OT Moly Coated Bullets

[piller]

Does anyone here have any experience with moly coated bullets. I have heard of it, but know next to nothing about it. What do you gentlemen think of it?

[86er]

I've tried them in 7mm and they were no more nor less accurate in the same weight and load as the non-coated bullets. Other than that limited experience I cannot comment. I'm sure someone here has used them more extensively.

[jnyork]

I tried molycoating some bullets when that system first came out, supposed to be the next best thing to sliced bread. Could not discern any advantage whatsoever. It is, IMHO, a fishing lure designed to catch fishermen.

[piller]

I was wondering because someone the other day was telling me how good it was and why. I didn't fully trust him as he was a salesman, and I wanted to find out from someone who had used it. 2 for 2 couldn't find any advantage. So far it seems that I should save my money.

[FWiedner]

I have 2 Savage 110s in .30-06. One is a stock rifle and the the other I did the whole moly treatment thing on. Bore, bullets, dry-lube, etc. etc.

With the stock rifle I use cheap Winchester white-box, and on the treated rifle I use the expensive ballistic-tip coated-bullet black-box stuff. Either rifle will put 5 bullets in a group smaller than a golf-ball at 200 yds.

I spent a whole lot of money to learn the same lesson that jnyork got from just a couple of bullets.

[1886]

I have had some experience with moly coated jacketed rounds but this was long ago, 10+ years. Certainly not enough experience to be considered informed but I will share some thoughts. It is one more variable in an already variable laden process. In a cobb rough bore a moly coated jacketed bullet may cut down on some copper fouling. How much? Real tough to say. IMO one is better off to fire lap the offending bore and be done with it. In a smooth, uniform bore you will probably be able to extend the time between cleaning sessions. How much? Again tough to say. I think another area where moly could possibly be useful is increasing velocity possibly without increasing pressure but unless one has access to pressure testing equipment.... I lost interest when I had Pac-Nor barrels put on my bolt guns. The bolt guns are gone now. Lost interest in them. Many levers remain though. Hope this helps a little. Maybe a benchrest or varminting forum may shed more light. 1886.

[piller]

Thanks to all who replied. The salesman tried to get me to use it because I said my gun was new and unfired. I don't think I will use it. I am still waiting on range time to get my new Marlin 19895GS some use.

[mike454]

I've also heard that moly is mildly hydroscopic and will draw moisture into your bore.

[JohndeFresno]

I have no basis to compare my molybdenum coated bullets with non-coated, but I have had excellent results with the brands that I use: Accuracy and a clean barrel. Many suppliers use this or similar stuff to coat the projectile.

As an example, I fire Terry Labbe's Magnus .430 caliber #701M SWC-BB Moly 240 grain bullet (Brinnell Hardness around 21, per the manufacturer) in a Taurus 6" .44 Mag Stainless (Model 44SS6) at around 1100 fps as a target round and I get 1 inch groups off hand at 25 yards, consistently, which is about as good as my old eyes can do with iron sights. My load is 9.0 gr. Unique, CCI 300 Lg Pistol primer, Winchester brass, COAL 1.609".

This is all I will ever shoot for target practice, now; and in a pinch I believe that it would be adequate for a general survival round (although I will now start carrying the Barnes all copper 200 gr. round because of Fish & Game restrictions in my part of the world).

My .30-30 (cast) loads from more than one supplier are all lubed and gas checked for the same reason - accurate and clean - although I have much more testing to do before I can declare which bullet is absolutely the best one. I just starting levergunning in earnest the last two years.

I don't know if a bullet without molybdenum would work as well, but I don't see how it could be better; so I don't try fix something that isn't broken.

[J Miller]

I've never used any in rifles. However I have used several hundred molly coated hard cast bullets in my .45 Colts.
They were not worth the extra cost to buy them.
First there was no other lube, just the molly coating. The instructions said to clean all the lead and copper out of the barrel and then use the coated bullets. I did just that and was rewarded with a barrel full of lead.
I had to pull over a hundred bullets, run them through my Lube-A-Matic filling the groves with real lube just to use them.

I consider the molly coating fad as just another gimmick to make sales.

I won't even consider purchasing a molly coated bullet now.

Joe

[Charles]

Some years back, when moly coating was all the rage, I tried a couple of hundred moly coated cast bullet in a 38 Special. Accuracy was normal, but leading was also there and the clean up was terrible. Never again....

[JohndeFresno]

Maybe some of the complaints I hear speak to the fact that the barrels had fired other rounds before switching to moly. My Taurus saw only fifty jacketed bullets, or less, before I started firing moly ones; and my Marlin 336 fired only 100 or less before I started loading moly bullets. AND they were very carefully cleaned before the first lead bullet went down the tube. D'ya think?

[J Miller]

John,

D'ya think? Well, in some cases no doubt, but as I stated, in my case I did follow the instructions and cleaned the barrel well. Still got terrible leading. Just like you'd expect from an unlubed bullet.

Joe

[JohndeFresno]

John,

D'ya think? Well, in some cases no doubt, but as I stated, in my case I did follow the instructions and cleaned the barrel well. Still got terrible leading. Just like you'd expect from an unlubed bullet.

Joe

Well, Joe - I guess I'll have to get a little unlazy and clean out my barrels super-carefully and then try some non-lubed bullets. If I can save a penny or two, that's a good thing.

As for the Magnus bullets that work so well, the 701 is the same round as the 701M without the molybdenum. So that would probably be the best test, since the lubed one works so sensationally in my six-shooter.