We believe that moly works and frankly Walt and I still shoot moly coated bullets in short range BR competition. I also plan on using moly coated bullets when I start shooting F-Class.
We have been using moly since it was intorduced and when I say "moly works" what I am referring to is reduced fouling and an ability to maintain the same level of precision due to the reduced fouling.
I do not believe that moly has any benefits when it comes to better precision or barrel life simply due to moly. There might be some level of improved barrel life but we have not seen this in any significant amount.
Since we have never switched back from moly I can't answer your question about what happens if you stop using moly with personal experience. What I have been told by those who tested this situation is that there will be a difference in MV when switching from one to the other. It can take anywhere from 10-20 shots before this settles down. Once it settles down you should be fine.
Personally, I believe moly is best in situations where there is high shot counts in a shooting session. Target competition (especially those that do not allow for regular cleaning between strings) are a great example of where moly can be beneficial. In game hunting situations where a few shots are taken over longer periods moly is not benefical.
Berger has discontinued offering all but a few (10 to be exact) moly coated bullets for a very simple reason. We sell very few of these moly coated bullets. The non-moly version of each of these bullets sells just fine. I believe the moly does not sell as well for two reasons. First, moly is not as popular as it was when it was introduced. The second reason (which I believe is major part of our reduced sales of moly) is because it is very simple and cheap for shooters to moly coat their own bullets.
When we moly coat the bullets their are many costs involved that the individual does not have to worry about. Kits are readily available and for a few hundred dollars you could be moly coating literally tens of thousands of bullets for no extra cost (except your time).
Frankly, we are encouraging shooters to moly coat their own bullets. Below is our procedure for coating bullets including a list of vendors that supply the items we use (I wanted to attach it but can't seem to figure out how). There are a few different methods to moly coat bullets but we found that the method described in our process worked best for us.
Regards,
Eric
Official Moly Coating Process
The following is a detailed list of instructions describing how Berger Bullets moly coats their bullets. This process should not be done in your living room. Moly is washable with soap and water but the amount of moly that can distribute itself around the area where you moly can make a bit of a mess.
Materials Needed:
RCBS Sidewinder Tumblers (2 drums for each drive motor platform)
Molybdenum Disulfide (finest micron size available and from hereon referred to as moly)
Carnuba Wax (powder form)
Scale That Weighs in Grains (2 trays needed, one for moly and one for wax)
Terrycloth Bath Towel (consider using one will not be needed in your bathroom again)
½ Gallon Bucket
Timer capable of 2 Hours
Sharpie Marker
Material Sources:
RCBS – www.rcbs.com or copy and paste the following url:
http://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/MainServlet?action=CatalogSearch&langId=en_US&storeId=webconnect&catalogId=webconnect&screenlabel=index&pageSize=15&beginIndex=0&resultType=3&orderBy=1&searchType=0&searchDescription=sidewinder
The Sidewinders are available through many dealers who specialize in reloading products. Grain weighing scales are also available through many dealers. The accuracy of the weight of materials used is not ultra critical so less expensive scales can be used.
NECO – www.neconos.com or copy and paste the following url:
http://www.neconos.com/shop/?shop=1&cat=5&cart=165758
NECO sells the moly and carnuba wax regularly. These items are available through others sources but can be difficult to locate consistently.
The ½ gallon bucket can be replaced by anything with similar capacity like a tumbler drinking cup or butter dish. The goal is to have something that will allow you to gently pour the bullets into the tumbler drums.
Moly Coating Procedure:
Note: Bullets must be completely clean for the process to work properly. Our bullets will arrive clean but some brands are not completely clean. To insure cleanliness wash your bullets in lacquer thinner containing minimal petroleum products or use acetone. Make sure the bullets are completely dry either by laying them in the sun or heating them up with a blow dryer. Fluid can stay in the hollow point area of the bullets and should be quickly evaporated away rather than allowed to dry slowly indoors.
Also, steel balls are not needed to moly coating your bullets. It is very important that two drums are used and that one is always used for moly only and the other is always used for wax only. Mixing this process in both drums will ruin your ability to coat properly and a thorough cleaning (which doesn't always work) or replacement drums will be required to correct this particular result. To avoid mixing these drums use a sharpie marker to clearly label onedrum for MOLY and the other for WAX.
Using this process you can coat from 1 pound of bullets up to 15 pounds. Bullets of different sizes can be mixed and tumbled together if you want to coat many small quantities in fewer cycles.
- Put the clean bullets into a ½ gallon bucket (or similar container).
- Pour the bullets gently into the drum marked MOLY.
- Measure the moly using the grain weight scale and the moly tray (squares of plastic will work but are harder to manipulate without spilling).
- Use 30 grains of moly plus 1 grain for each pound of bullets
i. Example: 5 pounds of bullets require 35 grains of moly
ii. Example: 12 pounds of bullets require 42 grains of moly
- Put the moly into the drum marked MOLY with the bullets.
- Tumble the bullets for 2 hours.
- Pour the bullets onto a large terry cloth bath towel.
- Grabbing the ends of the towel with each hand alternate pulling each end of the towel up allowing the bullets to tumble back and forth inside the towel. Do this 20 times or so until all the excess moly has been removed from the bullets. You should not see any clumping or excessive powder on the bullets.
- Transfer the bullets from the towel into the ½ gallon bucket. There are a few ways to do this without getting your hands dirty but they are difficult to describe. Try a few different techniques until you find one that works for you. (Think: pouring them out of the towel)
- Pour the bullets gently into the drum marked WAX.
- Measure the carnuba wax using the grain scale and the wax tray (squares of plastic will work but are harder to manipulate without spilling).
- 1 to 3 lbs of bullets use 0.1 grains of wax
- 4 to 7 lbs of bullets use 0.3 grains of wax
- 8 to 12 lbs of bullets use 0.6 grains of wax
- 13 to 15 lbs of bullets use 1.0 grains of wax
i. When you use the WAX drum for the first time double the wax needed.
- Pour the carnuba wax into the drum marked WAX with the bullets.
- Tumble the bullets for 15 minutes.
- Empty the bullets into any container. They are ready to shoot.
- In some cases access wax will appear as clumping. This can be reduced slightly by following step 7 (make sure you use a different towel). Once your drums are used a few times you should not see clumping after the wax process.
There are other ways moly can be applied but the above is how we do it at Berger Bullets.
