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NECO or Lyman moly coating kits


vrmn1

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Have any of you tried either the NECO or Lyman moly coating kits on cast bullets?

I am thinking about trying one of them and would like some feed back before I drop the money.

I may should have asked this in the reloading section.

Edited by vrmn1
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  • 5 months later...

What positive effect do you get molycoating cast Pistol bullets?

I remember some test made by American Rifleman ( or was it Handloader?)years ago,

improvements were on the 3-5% on speed for Rifle loads.

Reduction of pressure was on the same level ( keeping the same speed).

Accuracy results were not clear.

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Several years back I spent a lot of time experimenting with moly coating bullets. I did like Flex mentioned. Put bullets, bb's, and moly powder in a peanut butter jar and put them in my tumbler. Tumble for an hour or so and then use a magnet to remove the BB's and then pick out the bullets. Real messy, be prepared to have moly blackened hands for a while if you don't use gloves of some sort.

I put moly on jacketed pistol bullets and I didn't notice any difference in performance. Just a black thumb from loading magazines.

I experimented long and hard trying to come up with a moly coated non-jacketed bullet that would mimic the coating of a bullet like Precision. I don't believe it can be done in the average shop as there seems to be some teflon or other slick component that is liquid applied... or sumthin :wacko:

On lead bullets, After I cast them, I would moly them. However you still have to use a lube when you size them or you will have a severely leaded barrel after a couple of hundred rounds.

All in all, I didn't find what I was looking for, a lube-free cast bullet that wouldn't lead my barrel.

As for the kit. As Flex said, empty plastic peanut butter jar, BB's from wally world, moly powder from the autoparts store, (sometime found as Moly-Z powder) and your tumbler. Add bullets and tumble.

FWIW

dj

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"I experimented long and hard trying to come up with a moly coated non-jacketed bullet that would mimic the coating of a bullet like Precision. I don't believe it can be done in the average shop as there seems to be some teflon or other slick component that is liquid applied... or sumthin "

That's what I was going for. Tks for saving me lots of time & $$. However my searchfu skills are strong :ph34r: I'll poke around and see what Precision is doing to achieve their coatings.

Edited by 20nickels
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One of the Scheumann's [pistol barrel maker of high repute] has an in-depth article on his website. At various times they have tested moly coatings. He feels it is an absolute no-no to do this to a barrel. If I remember properly, under the extreme heat and pressure of the gunpowder going off, it forms all sorts of compounds you don't want in your barrels, like carbides, salts and the remaining residue is hygroscopic. This means the residue attracts and absorbs moisture from the air, again something you don't want in the microscopic pores of your barrel, especially with the left over metal salts. The net result is that these componds wear your barrel and also eat at the microscopic pores [in the metal grain], enlarging them considerably, so they hold more of these undesired materials to further the damage and also add to the surface roughness because the porosity is increased. This sounds like increased leading or copper deposits in your barrel and difficult removal. Of course, this is Schuemann's or his company's opinion ,which I value, and I know there are those out there who use moly regularly who have opposite beliefs. I, however, know a little about metallurgy [nothing compared to what Schuemann and his people know] and it makes sense. I, for the above reasons, no longer use moly.

Their website is hard to find but I know it is there. When someone comes upon it perhaps they could post the url for everyone.

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I don't know? You would think we'd be hearing more about problems like that if it panned out. Moly's have been popular for a few years now.

A high volume shooter (5-10k/yr) could probably save enough money to replace a few barrels every so often.

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A shooting buddy and I each experimented extensively with moly-coated lead bullets produced by Bull-X in the late 90s. First, Bull-X was charging a premium over lubed bullets but they dropped the product even before they went out of biz. Second, handling them is a dirty business. Third, we couldn't chrono a real meaningful increase in velocity, all other factors being equal. Fourth, the moly residue in your barrel is EXTREMELY hygroscopic so the bore will rust quickly if you don't clean.

