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Moly fouling


GregJ

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I've seen a few older posts on the subject but no solutions. I'm loading Precison Bullets 200gr SWC and RNFP black moly bullets in my Kimbers using a Hornady LNL press. The load is 5.4gr of W231 with 1.245 OAL and crimp of .470. The bell/flare is generous, and there never is any moly shavings on the shell plate. I'm also seating and crimping in seperate stages (seat die is Hornady die, crimp is RCBS taper crimp die). I've pulled bullets and the coating has not been cut.

I've tried lower loads of W231, but they seemed to foul the barrel just as badly and the accuracy wasnt as good. I really like the current load. I've also tried Power Pistol, which is slower than W231, and didnt care for it much at all, and it still seemed to leave moly fouling.

The fouling appears to be mostly moly, but I do see some small flakes of lead that come out as well. I'm pretty OCD when it comes to cleaning my firearms, so it takes me 10-20 min + with a brass chore boy wrapped bore brush trying to get the crap out. Even then I'm not able to get the barrel completely clean (I know, it will still shoot just fine).

A lot of folks here seem to do well with the Precison bullets and W231. I might have to try some N320 and see how it fares.

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All that it takes to get moly out of my barrel is a little solvent, and a nylon brush. I use Solo1000 or clays with my Moly loads (BBI bullets)

I just shoot it, and shoot it some more. Clean the barrel about every 3 gun cleanings. My barrel looks the same with 10 rounds, or 1000 rounds of Moly through it. I dont see any degradation in accuracy unless I use a Lee FCD and lead/moly bullets.

Lower charges will leave more dirt. 231 in my experience is cleaner the hotter you get. Which may explain why it seemed worse with lower charges.

I just wouldnt obsess over it to much. A couple swipes with a brush/patch and call it good. Especially with a gun thats a shooter. A little more detailed cleaning if you're going to put a gun back in the safe for a month or two.

Have you slugged your barrel to check the bore size ? If your bullets are not oversize enough, I suppose that could cause excessive fouling/leading even with Moly bullets.

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What solvent do you use? I've tried Hoppes' #9, Break Free CLP, and Shooter's Choice Lead Remover - all with the same disappointing result.

I havent slugged it yet, on my list of things to get from Midway.

Both Kimbers (Gold Match II and Custom Classic Target) see range time every weekend, and matches once a month, so no safe time for them. :devil:

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When I was shooting BBI's I just used Hoppes and either a Bronze brush or a "Tornado brush" to get out any molly fouling. A couple of passes and a couple of patches and done.

Overall, I honestly never really had much of an issue with bits of molly in any of my pistols.

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http://www.schuemann...abid=67&mid=445

I follow the advice from the last paragraph, the only thing that goes down my barrell is bullets.

So did I. However, with enough minor PF precision bullets, I ceased to have actual lands and grooves for about 1/3 the barrel form the crown back. So it got a cleaning and man did it take a lot of elbow grease as well as solvents and something more serious than a nylon bore brush was needed to knock the big chunks off. Ditching my FCD made for an improvement, but it still eventually built up to the same point.

Since I also couldn't get a major load I liked in .40 without LOTS of smoke, I ditched moly coated bullets entirely. Had a very nice minor load for it though.

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http://www.schuemann.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=3zZ4oir3t50%3D&tabid=67&mid=445

I follow the advice from the last paragraph, the only thing that goes down my barrell is bullets.

I rum Bear Creek Molys, 9mm 135g RN's through my Spartan 9mm and do the same.... I occasionally run a plastic brush and dry patch through the barrel after cleaning the chamber but that is it.

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This isn't very helpful but I've used BBI, Precision, Bear Creek, and Masterblaster molys in both 9mm and .40 out of Schuemann, Barsto, STI, KKM, Kart bbls, using a FCD in both calibers without issue. A couple of passes with a bronze brush and the moly residue is gone. The bbl looks like it has a mirror finish.

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Ditching my FCD made for an improvement, but it still eventually built up to the same point.

By FCD do you mean the Lee Factory Crimp Die?

How does the FCD affect how dirty your loads are?

When I used the FCD (factory crimp die) it undersized the oversize lead and moly bullets. Leading was horrible, and while moly was way better and easier to clean than lead, it was still "streaky" in the barrel.

I only FCD rounds that dont chamber check now. Those get used for practice.

Edited by DWFAN
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Ditching my FCD made for an improvement, but it still eventually built up to the same point.

By FCD do you mean the Lee Factory Crimp Die?

How does the FCD affect how dirty your loads are?

When I used the FCD (factory crimp die) it undersized the oversize lead and moly bullets. Leading was horrible, and while moly was way better and easier to clean than lead, it was still "streaky" in the barrel.

I only FCD rounds that dont chamber check now. Those get used for practice.

Hmmm. That makes sense. I've been having problems with my cast lead 9mm leading, and I crimp with the FCD. I might just try setting up my seating die to crimp and using your system.

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When I was shooting lead bullets I used to "condition" the barrel with Eezox (http://eezox.net/page2.html)

It claims to "seal" all those microsopic grooves in the metal. Dunno about that, but... I do know that after cleaning a few times and letting the eezox dry in the bore a few times, as they recommend, the bore stayed shiny and free of discernable leading.

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For those of you that own a barrel that seems to foul easily with lead or Moly, have you considered fire lapping?

I have done this with every gun I own now. (following the advice from Beartooth bullets.) Although, rather than buy the kit, I made my own.

There are many things fire lapping is supposed to improve, (from accuracy to your sex life) the biggest advantage I’ve seen from it is little to no fouling with lead or Moly bullets. And with less fouling, the gun stays accurate longer and clean up is a breeze.

PM me if you want any details.

Jeff

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I use both BBI and Precison - 9mm/40/45 - I like a clean barrel. I dip the bore brush in ATF and then scrub the barrel - it comes pretty clean - if I want it cleaner I then use a tight patch with ATF and scrub - it will come clean enough for any reasonable use. If you want it even cleaner - use a tight patch with JB bore cleaner - the JB will clean and smooth the barrel to help prevent future fouling, but it does accelerate wear.

The coating is not mainly Moly it is actually more of a polymer paint and yes it works fine in my Glock barrels.

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I used to use HP38 (twin of 231) with Precision and BBI bullets and noticed some moly residue in the barrel of my STI (.40, major velocity). Switched to Universal, had less residue but was still there. Now using Solo 1000 and residue is barely noticeable. I make a few passes with a Brownells Doubletuff bronze bore brush with MPro 7 every cleaning and it gets most of the crap out. I also shoot jhp's and fmj's every so often; whether or not it actually helps to get out the residue is another question.

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Not sure about barrel, But I have noticed recently the chamber part of the barrel is receiving alot of moly buildup. I noticed this when I would unload and show clear. Some times the loaded round would stick a little. I took the barrel out, and found the loaded round would not drop in our out freely. To fix this, I now take a AR-15 chamber brush, and scrub the inside of the barrel at the chamber end. I found that a few strokes the rounds will again drop free. I am beginning to wonder if this is why I always had extractor issues with my last pistol.On a side note, this build up did not show until, I neared 10 thousand moly bullets.

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