Moly Coated Bullets??

[Auburn1992]

I've bought some Hornady V-Max moly coated bullets for my 22-250. I'm hesitant about using them due to the moly coating on the bullets.

From a search I did, people are saying the moly coated bullets will cause pittting in the barrel. Is this true? How many shots can I shoot before pitting occurs?

I was planning on using the box then going to non moly coated bullets for fear of pitting.

Does anyone know if Winchester Ballistic Silvertip bullets have moly coatd bullets, or are they coated with something else.

Also, any tips for bullet grain/powder charger for reloading the 22-250?

Thanks

 

[rcmodel]

I wouldn't be at all concerned about a box of 100 bullets causing pitting.

What I would be concerned about is getting all that crap out of the barrel before you switch back over to non-Moly bullets.

Once it's in there, it's way harder to get rid of then copper fouling in my experience.

rcmodel

 

[CBS220]

Just clean the moly grease out of your barrel, and you'll be fine.

The compound is hydrophillic and promotes pitting, however, if you clean it out there will be no problems at all.

Most people don't use Moly because it's a mess to moly coat bullets- and you need to treat your barrel to get the full effects. Running an oily patch through your barrel is hardly reason to stop shooting moly if they work well for you.

 

[Walkalong]

Unless you plan to keep shooting Moly, sell them and buy something else. It's too much trouble to get the Moly out.

 

[Auburn1992]

It's just 20 rounds... is it really worth selling?

 

[Walkalong]

Then give them to someone who would use them, or put them back for 20 years, like I have done some things.

 

[res45]

If you are currently getting good results with uncoated bullet there is probably no real reason to change unless you want to experiment. For cleaning moly fouling the solvent of choice is Kroil Penetrating Oil & Bore Cleaner. It's great stuff and not just for moly. http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=137203

 

[Auburn1992]

How long does it take to get it out of the barrel? Is it just like the normal cleaning process? Different?

Also, are Winchester BST bullets coated in moly?

 

[Jason_G]

From a search I did, people are saying the moly coated bullets will cause pittting in the barrel. Is this true?

I'm hearing the same. Also, like some others have mentioned, you probably aren't going to get it out of your bore with your standard solvents which are designed to remove lead and copper. IMO the benefits aren't enough for me to risk ruining the bore of a perfectly good barrel.

Jason

 

[Horsemany]

I recently switched to Berger Moly coated bullets in my 22-250 and it shoots groups half the size of any other copper bullet I've ever tried. I've been experimenting with the gun for 5 years now. The barrels got around 2200 rounds through it (I keep the empty bullet boxes for reference). I had almost given up on the old girl. It shot around 3/4" no matter what powder or bullet I tried...............Until the 55 grain moly coated Bergers. It's now a consistent 1/2" rifle and it isn't at all uncommon to shoot 1/4"groups. I've noticed no inconvenience cleaning the moly out. I just use the same solvent I always have and I don't get a build up or have any corrosion issues. Just be sure to make the last patch an oily one and no problemo.

 

[Auburn1992]

Horsemany, what solvent do you use? I'm thinking regular RemOil and Remington 40XB bore cleaner won't work as well?

 

[Horsemany]

I make my own but it is very similar to regular Hoppe's no. 9. I use Ed's Red; 4 equal parts...Mineral Spirits,Acetone,AutoTransFluid,Kerosene. It's a little thin which makes it similar to Kroil which is often recommended for cleaning out moly because it can get under moly.

After a few patches of Ed's Red, I dry patch it, then I use Gunslick Foaming bore cleaner. I let that sit for 15 to 30 minutes. I patch that out and go back to Ed's Red for a few patches. By this time I'm getting almost nothing on my patches. A quick inspection of the muzzle will show the rifling is still slightly dark with residual moly but clean. I run one last patch of Ed's Red through leaving an oily rust preventing layer and done.

I've found it takes me half the time to clean a moly barrel compared to trying to get out copper. I also shoot benchrest and have noticed the barrels accuracy doesn't drop off after so many shots like with copper either. There are still quite a few benchrest shooters shooting moly at my club.

I try not to remove all the moly when I clean since they generally shoot better with some in there. You'll notice when you start that after about 20 shots the groups will start to shrink as the barrel coats with moly. This is the reverse of copper.

 

[Hutch]

I used JB Bore Paste on a relatively loose mop. I did a hundred strokes, and hosed out the mop and bore w/ brake cleaner. Repeated that a half-dozen times, and my 700VS went from 1.5" to .5" after a quick break-in with standard non-moly 168gr SMK.

 

[MCMXI]

I'm ashamed to say that I had two Remington barrels pit due to poor storage conditions but that had nothing to do with moly. I didn't notice the pitting until about six months ago when I used 7.62 to remove copper fouling. I hadn't shot either of them for about five years but had cleaned and oiled them prior to putting them in my gun safe. The 7.62 worked well, but I noticed some pitting in the last inch or so of both barrels where the copper used to be. I'm having Kreiger barrels installed on both of those rifles so when I get the old barrels back I'll take a couple of photos of the pitting. I had only shot SMK HPBT (copper) bullets in both of those rifles. Currently, I'm shooting moly bullets in a new Remington Alaskan Ti and a new DPMS stainless barrel on an AR. Once my rifles come back with the Kreiger barrels I'll be shooting moly in those too. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with moly making a mess. I shoot SMK moly bullets which don't make any mess at all. I can see that it could be messy if you make or coat your own bullets.

Respectfully, I don't think that moly presents any more of a corrosion issue than copper or lead. Also, I don't seem to have a problem with moly fouling the barrel. I am still getting some copper fouling in the barrel of the 300 WSM (Alaskan Ti) despite using moly bullets.