Right now I am shooting regular (non-moly coated) bullets and am seriously considering changing to moly coated bullets for my new High Power bolt rifle. What are the pro's and con's to shooting moly coated bullets? Also, what specific cleaning equipment and techniques would I need to follow.

The reason I am considering changing is because the accuracy on my new barrel goes downhill unless I clean with bore cleaner and several patches every 5 shots. Obviously this is not acceptable for High Power competition.

Moly was originally designed for the competition shooter in mind. The bench rest guys were seeking ways to maintain accuracy over longer strings of shots. They wanted to eliminate flyers and foulers.

Moly has come a long way over the past 6 years. Almost all bullet manufacturers offer moly as a choice. There are some cleaning differences over copper cleaning. Most notably, the use of Kroil and JB bore paste. Moly tends to build up in the throat area of your chamber. This generally occurs after 30 to 100 rounds depending upon many factors.

To begin with, you will need to break in your barrel using moly. Make absolutely sure that your barrel is free of any copper. Use Sweets or CR-10 to ensure that all copper is out. At the range, shoot one and then clean the powder fouling in the barrel with Kroil and shoot another single shot. Do this until 10 rounds. Increase the string to three shots until 25. This is done to burnish moly into the fine cracks of your barrel. You clean often to ensure you are putting moly on moly, not moly on fouling.

To clean, you will need a bore guide, Kroil, a coated cleaning rod, and plenty of patches. Use Kroil to loosen powder fouling and excess moly. After shooting, always run several patches of Kroil through the barrel and coat the barrel before storage - moly is not a rust inhibitor.

After 50 or so rounds, you may begin to see some drifting of accuracy. This is a sign to clean the moly from your barrel. Use JB bore paste on a patch and push through the barrel - one way. Do this 4 or 5 times with a clean patch and JB. Then use a back-and-forth stoke (about 20 strokes). Do this 2 or 3 times. Pay particular attention to the throat area. You can also use Butches, CR-10, or Sweets to remove all moly but remember, you will need to begin the burnishing process all over again.

There are a lot of myths and experiences using moly. There is nothing wrong with using it. You can always get it out of your barrel and shoot jacketed bullets again. I exclusively use moly in a number of guns and have tried them in several others. Some like moly, some don�t. It is not the magical cure for accuracy. It is wonderful if your gun likes them and especially if you are a competitive shooter. You can spend more time practicing and less time cleaning.

Give them a try...

Z

Bruce (can I call you Flash? ),

[All the rest of this assumes you are suffering copper fouling, rather than powder fouling.]

Having been down that road I can advise against it. It takes too many fouling shots to get back to group after a cleaning w/ a moly system. Some rifles 5 shots, some more. You would be better off breaking it in and getting it to quit fouling using regular bullets.

If you have a Hart, Shilen or Krieger barrel, just clean and shoot and it will come around. If you have a Douglas, consider firelapping. If you have a Shaw or Wilson, I strongly suggest you firelap it using the Tubbs or Neco firelapping kit and stay on the coarse lap until you see it start to smooth at the muzzle.

I always had best luck breaking in (and shooting competition) w/Sierras. I use a stick powder (IMR4064 or IMR4895) in both 308 and 223. I have had one rifle that didn't quit fouling until I used H380 in it for 100 rounds - but it could have been some other reason it quit...

Consider spending a day at the range just breaking in and firelapping it. Cleaning after every shot. Try breaking it in with 80 percent loads (2200 fps) until the fouling lightens up. Use CR10 or Sweets and RemClean to really get it perfectly clean before the next round goes through.

If you are dead set on moly, buy the Sierra bulk bullets already moly coated. Your wife and loading room will thank you, as that black dust gets everywhere. I used the NECO kit including carnuba wax, if you have to do it yourself. The moly bullets are not a magic answer, although they sometimes help. More often you just get layered moly and copper, which is hard to clean.

Good luck,
Don