Ok, guys kinda bored over the winter, and figured I would try something new. So I figured I could try moly. All the friends I know that use moly have guns exclusively using moly bullets only. In other words, they have moly'd the barrel, and they don't clean out the moly.

But I don't want to go that route. But would like to try the moly bullets. When you shoot these, and if you don't like them, will you get the same performance out of your naked bullets that you did before. In other words I was talking to my machinist. He was telling me that in heavy machines, Moly inbedes itself in metal and I might not be able to get it all out.

To a small degree this is true. Moly will embed itself into the smallest imperfections within your bore. It is difficult to impossible to remove it from this area. However, this will not effect accuracy or cause any potential corrosion concern.

Be forewarned - moly is not something to tinker with. Either decide to use it OR don�t even begin down this road. Look, moly is great stuff, but you better plan on keeping this bore moly�ed forever. Switching back-and-forth is not advisable and can (generally) cause all sorts of accuracy headaches in the future. You will also need to adopt a new cleaning routine with moly which is different from naked bullets. And finally, moly is no substitute for cleaning. You will still need to clean after each day at the range/field. The good news is - it doesn�t take much time to run a few solvent patches down the bore before storage.

I have a pile of bearclaws and thought about molying them. They copper up my barrels pretty bad. But maybe you are right. I really just want to try them, but don't want to screw up a new krieger barrel I have.

Should the same be expected from Barne's XLC coating?

bigcountry - If you have a Krieger and you followed their break in procedure your bore should stop fouling pretty quick. I have several Krieger bores. A few soaks with Butch's is all it generally takes to remove copper. I have never heard of one which fouled much.

Granted that the TBBC bullets do foul more than Nosler and many other bullets. However, most �good� solvents should correct this problem.

In any event, I would NOT recommend that you go this route with your Krieger.
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GM - Supposedly, the XLC bullet is not moly but a proprietary coating to help control fouling and reduce friction. Barnes has a very bad reputation as the worst fouling and most difficult to clean bullet in the business. This is why they created CR-10 - one of the most aggressive copper solvents in the business.

[ 01-14-2003, 18:29: Message edited by: Zero Drift ]

ZD, do you know if the XLC coating will effect the barrel in the same way?

For Africa next year I bought the wife a Rem. 700bld .270 Win. to use. The gun has not been fired yet, but I had planned on using the Barnes XLC's in 130gr. With the talk on Moly, I'm wondering if once you shoot with the XLC coating you are cornered into using it all the time?

GM - I do not shoot Barnes bullets, but you do not need to worry about burnishing your barrel as you would with moly. I believe the primary motivation for the XLC coating was to help Barnes sell their bullets to folks who hated cleaning their bore after shooting their bullets. It would be interesting to shoot the XLC across a chronograph to see what happens to velocity. With moly, velocity drops as you coat the barrel.

For comparison sake, I would also work up a load for Nosler Partition and/or Swift A-Frames. Barnes bullets are mono-metal - no lead. This makes them longer than bullets of comparable weight. This can also make accuracy fine tuning a bitch. The Partition and A-Frame seem to be a lot easier to shoot accurately and they perform flawlessly in the field. I repeat - they perform flawlessly in the field. Did I mention they are accurate as well???

[ 01-14-2003, 22:11: Message edited by: Zero Drift ]

Zero Drift,
I have used some moly bullets (for varmints) in the summer in my 7mm-08 and then switch to standard bullets for big game season. I give the bore a good cleaning with CR-10 before each switch. Are you suggesting that down the road I may have accuracy problems?
To date both loads shoot extremely well. Usually a shot or two is required between these cleanings to settle the bore into consistent accuracy.

Thunderstick - The potential problem with this is trapping copper below the moly. As you have most likely discovered, totally removing moly from the bore can be a challenge. Especially with a rough factory bore. Breaking the chemical bond between your bore and moly is difficult. Accordingly, moly can hold copper as it holds onto the bore. You can get a layering effect that becomes very difficult to control.

Sweets does a great job on copper but is slow to attack the moly. If you are not fully removing either the copper/moly when you switch bullets, you can begin to have a mix of moly and copper fouling in your bore. This �may� cause some accuracy problems down the road. (May is the operative word here).

No one can tell you with any certainty that you will have problems. I bore scope all my target/varmint bores fairly often. Therefore I can quickly spot a fouling problem before it becomes a problem. I can also tell if my cleaning routine is working properly. All I can say is you are increasing your headache odds by switching back and forth. If you want a little more protection, you should also use some JB Bore Paste then hit the Sweets before you switch to another bullet. I have also found Bore Tech�s Moly Magic works well at removing moly fouling.

Not something to loose sleep over, but something to consider when switching back-and-forth.

Zero Drift,
Thanks for the reply. I will keep that in mind and eventually go to all uncoated bullets.

Zero Drift, so do you feel it is best to stay with a non-moly coated bullet for all the time use? Thanks- Nathan

Nathan - Moly definitely has its place. But it's a lot like getting married - you better be committed to the task. When I first started shooting moly, I wanted to moly everything - hunting rifles, target, varmint, small bore, big bore. I quickly discovered, that not everything needs to be moly�ed, nor does everything universally respond to moly.

Unless I am considering shooting more than 200 rounds a year through a bore, I don�t even contemplate it. Considering the amount of time it takes to burnish the bore and work up loads, I could have shot all I needed to achieve accuracy with a field gun. The rest would be for shear joy of yanking the trigger. With today�s bore solvents, stripping copper from a barrel is quick and safe so you are not saving any time by resorting to moly. In fact, you may be cleaning just as much as you would with naked bullets.

In most of my .25, 6mm, and 6.5mm target/varmint rifles I shoot only moly bullets. I had one .30-378 target gun that I moly�ed in the hopes of saving the throat. It did, and I was a able to squeeze another 500 rounds out before my third re-barrel job. The rest of my medium and big bores only eat naked bullets.

If you are going to move to moly, make sure you are doing it for the right application, then get married to it.