Going to start moly coating bullets. Startup questions.

[fnbrowning]

Long time reloader here.
I've been shooting moly-coated bullets for awhile, and was happy just to buy them precoated. So yesterday, I called my favorite bullet manufacturer to ask when they would be shipping their moly-coated varieties. The nice rep told me that they had not sent out their match bullets for coating recently, and due to current production requirements, were not planning to have bullets moly coated anytime soon. *sigh*

So if I want to continue shooting moly bullets, it looks like I'm going to have to start coating my own. I have a homemade tumbler, not a vibrator. Since it does not employ a metal drum, moly coating directly in this tumbler might well ruin it for polishing brass.

Questions:

Has anyone employed a plastic bottle; that is, putting bullets & moly/media in the bottle then tumbling inside a tumbler?

Does anyone use some type of media to impact the moly, or is just the bullets rubbing on themselves are enough?

If you use media, is the ceramic media sold in some kits better/worse/same as using BBs?

What is the cheapest way to 'get it done' you've found for moly coating your own bullets?

Thanks!

 

[milo 2.0]

PM your phone number, I'll call you rather than typing.

 

[High Binder]

Has anyone employed a plastic bottle; that is, putting bullets & moly/media in the bottle then tumbling inside a tumbler?

Does anyone use some type of media to impact the moly, or is just the bullets rubbing on themselves are enough?

If you use media, is the ceramic media sold in some kits better/worse/same as using BBs?

What is the cheapest way to 'get it done' you've found for moly coating your own bullets?

Plastic bottle - Yes
Use BBs
Ditch Moly and coat in hBN instead (better effect).

 

[fnbrowning]

Thanks for the replies so far!

Are there any do's/don'ts for tumbling your fine match grade bullets so you don't ruin the concentricity or otherwise mar & destroy the accuracy of the bullet?

 

[former naval person]

I use a square cross sectional plastic bottle. Tumbles the bullets better. No media needed...impact plating by each other works. Doesn't take NEARLY as much powder as you think. If you use too much you can split the first lot and dump more bullets in with the overly medicated batch and coat them that way. After the first batch coats the inside of the bottle, less powder is needed thereafter. I agree with HBN. Much cleaner...at least you can't see the nastiness. FWIW,I fired the same bullets and same loads with both moly and HBN and found NO change in ballistics.

 

[No1]

Plastic bottle in a vibratory, I usually just put it in with some brass that needs cleaned. bullets washed in hot water and dawn then rinsed off with 97% IPA and let dry or speed drying with some heat. Just the bullets and moly powder in the container.
I use to have a separate tumbler and used BBs. But it's so much quicker and easier to use the plastic bottle.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

i just started the plastic bottle and BBs technique a couple weeks ago, i think i have to add more powder to the bottle as the first batch came out semi tranlucent looking. i think the initial "virgin" BBs may have eaten up alot of the powder.

i've done them just straight up powder in the tumbler without any problems, but thought the BBs and bottle would get me more mileage out of the powder.

running low on moly too, so i got some HBN to give a whirl next time after i run dry on moly.

this is what worked well enough for a while without BBs or protecting with wax:

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...1813-moly-coating-home-pictures-part-1-a.html

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-reloading/31814-moly-coating-home-part-2-a.html

 

[High Binder]

FLY, I use a plastic bottle with probably 100 BBs and I use a rag towel to hold it in place in the tumbler. The whole setup is quiet enough to run in the laundry room. I also pre-heat the bullets to about 200° before they go into the bottle. Pre-heating bullets and keeping the whole setup tumbling in a warm room cuts 6 hours out of the process.

Here's some hBN coated (left) vs. non-coated pic

 

[fnbrowning]

Thank you everyone for a thread full of information. One forum member even called me on the phone to discuss in detail.

I have ordered the moly, and I have a head full of ideas on how to proceed.

I appreciate being a member of this forum!

 

[James n TN]

I use pill bottles ss balls and I do mine wet method and they come out beautiful I also highly suggest if you use pill bottle method to get some electrical tape and tape the lid to the bottle or you'll find a mess at some point. Trust me on that I've done thousands of bullets and dry or wet when that lid comes off what a mess. Also keep close eye on bottle for wear as they do wear thin and a hole will develop and you'll have another mess

sent from RAZR Maxx HD using Tapatalk Pro

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

just got finished (no pun intended) doing the pill bottle and BBs method on several hundred bullets for the first time, it does a really nice job, and appears that you get a heck of alot more millage out of the moly. i thought i'd have only enough to cover 500 more bullets, looks like now close to 2000 or more.

the first batch seemed translucent as the bbs ate up alot of the moly.

second batch after the inside and bbs had the first coating of moly, and some additional powder added (plastic spoonful), the bullets came out beautiful. nice, smooth, shiney, and appears to adhere better and evenly vs. just plopping them in a dedicated tumbler bowl. there was and accumulation around the rim of the bottles where the cap goes on, but was scraped off with the spoon, returning to get pulverized on the third batch.

seems the BBs and bottle does prolong the use of even just a small amount of moly after the initial bottle / bb coating.

switching back and forth using a couple colanders from the dollar store sifted out the remaining powder or a funnel to catch the sift, and a third colander with large enough holes for the bbs to fall through left the bullets by themselves, then to the towel rolled around for a final dusting off.

 

[High Binder]

Ditch Moly and coat in hBN instead (better effect).

I agree with HBN. Much cleaner...at least you can't see the nastiness. FWIW,I fired the same bullets and same loads with both moly and HBN and found NO change in ballistics.

hBN has a lower coefficient of friction than Moly but the difference isn't of any magnitude that a shooter can see/measure and that is not the "better effect" I was referring to. hBN is hydrophilic just like MOS2 but hBN doesn't readily oxidize and convert to oxysulfide and sulfuric acid in atmospheric air like MOS2 does. H2SO4 + Fe → FeSO4 but its your barrel/money.... hBN is simply a better bullet coating.

 

[High Binder]

second batch after the inside and bbs had the first coating of moly, and some additional powder added (plastic spoonful), the bullets came out beautiful. nice, smooth, shiney, and appears to adhere better and evenly vs. just plopping them in a dedicated tumbler bowl. there was and accumulation around the rim of the bottles where the cap goes on, but was scraped off with the spoon, returning to get pulverized on the third batch.

seems the BBs and bottle does prolong the use of even just a small amount of moly after the initial bottle / bb coating.
.

As an FYI: You need .002mm - .003mm coating of MOS2 to be effective in terms of it's use as a bullet coating. You probably don't have the ability to measure that but that's a lot less than you would think if you're trying to compare your pills to a factory coating job. Factory jobs are sloppy and ran in huge batches and are always coated far to heavily. Two microns is going to make the bullet look like a dark shade of copper so you're already coating enough but over coating isn't going to harm anything aside from your wallet.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

darn good inputs there HB!

 

[High Binder]

darn good inputs there HB!

Hope it helps!