How long will Moly Coating stay in a barrel?

[scorpion148]

Short explanation is, I have a 1972 model Ruger M77 tang safety, in .243 in inherited from my grandfather, that I’ve been having issues with accuracy for the last 12- 14ish years. Which happens to be when I switched from moly coated bullets after they stopped seeing widespread use.(being a teenager at the time, I didn’t know the risks involved with moly, it just sounded cool) I recently discovered that a moly coated barrel won’t shoot “naked” bullets. Could the moly still be in my barrel even after regular cleaning and copper defouling?

For example I can work up a reload or shoot a box of factory ammo one day and be shooting .75” inch groups at 100, then the next outing with the same ammo my groups stay zeroed, but open up to say 1.75” or 2”. I whereas when I was shooting with the moly I could get 1/2 MOA consistently, and since migrating to “naked” bullets I have not been able to replicate the accuracy.
I’ve fired maybe 500 rounds through the barrel, so I’m not convinced it’s shot out already

 

[DHDeal]

Have you looked inside the barrel (borescope)? That's a carbon steel barrel and moly had/has a reputation for being hygroscopic. Sounds as if you kept it clean so maybe not a corrosion issue but....

One way of getting it out is Iosso on patches or JB's. If you're not using moly anymore, I'd take a look inside (if you have the capability) and at least run a session with either paste. Being careful you'll not hurt it and may well help your situation.

I realized I didn't answer your question about moly still being in the barrel. Yes it can still be there. It can be tough to remove like carbon fouling.

 

[scorpion148]

I haven’t looked in the barrel with a bore scope, as I don’t have one. But just looking from the muzzle or breech ends there is no noticeable corrosion. I may need to take it to a gun smith and have them check it out. I’m curious if I can get a barrel replacement or not and how much they run. Gun was tack driver before this all started

 

[cooper_257]

Bore Tech Moly Magic cleaner is supposed to work well.

 

[DHDeal]

Looking down the bore by eyeball will tell you if there's anything obstructing the bore and not much else. Looking down the bore with a borescope will make you wonder why the hell you bought one in the first place. It's a fine line from crazy to genius and you're walking it with a borescope. All kidding aside, using a borescope is something you have to get used to. You need to know what you're looking at. Some barrels that look like crap shoot very well and vice-versa.

Before thinking about changing the barrel (not a whole lot of folks do the M77 that I can remember) consider going after the mashed in moly. Lots of folk have a hate relationship with abrasive cleaners but it's about the only way I know to get that hard as woodpecker lips carbon out of the throat and moly acts about the same. You gotta do what you're comfortable with.

I've used Iosso for many years and haven't ruined a barrel yet. I do use a bore scope to make sure I get what I want out. I don't try to get that new barrel look as I believe a barrel with some rounds down them shoot better (because the throat is smoother than newly chambered I suspect), but what do I know.

Starting a barrel cleaning thread is about like starting a road bike in traffic thread btw....

 

[cas6969]

But just looking from the muzzle or breech ends there is no noticeable corrosion.

One thing the bore scope taught me is that means nothing. I've been working with a rifle all year that looks just fine to the naked eye. With the scope it's a horror show.

Spend $60 on Amazon and get one.

 

[scorpion148]

Looking down the bore by eyeball will tell you if there's anything obstructing the bore and not much else. Looking down the bore with a borescope will make you wonder why the hell you bought one in the first place. It's a fine line from crazy to genius and you're walking it with a borescope. All kidding aside, using a borescope is something you have to get used to. You need to know what you're looking at. Some barrels that look like crap shoot very well and vice-versa.

Before thinking about changing the barrel (not a whole lot of folks do the M77 that I can remember) consider going after the mashed in moly. Lots of folk have a hate relationship with abrasive cleaners but it's about the only way I know to get that hard as woodpecker lips carbon out of the throat and moly acts about the same. You gotta do what you're comfortable with.

I've used Iosso for many years and haven't ruined a barrel yet. I do use a bore scope to make sure I get what I want out. I don't try to get that new barrel look as I believe a barrel with some rounds down them shoot better (because the throat is smoother than newly chambered I suspect), but what do I know.

Starting a barrel cleaning thread is about like starting a road bike in traffic thread btw....

Thanks for all the input! I’m gonna order some Losso and a bite scope and see what I discover. I just ran 30 patches through it with copper defaulter before they were coming out clean. So it probably needs some TLC by now.

 

[scorpion148]

One thing the bore scope taught me is that means nothing. I've been working with a rifle all year that looks just fine to the naked eye. With the scope it's a horror show.

Spend $60 on Amazon and get one.

Do you have a brand your recommend? Or just any that fits the bore?

 

[Supersubes]

Do you have a brand your recommend? Or just any that fits the bore?

Teslong is the most popular. Make sure you buy the one that goes with your particular cell phone make.

Any reason you cant just continue to shoot moly bullets out of it?

 

[scorpion148]

Teslong is the most popular. Make sure you buy the one that goes with your particular cell phone make.

Any reason you cant just continue to shoot moly bullets out of it?

I could, they are just almost impossible to find, and coating them is a pain mostly. I haven’t shot them for over 10 years at this point

 

[DHDeal]

I was going to ask the same question as Supersubes but figured the answer. It was a popular thing at one time and fell out of favor. I've never coated any myself but read plenty on how to do it (and the other miracle bullet coatings). Never went down that road but know a few that did.

I have and use the Teslong with the rigid tube and have a Hawkeye available. The Hawkeye was $$$$ years back and that's what I learned on. I would say a rigid tube Teslong is 95% as good and much easier to use as my phone screen is bigger. I like that there is no need to bend my neck into position even when using the 90° eyepiece on the Hawkeye. Just put the Teslong into the bore and look at the phone. Take pictures or video if you want.

 

[Bobby Ball]

This may come off sounding brash, but did you check the torque on your scope rings and mount? I've run about 500 rounds through a gun I'm reloading for in the last month or so, and everything just started falling apart to the point it was driving me insane. Till I realized after a few hundred dollars of wasted ammo and time reloading, that I was too dumb to see what was staring me in the face. Basically my own incompetence... Could be worth a look.

 

[scorpion148]

This may come off sounding brash, but did you check the torque on your scope rings and mount? I've run about 500 rounds through a gun I'm reloading for in the last month or so, and everything just started falling apart to the point it was driving me insane. Till I realized after a few hundred dollars of wasted ammo and time reloading, that I was too dumb to see what was staring me in the face. Basically my own incompetence... Could be worth a look.

Actually this is where I started haha. I actually bought a new scope and new rings and then lapped rings and torqued everything down to manufacturers specs. I thought for sure my issues were the scope since it was just a cheap vortex at first. But even with a brand new scope and rings I was seeing the exact same issues as before! So yeah not brash at all, I had the exact same thought.