the 'moly tumble'?

Hopefully one of you guys has tried this, I'm tempted to try it, but I'm a little leery of making a hell of a mess; thanks in advance.

-SSG Klaus

[garandsrus]

Klaus,

I moly coat jacketed bullets for my AR-15 (.223) and one Garand (.30 cal) which I shoot a lot. Opinions are divided, but I believe I get a lot less throat wear using moly. I also believe that I can go longer between cleanings.

In .223 I moly bullets in batches of 500. In .30 cal the batch is probably 300 bullets.

The process I use is:

1) Put the bullets in a collander.

2) Wash the bullets (while they are in a collander) in the sink with soap and water. I just swirl the bullets around for a minute or so. I don't wash each one individually! The collander is so that I can get all the bullets out of the sink without picking them out one by one.

3) Rinse the bullets (still in the collander)

4) Allow the bullets to dry by spreading them out on a towel. Give them plenty of time.

5) Put the bullets into the "moly" bowl of the tumbler. You do want a separate bowl as it will become black.

6) Add some moly. You will be amazed at how little it takes. I think a batch is about 1/4 tsp.

7) Tumble the bullets for 1/2 hour

8) Check the bullets to see if they are a uniform grey/black color. The color may look almost purple. If not, add some more moly and tumble another 15 minutes.

9) Optional - Put the bullets into a container and save any remaining moly powder in the bowl.

10) Put a couple handfulls of sawdust in the moly bowl, add the bullets back, and tumble for 10 minutes. This removes the loose moly on the bullets and polishes them. Very little moly gets on your hands when you load after doing this.

You're done... It really is quick and easy. I generally do a couple thousand in a day and then I am done for a while. The most labor intensive part is washing the bullets, and that takes all of 2 minutes.

I haven't moly coated any lead bullets. Before I started casting, I bought some lead .38 WC that were "dry lubed". The lube looks amazingly like moly! These are a real mess to load. I am looking forward to shooting the rest and getting rid of them. I might try the sawdust trick and see if that helps clean them up. These bullets don't have any other lube.

John

[waksupi]

Klaus, I made a short foray into moly coating bullets. Velocity did increase, Accuracy didn't. Also made a big mess, as that is just the kind of person I am. If you don't like it, Goop handcleaner will remove it from your barrel. YMMV.

[Calamity Jake]

I have the same kit+ 2 extra bowls. I moly coat all jacketed, but unlike garandsrus I use size BB UNPLATED steel shot in the bowl with the bullets, it helps peen the moly into the surface of the bullets. Be sure to use UNPLATED SHOT you don't want flakes of plating on your bullets. I run mine for 1 hour.

The steel and jacketed bouncing around that plastic bowl makes a lot noise, I put a 5 gal. bucket over the tumbler to reduce the noise.

One of the extra bowls is used for polishing with paper towels instead saw dust, I run that one about 15 min.
The other bowl is used for sized and gas checked cast boolets but instead of using steel shot I use crushed walnut (the same stuff used for cleaning brass) the steel damages the cast, run 30 to 45 min. then polish, I then add Felix lube.
Latex gloves keeps the moly off of your hands.

A NOTE OF CAUTION:When you shut off the tumbler on the jacketed stuff, let is set for 3-4 min. before removing the lid, if you don't you will get moly dust in your face, not a good thing.

[44man]

I have a 6.5 Swedish with pits in the bore. I always had great accuracy, down to .432 with open sights at 100 yd's. I customized it and it will hold 1/2" but the bore does foul with copper. I started spraying my bullets with dry moly I found at work. No more copper and accuracy is the same. Sure much easier to spray them.