In summary, moly-coating lead bullets ain't worth it. The idea seems to have merit for high- power, jacketed rifle ammo.

Bob.

A16841

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I can't see that Shuemann has any other interest in this other than pure, but what do I know. What S&WI said also concerns me though. Even with stainless barrels, you are still eating them up with the salts and moisture you can't get out of the small pores. An aside: I have trouble with STI mags in the summer. Even though I clean the stainless mags and wax them periodically they still rust from my sweaty hands, cartridge brass corrodes too - - maybe my hands are saltier than most ?? Anyway, I guess everyone will have to make his own decision on this one.

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I have shot moly (Billy Bullets) for a while, at least the last 5 years, and I don't see any problems in my barrels. Of Course I shoot minor and that may have a little ot do with it. Moly does not seem to smoke as much as most of the lubed cast bullets. I shoot lead because they are cheaper and I get good accuracy from them. But if I ever clean my revo I'll check to see if there is any problem. later rdd

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Seriously, what's all this talk about cleaning your guns? I thought we were action shooters! I spend too much time shooting to worry that much, let alone spend time actually cleaning them.

What can I say, some of my Glock shooter tendencies have carried over to my other guns, I guess. :blush:

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I've run over 25K Percision bullets through a Nowlyn barrel and have no ill effects. The gun will shoot a ragged hole if you can hold it. I have shot them in smaller quanities in other pistols and have not seen any problems.

I shoot lead now due to cost and I really don't see any reason to change.

Buddy

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Im glad to find this topic. I just coated 200 40 cal bullets tonight. I use a little different method. I used a new midway bowl with solid lid and added bullets with BBs. had already sized bullets then after molly coating them ran them through the sizer and lubed them.

Here is what Im using !

Im using soft lead with out heat treating. (harder than pure lead but not hard)

Im pushing the bullets about 940 fps (speed of non molly bullets) I want plenty of presure to seal the base of the bullet.

Here is the plan !

Moly acts as a fire retardent. I want it to protect the base of the bullet. Molly will reduce pressure because not all the powder is burned. It should give the same velocity with less felt recol. I simply dont want to heat treat my bullets. I have not had any real trouble with this type of lead but I want to try the molly and see how it works

Im shootin my second outlaw steel match tommorrow and cant sleep. Hope to shoot the molly lead after the match and will post results.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had a chance to go to the range and test the moly bullets.

Every thing seemed to work just fine. There was no leading in the barrel. The bullets performed just as the store bought non coated bullets. I do not like the black finger and thumb I get from loading the mags. I need to do head to head test on soft coated and non coated bullets. I just cant seem to find the time.

So far I am happy with results. It makes sense that the molly would protect the base and that is what Im after. keep in mind I not trying to increase velocity just trying to shoot soft bullets with good results.

I will say this - Bought some screen for Ace Hardware and made a basket to heat treat bullets in. I was worried about results. I am unsure of what temp to treat the soft bullets at. I ended up at 500 deg. I heated the bullets 35 minutes and droped them in water. I have no way to test them but they are a lot harder than the non heat treated bullets. I think even poorly heat treated bullets come out hard. may not work for magnum loads but should be great for mild loads.

More to come

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It sounds like a great idea at first, but the more I dig into on the web I see a constant theme, People keep saying it's just not worth it. Also, I don't know if I'm buying this or not, but many say once you start using moly you have to stick with it due to the way it coats your barrel. Tks for the replies I'm going to bow out.

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I bought the Midway kit several years ago and tried it on some hard cast bullets in my.40. I remember they suggested no lube on the bullets before coating. The leading was horrible and they made a mess when reloading and loading mags. I saw enough to know it was a waste of time and effort to moly coat lead bullets in my .40. Others may have had better results than I did.

EG

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I agree with ebg3, leading was terrible but I am going to try to lube the bullets with the moly still on them. I molyed so many I hope this works or I have a few thousand bullets that will just go to the junk pile.

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