Bullet coating with HBN or Molly - where to buy?

**Againstthegrains** · 15-02-2024, 08:27

Some guys at my shooting club have been playing around with pre-coating their bullets with HBN and Molly. They seem to think that it increases the barrel life quite considerably.

Do you know who sells these products in ZA?

**oafpatroll** · 15-02-2024, 09:00

Originally Posted by Againstthegrains

Some guys at my shooting club have been playing around with pre-coating their bullets with HBN and Molly. They seem to think that it increases the barrel life quite considerably.

Do you know who sells these products in ZA?

There's some Hornady moly spray on Huntandgun auction today. I have my doubts about it increasing barrel life much if at all. Would need to be be some pretty magical stuff to do that.

**janfred** · 15-02-2024, 10:35

Doesn't increase barrel life as such. Does slow down throat erosion due to less friction on engraving.

But, you need around 1/2 gr more powder to get the same velocity.

The question is if the increased cost offsets the increase barrel life.

**Hearties** · 16-02-2024, 11:15

I think CMH precision sell an HBN kit

**Againstthegrains** · 16-02-2024, 12:19

I have heard that it can double barrel life. I have a friend who normally gets around 3000 per barrel on his 270 Tombi. Since using HBN coated bullets, he's past 6000 shots on his barrel with no decrease in accuracy.

If he's paying 14K for a new barrel fitted, blued and trued, and you get 1000 bullets coated per kit R1000. It works out at R1/bullet. Then you are spending R6k on bullet coatings to save on a R14K barrel. Half a grain over 6000 loads is less than half a tin of powder.

**oafpatroll** · 16-02-2024, 14:14

Originally Posted by Againstthegrains

I have heard that it can double barrel life. I have a friend who normally gets around 3000 per barrel on his 270 Tombi. Since using HBN coated bullets, he's past 6000 shots on his barrel with no decrease in accuracy.

If he's paying 14K for a new barrel fitted, blued and trued, and you get 1000 bullets coated per kit R1000. It works out at R1/bullet. Then you are spending R6k on bullet coatings to save on a R14K barrel. Half a grain over 6000 loads is less than half a tin of powder.

I'm saying your mate is wrong but my gut says that if there was some way to increase barrel life 100+ percent simply by applying a magic sauce to your bullets then it would be standard practice in military small arms ammunition and as far as i know it isn't.

**Messor** · 16-02-2024, 15:29

In SA the math is simple, if you can afford to shoot out a barrel with however many rounds the cost of replacing it is not a financial concern.
The same way hunters try and justify barrel life in ANY hunting situation, it's not even a thing.

**oafpatroll** · 16-02-2024, 15:43

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

I'm NOT saying your mate is wrong but my gut says that if there was some way to increase barrel life 100+ percent simply by applying a magic sauce to your bullets then it would be standard practice in military small arms ammunition and as far as i know it isn't.

Is what I meant to write.

**Againstthegrains** · 18-02-2024, 13:09

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

I'm saying your mate is wrong but my gut says that if there was some way to increase barrel life 100+ percent simply by applying a magic sauce to your bullets then it would be standard practice in military small arms ammunition and as far as i know it isn't.

It could be the same reason that running shoes are built with a thick padded heel. It doesn't make you run any better, or reduce injury compared to flat shoes. What it does is allow manufactures to manipulate the amount of pronation and antination of a shoe, so that when you buy a new pair, you often develop an injury because of the incorrect correction factor, and have to buy another pair and another pair, until you find one that works. Once you find one that works, by the time you go back to get another pair of the same, they have taken them off the market and replaced it with a new model that doesn't work for you. All this, to sell more shoes. Arms deals are business, you want a gun to wear out so that you can sell more.

So for the same reason flat running shoes are not standard practice, perhaps its the same with guns and HBN.

Also, barrel life is only a thing for snipers that require extreme accuracy. For the average troop sending down cover fire with an AR/M16/AK type rifle, is does not matter if the throat is worn out and it groups 3 inches. So long as it shoots. There is a difference between accurate barrel life and functional barrel life. A worn barrel does not stop a rifle from shooting. It just looses accuracy. So for the standard troop assault rifle, it might not be economical to coat.

**oafpatroll** · 18-02-2024, 13:52

Originally Posted by Againstthegrains

It could be the same reason that running shoes are built with a thick padded heel. It doesn't make you run any better, or reduce injury compared to flat shoes. What it does is allow manufactures to manipulate the amount of pronation and antination of a shoe, so that when you buy a new pair, you often develop an injury because of the incorrect correction factor, and have to buy another pair and another pair, until you find one that works. Once you find one that works, by the time you go back to get another pair of the same, they have taken them off the market and replaced it with a new model that doesn't work for you. All this, to sell more shoes. Arms deals are business, you want a gun to wear out so that you can sell more.

So for the same reason flat running shoes are not standard practice, perhaps its the same with guns and HBN.

Also, barrel life is only a thing for snipers that require extreme accuracy. For the average troop sending down cover fire with an AR/M16/AK type rifle, is does not matter if the throat is worn out and it groups 3 inches. So long as it shoots. There is a difference between accurate barrel life and functional barrel life. A worn barrel does not stop a rifle from shooting. It just looses accuracy. So for the standard troop assault rifle, it might not be economical to coat.

I don't think your reasoning holds. Every military procurement spec for a small arm that I have ever seen specified an accuracy requirement and a durability metric in rounds expended. The arms manufacturers do what they are told wrt to large contracts for things like rifles and if there was a way to reduce the cost and downtime related to barrel wear I'm confident it would be specified and i can't find a reference to that happening anywhere. Barrel life absolutely is a consideration as is the cost of maintaining it. The new yank SIG XM7 has a training round which is loaded to significantly lower pressure than the one intended for operational use. I'm pretty confidentthat the cost of developing, procuring and maintaining the supply chain and logistics for two different loads for what's intended to be the rifle for all grunts going forward significantly outstrips that of moly coating the bullets.