Moly allows longer shooting sessions?

[hemiallen]

I have a 204 that I picked up just before last springs Vermin slaughter that was fed a diet of 35 gn Moly coated Bergers, and came with enough ammo to use during the shooting. I also have a 223 that shoots some 55 vmax moly bullets well that I picked up 300 inexpensively and shot those all up last spring, but it also shoots the non moly 55's well.


I Never intended to use Moly, so I had not researched the stuff other than reading bad stories of a ring of Moly buildup and barrel damage from not removing the ring. Doing a little more research, the only advantage ( over Ultra bore coating barrels, which most of mine have been treated with) I read is barrel cooling. With that thought, have any of you gone Moly and found you could shoot more rounds before having to set that gun aside due to heat? One gentleman says he can shoot 5x more rounds using moly before the gun gets to a set temperature in a test he has repeated.


Curious if the "dogtown shooters" have found Moly to be an advantage worth using?


Thank you

Allen

[Rick in Oregon]

Allen, up until I started shooting my .20 cal rifles, I used WS2 (tungsten disulphide) on all my high-volume rat rifles, especially my 223's and 223 Ackley. I usually clean in the field after no more than 50 rounds in these rifles, but went 100+ with Danzac, the trade name for WS2. I use the impact plating method, rotary tumbler, 3/16" burnishing balls then separate drum lined with newspaper for a five minute polish.

Is it worth the effort? Really dunno for sure. I can shoot all day with my 20VT in the field at squirrels, and back at the house, it cleans right up like it had been shot 20 times. As I primarily only shoot my 17 Mach IV, 20VT, 221FB and 204's these daze, plus my Hornet-based varmint rifles, my 22 CF's just don't get shot like they used to in the rat patch any more, as I much prefer the smaller cased rounds now.

In all the years I've used plated bullets vs. naked bullets (22 years), I can't say I've noticed one bit of barrel heat differential between the two, at least in an objective manner......measuring heat w/o a thermometer is pretty subjective at best, but I can't say it makes any difference from what I've observed. (I shoot an average of 3,500 CF rounds at rats every year.)

So if you don't mind the messy plating process (the stuff gets on everything), and really want to shoot a high-intensity CF varmint rifle all day without cleaning, then 'yes' it may be worth the effort. But I've found that the smaller cased cartridges offer the same high volume shooting with less powder, blast, recoil and money, all without having to use moly or WS2. JME FWIW

[hemiallen]

Thanks Rick.


As I line up the guns I have for the next trip, I also am heavy on the small case / small bullet stuff. I was very interested in your take on the heat advantage, and even though the test used a thermometer, my gut says "in the field" is better than a lab test, even though I am a lab geek.

Looks like I will be switching the 204 back to , as you and others call them, naked bullets. It shot some ammo I loaded for another 204 extremely well, luckily the chambers are close enough to load virgin brass and after firing keep them separated in each gun's ammo boxes.

Thank you


Allen

[jo191145]

If you really are interested in "running cool" Winchester 748 is the powder to try. It really does burn cooler than any other powder I've ever tried.
Whether you can find the accuracy you desire is another matter. Worked well for me in several 204 barrels.
My old load was 29.2gns with 35 Bergs and Fed 205 Match. 500+ rds of naked bullets without cleaning or loss of accuracy. YMMV.