Do molly coated lead pistol bullets need to be lubed?

[AbitNutz]

So I have played with molly coated jacketed rifle bullets for some time with mostly good results. 

What I don't know about is molly coated cast lead pistol bullets but for a different reason. Getting cast lead to run through a bullet feeder is a real chore because of the sticky lube. It kinda/sorta, more or less works if I coat the bullets in talcum powder...also a pain because it gets everywhere. 

I know that when I molly coat jacketed bullets, the molly does not rub off after I'm done with the process. It's on there for good...

What about molly coating lead? I expect that the molly would not rub off and would make its journey through the bullet feeder more easily...I'm confused about lubrication of the lead bullet. Should it be lubed through a lubrisizer? Or just sized, not lubed, and then molly coated? If I have to actually lube the bullets, it's not going to work for my purposes as it's the lube that causes the issues. 

If I can just cast the lead bullet, size it, not lubricate it, and then molly coat it...things look much better. Will the molly coating act as a reasonable substitute for the traditional stick lube? Will a lead bullet that isn't traditionally lubricated and relies on the molly coating for lubrication not work and lead the heck out of the barrel. The velocity would be about 1300 fps. I have read yes and no...

[BeerBaron]

yes it would work as you suggest. cast, size, coat. no lube during sizing.

I would suggest rather than moly coating buy some of the 'hi-tek' coating that most commercial casters use. it's a better product and will stand up to the 1300fps you want. 

Donnie Miculek is a distributor of it. you can find  it here: http://hi-performancebulletcoatings.com/hi-tek-supercoat-liquid-1-2-liter-36-00/

 

 

[AbitNutz]

I've done exactly that...Magma sells grooveless bullets now, so I ordered one for my Master Caster. It's the old H&G .45-200 SWC BB...just no grease grooves. I also emailed the distributor, so we'll see what happens. I'm hopping that if I hard cast them and use Hi-Tek, they'll hold up to the velocity and run through my GSI.

Thanks!

 

[noylj]

If you are talking about moly lubing using pure MoS2 powder, I would have my doubts that the powder coating would act as a good lube to prevent leading. I doubt it does much for jacketed bullets, but that's me.

If you mean the polymer-coated moly-filled coatings like Precision Bullets uses, then NO, you don't need to lube them.

The Hi-Tek gets a lot of talk, but the coating used by Precision Bullets has worked for me up to about 1500 fps and I have no idea how you can improve on THAT. The coating du jour is OK, but if something has been perfect for over a decade, why change? Also, Precision Bullets are swaged, so they are VERY consistent in weight and dimensions and very accurate--compared to cast lead bullets.

Hi-Teck though does have a real advantage for those that cast their own bullets--it is available and works great. A coating like Precision uses is proprietary and only used in-house.

[AbitNutz]

I do cast my own, boy do I cast my own. I have a Magma Master Caster. However, I was ruined when I got my GSI bullet feeder. What a wonderful piece of engineering. It's really very nicely made but It's a crap shoot if I can get a cast bullet to feed through it. Dusting with talcum powder helps but what a mess. However, everything ends up smelling nice, like a baby...

I've decided to go with the Hi-Tek do it yourself coating. I'm hoping I can get it to work as well as you folks. I know it will be a learning curve. I did get a sign from god. My wife ordered a new stove/range so I get the old one! The oven on it works really well, plus two of the burners are still alive. It's not a convection oven though, no fans. At least I don't think so, I never go near the kitchen. Anyway, I can not only cook the bullets for the coating but I can also pre-heat my hand cast molds.

I would have prefered a truncated cone design but Magma doesn't offer a 200gr T/C in a bevel base. A BB is one of the things that the GSI likes. The GSI will try and smear or ring a PB. That may change if I use the Hi-Tek coating but right now, I'm going with a BB. I'm also going to send it to Eric at Hollow Point and have it made into a HP. Why? Because I like HP's. 

So, my bullet plans are: Magma 200gr, SWC BB HP Grooveless...coated with Hi-Tek.

This is the ancient H&G #68. The pistol I intend to use mostly for this has a polished ramped barrel and with the slickness of the Hi-Tek coating, I'm hoping I don't have any feeding issues. This design has been around since the 1930's...it may not be the latest but it obviously works.