No wonder I get confused!

[n4ue]

I'm in the process of 'building' my first SS wildcat rifle. I own several factory SS rifles and found a new McGowan bbl that was exactly what I was looking for.

So, while waiting for my 'doner' rifle to arrive, I did some 'research' on the following subjects:
1. bbl break-in
2. cleaning theories

I used both 6mmBR.com and Accurateshooter.com, among others.

The sites asked all the top barrel makers for their opinion on both subjects. Krieger, McMillan, Hart, Lilja, Pac-Nor, etc, and a bunch of champion shooters. These bbl makers make some excellent (not cheap) products.

On break-in, there was no real consensus. The opinions ranged from 'just shoot it' to 'clean after every shot'.......

Cleaning was the same. Unbelievable. The one theme that seemed to repeat in the cleaning topic:
Don't drag the brass brush back into the muzzle. Don't short stroke the brass brush. Also, be REAL careful with JB compound. A lot of the bbl makers said they have seen more bbls ruined from cleaning errors, rather than being 'shot out'.....

I suggest everyone read these opinion for themselves, and make their own choices. They know waaaay more about bbls than I ever will!

One topic I would LOVE to discuss (seriously) is the aspect of bullet coatings. Only ONE person (David Tubb) in the above interviews mentioned bullet coatings. Of course, he sells that service/product. However, the fact he is an 11 time Camp Perry champ, lends some belief.
6mmBR.com has some good articles on bullet coatings.....

Another site I really like is "Bob is the oil guy". The site moderator is a Tribolgist. Even on that site, there appears to be little info on other folks who use bullet coatings. There are some great threads on Moly (older) and WS2 that are used in vehicle engines.
I use hBN on all my bullets and bbls. I've tried them all, but have settled on hBN.
My decision to use coatings is not to improve accuracy, but to enhance bbl life.....

having a great time!

ron

[Jim White]

I use to moly-coat my AR loads when I shot competively. I too did it for barrel life but since then there has been debate whether or not the barrel life is exteded. Somethings for sure are [moly];

(+) It make cleaning a snap. No copper fouling. Just patch it with Kroil and you're done.

(-) It's messy, to coat them but its not that big of a deal to me.

(-) You must scrub it out every so often and recoat it because if you don't a carbon ring will form in the throat; leading pressure issues.

Never tried the WS2 or hBN.

[Rick in Oregon]

+ One for what Jim said.

I've used WS2 in my high volume rat rifles for years now with excellent results. My 223AI and 243AI can go a full 100 rounds in a hot PD or rat patch without cleaning, and when time to clean, zero copper fouling. Just a mixture of Shooters Choice and Kroil and she's clean with minimal scrubbing.

But in honesty, my last five rifle builds are without any moly, WS2 or any bullet coating. My standard drill now is to pre-coat the bore with Lock-Ease (hbn) after cleaning and shoot. When applied after a good cleaning, no bullet coating needed, and the bores still clean right up without any mess or fuss. The stuff has about a zero cofficient of friction also, so you actually experience a slight velocity gain with a properly treated barrel, as with WS2 and moly, but not the mess of the actual coating process (which I'd be happy never doing again).

Some experienced fellow shooters over on Saubier turned me onto it after using it for many years......about the best trick I've tried yet. And the stuff is available at any NAPA store at a reasonable price. (Tried to find any labratory grade WS2 lately?)

Moral: Most of my primary rat rifles now shoot naked boolits, but their bores are coated with Hbn (Lock-Ease) for ease of cleaning.

You've had a PM sitting in your inbox now for a few daze....... (Think: Layne Simpson and/or Brian Pearce....... )

[n4ue]

Hi Rick. I have known about Lock Ease for quite a while. I have never been able to find it here in the Florida woods. I have heard a lot of BR shooters use it on the first fouling shot, before a string.
My progression on coated bullets started like everyone else.
First it was Moly.
Then Moly with Carnuba Wax. This made it only sightly less messy.
Next was WS2. It's not hard to find, but is not cheap. Still messy.
Lastly, I have settled on the hBN.

Is the Lock Ease dark? If so, it is graphite/moly..... The hBN looks like powdered sugar (white). The bores also clean easily with Kroil, but honestly, since we have no PD towns, I seldom shoot more than 20 rounds per session. There is almost NO residue that comes out of the bore and I have yet to see a streak of jacket material in any of my bbls.... I use the hBN with a 91% alcohol carrier to coat the bores. The bullets are impact plated......

Thanks for the reply!

ron

ron

[Rick in Oregon]

Ron, you're right. Now that I ponder it further, I recall Lock-Ease is indeed collodial graphite, and not hBN. It sure is simpler using it after cleaning than the coated bullet thing. As we sometimes fire 300~ rounds a day through our rat rifles, the fouling thing was/is a big deal for us, and the coated bullet thing seemed like the panacea at the time. My coating progression went pretty much like yours did, but I haven't tried hBN yet.....where do you find it? (cubic boron nitride, right?)

Lock-Ease in the barrel and naked bullets is now the current love affair.....until something really trick comes along and makes it all less work.

[toasty]

I use the hBN with a 91% alcohol carrier to coat the bores. The bullets are impact plated......

I just started plating and shooting hBN last year. For my bores, I just run a patch with powder hbn up and down the barrel a few times and then shoot my first round. Seems to work pretty good. I have a 243 win that shoots lights out for the first 25 shots, then starts to open up and is still good to 50 rounds, however, it is not accurate for pdogs anymore at about 60 rounds. The hBN was supposed to shoot cooler and allow more accurate shots before cleaning was required again.

So far, I've been able to tell that hBN coated bullets do not shoot cooler, you'll get no more shots downrange with hBN vs naked bullets to get to your maximum heat tolerance for your barrel. The other negative is I lost 120 fps on my 4025fps ruger 204 load when I started shooting hBN. It required a complete new workup for powder which is a PITA. Cleaning has been easier and faster, worth the hBN alone for cleaning.

So far, I haven't been able to conclusively tell if I get good accuracy for more rounds. Can anyone tell me if they have experience with longer stretches of accuracy between cleanings with hBN?

[n4ue]

Hi Rick (and Toasty). The stuff is called hex Boron Nitrate. I 'think' I got it from a chemical firm in Canada. I bought a pound of both hBN and WS2.
The WS2 is very dense, as opposed to the hBN, which is very light and fluffy. Although there are places to get smaller quantities. I opted for a pound of each. The pound of hBN was physically large! The WS2, although a better lube, is pretty expensive. I know a few engineers that add WS2 to their motor oil. The particle size is so small, it easily passes through the oil filter. As such, it gets into the pores of your skin just as easily. ha ha
Coating the bullets is pretty simple (at least for me), since I made a timed. rotary device. I let it run for one hour, doing about 100 bullets at a time. The larger calibers (.30), I do 50 at a time. If one were to shoot just the bullets, without the bore plating, the bbl will 'coat' itself over the course of a number of rounds. I haven't chrono'ed the 204 or the 22-204 with and without hBN, since I use hBN for all guns and bullets, now.
However, when I first started down this 'path', the 223s showed about a 50 fps loss with the hBN. However, the drop in pressure and ease of cleaning are the reasons I converted.....

ron

[Lonegunnmenn]

JMO I have seen more rifles damaged from improper break in then if any that might occur by just shooting it