Removing Moly from bullets.

Just wanted to share a recent experience I had that may help others, especially as components nationwide are still in tight supply.

I recently found a great deal on some bullets that were Moly coated. I figured they were a great deal because, well, the Moly fad has generally passed, almost no one likes using Moly anymore because of the short supply of moly bullets, and the gains generally weren't worth the nastiness of the stuff.

Anyway, Moly can be tough to get off but I wanted to share how I took Moly bullets and got fresh non-Moly bullets after only about an hour of work.

Materials/Equipment:

1 vibratory tumbler (for cartridge cases). You can probably make it work without one, but it's be a lot more manual work. I used a Lyman Turbo Pro 1200.

1 sacrificial Tupperware container. I used the ones that are provided with common deli meats in the store (clear with a red top) but any sealing Tupperware should do.

1 can of Barkeeper's Friend powder. It's in the same place as Ajax, Comet, and other household cleaners. I found mine at Albertsons for like 4 bucks.

1 bag of long grain white rice. I got a 5 pounder of cheapo stuff for 3-4 dollars.

1 metal strainer. Optional, but helps for rinsing.

Some paper towels for drying/cleanup.

First thing is to add some bullets to your Tupperware, get some barkeeper's friend on top along with some warm tap water that covers the bullets. Get the Tupperware cover on tight and give it some light swirls to get the solution dissolved and get it working on the bullets. I let them sit in the solution for about 30 minutes, swirling/light shaking every 5-10 minutes to get it moving. I should mention, BKF is not a friendly cleaning powder, so definitely use PPE.

Next, once you can see the Moly has been partially removed from the cases, get them into a strainer and wash them off thoroughly. Dispose of the BKF mixture appropriately.

Get the bullets onto some paper towels to dry and to get some additional Moly off. At this point, there may be specks of Moly still there, and most bullets will still have a gray/copper tint to them.

Get those bullets into a clean tumbler and fill to the top of the bullets with rice. Run it for about 30 minutes. Your bullets should be completely clean, bright, and shiny. The rice was cheap enough that I clean the tumbler and ran with new rice for every batch of bullets.

Without the tumbler, you could either put on some Netflix show and scrub them, or potentially make your own tumbler with some other Tupperware and the rice and shake it yourself.

Note- the bullets I did this with were RNSPs. I don't know what the solution or tumbler would do to a polymer ballistic tip, or if a HP/HPBT would be perfect for having rice stuck in there. So, I would suggest trying a few (3-5) first just to check. Of course, this is absolutely a no-no process for incendiary or Raufuss type rounds, but if you're Moly coating those you have enough money to ditch them and buy more.

Anyway, hope this helps and maybe some of you can find those deals on unwanted Moly bullets and clean them up for 8 bucks and a trip to the store.

Hello JRR,

This is an older thread, and, I have not been online for awhile, but, if you don't mind, I would like to point out that Moly Coated bullets aren't dead,... yet.:cool:

I have moly coated copper jacked, and my cast lead, for years. For some reason, I haven't experienced all the complaints I have read about MOLY COATED BULLETS.

But, I must point out that I only use Moly Coated in brand new barrels. I think there may be a positive result, when a bore that has not had non moly bullets shot through it,... but, that is just my opinion.

I find no copper fouling with moly bullets, and bore cleaning to be exceptionally easy with a bore snake and Ed's red. But, I consider a bore "cleaned" as long as I can see sharp sharp corners in and on the lands and grooves. I don't worry about a discolored bore. I like having a permanent microscopic coating of moly in my bores.

I have read the complaints about erosion from moly. I strongly believe that is a result of atmospheric conditions not indicative of our Az climate. I live in a relatively desert atmosphere that is probably dry enough to, not create a problem for me. Even monsoon doesn't have a negative effect.