SMK .308, Moly or not?

[Chontkleer]

26" factory barrel on remington 700. with about 500 rounds through it.
Starting to get serious about reloading. There is a $50 difference in price at a quantity of 500 bullets between the moly-coated smk's and the non-coated.

Consensus seems to be that you should start with moly bullets and keep going, that if you begin to switch back and forth this will decrease barrel life with the necessary extra cleaning. Does it really matter for precision shooting? Is this just another one of those overly technical arguments that internet geniuses launch at one another to appear knowledgeable, or would the best long range shooters agree that yes it really is important.

[Ahhnother8]

I don't know anyone who uses moly for .308. Skip it...

[Agustav]

I've used 175gr SMK in my Remington 700P. From my experience, it didn't really matter matter much in the accuracy dept.

Since I bought 500 box while it was on sale (actually cheaper then regular SMK), I just tumble the moly off.

Cleaning moly off is pretty easy in my case. After a hundred or so round of regular SMK, no more trace of moly in my barrel, and the rifle shoot just as well.

[RugerNo1]

There are two realms of belief when it comes to Moly coating. One side says it is voodoo and the other says it will wipe your *** too. What we do know is that some shooters see a slight increase in velocity when they use Moly coating or Boron Nitride. Is it worth it to you?

[ironpete]

I bought a bunch of Moly coated Hornady A-Max when they were on sale for less than the regular A-Max.

For the same load velocity is supposed to be less than regular (less friction = less pressure). I've just been too lazy to want to do separate loads.

I've seen people tumble it on before...but didn't think of tumbling it off. Excellent solution.

-Pete

[Chontkleer]

There are two realms of belief when it comes to Moly coating. One side says it is voodoo and the other says it will wipe your *** too. What we do know is that some shooters see a slight increase in velocity when they use Moly coating or Boron Nitride. Is it worth it to you?

Small increase in velocity for significantly more money when I'm not really concerned with velocity? Nah. Pass. I guess the real issue is: Will it lead to longer barrel life? Probably doesn't matter. If you're putting thousands of rounds through the barrel before replacing it, the cost of the bullets is probably going to far outweigh the cost of a new barrel.

[ironpete]

From what I understand the benefits of moly or BN have to do with preserving the state of your barrel.

With less wear and less fouling your barrel is more consistent. You loose some of that consistency when you aggressively clean your barrel removing copper and carbon. You'll often see some people take fouling shots to regain consistency. With less cleaning involved you disturb your barrel less. Shot to shot and cold bore you are supposed to experience less variation.

Again you should note a decrease in velocity using the same load. Velocity is not a factor as much as consistency.

Is it worth the trouble...a 1/4MOA difference in equipment isn't holding me back...yet. When I am in that place I'll post my experiences with BN

-Pete

[RugerNo1]

...Again you should note a decrease in velocity using the same load. Velocity is not a factor as much as consistency...

This is correct. Since there is less friction you have to bump up the load to meet the same velocities or even push them faster (by using more powder) with a lower coefficient of friction. Sometimes, this is good because you can get closer to 100% fill in your casing which, in simulations and in application, can help you reach your "optimal bore time."