Switching from Naked to Moly bullets

[iKonic Status]

Hi everyone

I recently bought 200 70g Lapua Scenars to play with in my .223rem, however I was sent 100 moly coated bullets by accident.

I was just wondering whether i should give the barrel a good clean through when switching from the copper jackets to the moly?
I want to try both Naked and moly with H4895 and VARGET, so i loaded up 100 rounds total; 50 rounds each powder with 25 rounds of both Naked and Moly coated for each powder.

(see pics - sorry for poor picture quality!!)





Also, I have heard that when using moly one should change your cleaning procedure. Is this right or should I stick with my 'usual' cleaning method I use for Naked bullets??

Thanks in advance

K

[acloco]

You write on the cases like I do....could have been a picture taken at my reloading bench.

Of interest, 25.0 of H4895 with 69 gr HPBT's with CCI450 primers are THE ticket in several of my bolt action and AR platform 223's. 3000 fps and less than half moa is the standard results.

[iKonic Status]

acloco

Yeah, I find writing the charge weights, bullet type, primers, seating depth etc in to my 'Reloading book' and on the cases themselves is the best and safest way of keeping track of what i'm doing and what my guns like!

Thanks for the tip with your load!

I am just about to begin playing with other bullet / powder combos. Until now, i have only used VARGET and found that my 1-9" twist, Savage VLP likes 24.0g of VARGET with 69gr Sierra Matchkings, CCI400 primers and loaded 0.05" off the lands. This is quite a mild load (not chrono'd but the book suggests its around the 2800ft/s mark - which is a little bit of a 'slow chugger') but that's what my little Savage likes I guess!?!

[Jim White]

1. Yes, you should remove all the copper from the barrel before treating it with Moly.

2. On my moly barrels, I use Kroil and Shooters Choice mixed and nylon brushes, cleaning is done in a jiffy. Every 800-1000 rounds or so I remove all the moly and retreat and I also remove all Moly when the rifle is-not going to be shot for a while due to the moisture in the air here in the PAC Northwest.

HTH

[Sidewinderwa]

Typically moly bullets require more powder to get them to the same velocity as the naked bullets. Yes, be sure to clean your barrel well before using the molly and before using the naked bullets again. There is a moly treatment for the barrel to speed up the moly coating.

[iKonic Status]

Thanks for all your advice everyone!

Jim White:
I shall get some Kroil and Shooters Choice as you suggest and ensure that I give it a proper clean! I appreceiate the tip

Sidewinderwa
I had heard about the need to stoke the charges a little more to compensate for the loss in velocity with Moly. I increased all my standard charges by 0.2grains to compensate! Thanks for the heads-up!

Thanks

K

[Jim White]

iKonic Status: No problem. I use nylon brushes with moly and you'll be "pleasently" surprised how easy and quickly the barrel cleans plus you don't have to clean as often.

One down side to moly is, after several hundred rounds I would scrub it out, throughly and then retreat because it has been known to build up in the throat and cause pressure issues after many rounds. Another down side is, if you live in a moist environment "and" the rifle is in a lay-up (in active) mode the moly could cause some barrel pitting because the moisture mixes in with the sulfur. I've never had this problem and I live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, but its something you may want to read up on.

[Rick in Oregon]

iKonic: All good advice. I shoot WS2 coated bullets in many of my high volume rat rifles (my 204's "not yet"), and always completely scrub the barrel clean at the end of the season in any rifle that has coated bullets shot through it that season. I live on the high desert with mountains/alpine conditions on one side of town, and junipers/sagebrush on the other. Humidity or moisture is not a problem for me, but very well could be for any shooter living in a humid environment using coated bullets and not cleaning or storing his rifle properly.

As Jim mentioned, if you plan to use moly or WS2, read up throughly on it first to avoid any problems later. Coatings are good stuff, but care must be used when shooting them for the expected results.

One thing for sure, nicely coated bullets even look cool!



Those are WS2 coated Berger .17 cal 25gr HP's loaded in freshly neck turned and annealed .17 Mach IV cases, formed from 221 Rem Fireball cases. (Skippy really hates that rifle!)

[iKonic Status]

Jim White & Rick in Oregon

Thanks guys for the further advice about humidity and wet weather oxidizing with the Moly.
Where I live, it's pretty wet alot of the time and I do tend to make a point of cleaning my guns after use - I don't really want rusty rifles - so i'm not that keen about leaving 'wet' Moly down the tube.

As noted before, I will only be using these bullts for 'play' and i doubt they'll replace my pet load which seems to work just fine for me at the moment - plus the Moly Scenars are quite a bit more expensive (lucky they were sent through at no extra cost!).

Take care, again thanks for all the advice from everyone!

Konrad