Bullet lubricants

[rwsmith]

Is Moly lube outdated? Do I want bullets that are moly-lubed? I guess the main question is are there any lubes that I shouldn't use? I've read stuff that says once you use (insert lube name) you have to clean it all out before using bullets with another lube and that it takes several shots to stabilize velocities. Can lubes be incompatible with each other? I've heard of hexagonal boron nitride and tungsten disulfide being used but I don't know by whom.

 

[Maximumbob54]

All I used these days is White Label Lube's BAC and once in a while some alox. I gave up on both fancy exotic lubes and home made and life has been wonderful ever since.

 

[novalty]

I am thinking of ordering some BAC lube too from LsStuff - White Label Lube.

Maximumbob, did you order yours in the tubes or in the bag? I am thinking of ordering in the tubes, as I have a RCBS LAM2, and seems like they would keep longer in the plastic tubes.

 

[wrench]

I've bought BAC in a bag from WLL a few times. It keeps fine in the bag.
Next time I will order the bigger chunks, as I melt it and pour it into my LAMII.
Great lube.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Bear Creek bullets uses moly on lead bullets. It is OK but I wouldn't mess with it on my cast bullets. In my sizer (Lyman 4500), I have SPG which was developed for Black powder, but works well with smokeless, but on the common low velocity cowboy action pistol ammo, I buy my bullets 5000 or 10,000 at a time. and it seems to be "blue" or "red" lube that is heated up, and works fine. Ivan

 

[Engineer1911]

Mr RWSmith it is April 1. Quote: "hexagonal boron nitride" from what I remember of Materials Science, 'hexagonal' described a crystal structure similar to diamond -- very hard and 'boron nitride' is the gold plating on cheap Chinese twist drills that allows you to drill TWO holes in annealed aluminum before the drills dulls to a nub.

Great post! Harder than wood pecker lips and you want to use it for bullet lube .

 

[Jamie]

I've had great luck with Bayou Bullets, they are a breeze to load, no mess, no smoke when shooting. Don't know exactly what the coating is, but it works! Took me 9 weeks to get my last load of 'em though, much like everyone else, he's slammed.

 

[Frank237]

White Label Lubes.....BAC or the Alox mix...any of them they sell are fine. And at $1.65 a stick.....FAR cheaper than the $6 or $7 that Lyman, RCBS want for a smaller stick!

 

[venomballistics]

Dry moly lube fell from popularity.
while it had shown great promise for velocity increases, reduced lead and copper fowling, reduced pressures for a given velocity ... it also had a huge downside in its long term effects. many of the bores were corroded to uselessness within a year.
it still likely finds some favor among bench-rest shooters who will ultimately re-barrel their rifles anyhow

 

[GP100man]

I use White Labels Carnauba Red & randy rat`s TAC1 both are top shelf lubes in handgun apps. , but I`ll have to say I have`nt shot any rifle with TAC1.

BUTTT

I think the OP is inquiring of moly lubing jacketed ????

It was a practice in the mid to late `80s & was eventually abandoned due to moly building up to the point it degraded accuracy , I think.

 

[mikld]

Dry moly lube fell from popularity.
while it had shown great promise for velocity increases, reduced lead and copper fowling, reduced pressures for a given velocity ... it also had a huge downside in its long term effects. many of the bores were corroded to uselessness within a year.
it still likely finds some favor among bench-rest shooters who will ultimately re-barrel their rifles anyhow

Yep, the molly lube mentioned was more of a coating for jacketed bullets, not normal lead bullet lube.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I ordered mine in the bags and I wish I had bought more of it to stock up but I didn't know how it would keep. It's in an air conditioned back room and it keeps just fine.

 

[rwsmith]

Um

Mr RWSmith it is April 1. Quote: "hexagonal boron nitride" from what I remember of Materials Science, 'hexagonal' described a crystal structure similar to diamond -- very hard and 'boron nitride' is the gold plating on cheap Chinese twist drills that allows you to drill TWO holes in annealed aluminum before the drills dulls to a nub.

Great post! Harder than wood pecker lips and ytou want to use it for bullet lube .

"Boron nitride is a dry lubricant similar to graphite (often called White Graphite). Hexagonal Boron Nitride has a very high thermal conductivity with low thermal expansion, and is therefore often used as a heat sink."

" Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) is also known as "White Graphite" has similar (hexagonal) crystal structure as of Graphite. This crystal structure provides excellent lubricating properties. hBN is much superior to Graphite and has following characteristics

•Excellent Lubricating Properties due to low Coefficient of Friction at 0.15 to 0.70"

"BN is isoelectronic to a similarly structured carbon lattice and thus exists in various crystalline forms. The hexagonal form corresponding to graphite is the most stable and softest among BN polymorphs, and is therefore used as a lubricant."

You'd better go back to materials class.

Mr. RWSMITH

 

[Harrison]

I vote for White Label carnuba red. It sticks to the bullet better in hot weather like we get in So. Texas.

 

[rwsmith]

I've been advised

A friend recommended 'Billy Bullets' (cast) but when I went to the site I found that they were Moly-lubed, which gave me pause....

====

What do you think of this?

I read that moly was so slick it SLOWED the velocity of bullets about 50 fps because the bullet traveled too fast to allow a complete powder burn. So if it went fast enough to get out of the barrel before a complete burn, it must have been traveling faster in the first place, right? I know everything on the internet has to be true, but this one has me wondering.

 

[fredj338]

I Am not a moly fan, especially on jacketed bullets. Yes, the moly must be removed from the bbl prior to shooting other jacketed bullets for best accuracy. Then going back to moly, you need to fire several bulelts down an again clean bore to condition the bbl for best accuracy. This was my exp w/ a very accurate 7RM, so I never went to molly bullets again. In handgun, extreme precisions isn't always the idea, so I see less of an issue w/ moly coated lead bullets vs conventional lubes, but I still shy away from moly these days.
Moly does NOT slow the bullet but makes it have less friction. Less friction is less pressure, less pressure is less vel, all things being equal. SO yes, moly bullets requrie more pwoder to achieve the same vel as conventional jacketed bullets.

 

[125JHP]

I've used those moly coated Billy's bullets in 38 & 45 acp. I bought them from a local gun show vendor, thinking I was supporting a local guy (in a way I guess I was) - I didn't know he lived in SC too. Looking at my chrono results, they are typically 20-50 fps lower than comparable lead loads.

I also didn't know that the moly eats/pits the bore. - do I need to go scrub my barrels now? With what? Hope it's not too late.

 

[venomballistics]

I've used those moly coated Billy's bullets in 38 & 45 acp. I bought them from a local gun show vendor, thinking I was supporting a local guy (in a way I guess I was) - I didn't know he lived in SC too. Looking at my chrono results, they are typically 20-50 fps lower than comparable lead loads.

I also didn't know that the moly eats/pits the bore. - do I need to go scrub my barrels now? With what? Hope it's not too late.

while Im aware of moly coated lead, Ive never understood the point.
the coating is very thin and is cut through at the edges of the rifling.
traditional type lubes, while "messy", do a better job of lubricating, plus they can quench some of the heat from blow by.
if clean it the order of the day, plated lead usually works out very well in handguns.

as to Moly's bore eating qualities .. its affected by humidity. if you live in a predominantly dry area, the rust may be held at bay. though in any case, guns deserve the occasional "fresh start" cleaning moly or not.
start out with your fav solvent then when you get reasonably clean switch to a spray can of much cheaper and plentiful engine cleaner as a sort of extra wet rinse. follow that up with your usual solvent and thats about as good as you'll get it.

 

[mtgianni]

Moly is hygroscopic? spelling?, meaning that it attracts water.

Lube issues are seen easily in 22 target rifles where the wax coating on different manufacturers bullets can cause different grouping until your barrels settle in or are cleaned then refouled with the lube you want to shoot. It is not imagined but it rarely is a major factor with a sporting gun.

 

[mikld]

A friend recommended 'Billy Bullets' (cast) but when I went to the site I found that they were Moly-lubed, which gave me pause....

====

What do you think of this?

I read that moly was so slick it SLOWED the velocity of bullets about 50 fps because the bullet traveled too fast to allow a complete powder burn. So if it went fast enough to get out of the barrel before a complete burn, it must have been traveling faster in the first place, right? I know everything on the internet has to be true, but this one has me wondering.

That's a good one, bullets out running the powder burn/pressure...

The answers here are talking about 2 different types of lube; molly was predominately used on jacketed bullets and some barrel preparations, and wax based lubes used on lead bullets (C-red, White Label Lubes, etc.).