107 gr Sierra MOLY Matchking - 28" 1-8 twist .243 competition barrel

As a soon to be newbie in reloading (haven't even got set up yet) I'm looking at this bullet due to it's high BC (0.529) and moly coating AND because I can get 500 of these bullets for just $100 from a buddy of mine. :eyebrows:

According to a few articles I've seen/read the moly helps improve barrel life as well as the added benefit of going thru the barrel smoother/less friction with less chamber pressures. The improved barrel life should be beneficial for me since the .243 is notorious for eating barrels quicker than most calibers.

A couple questions. Is anyone shooting these bullets out of this caliber specifically and if so what is a good starting point for IMR 4350 in your experience? I know what a couple of the reloading manuals tell me but I thought I'd see if a few of you guys have "real world" experience with this combo.

Secondly, what is the overall opinion of the moly bullets in general from you experienced reloaders/shooters?

Thanks in advance.

Trevor

IA_shooter,

Right now my savage wears a Lothar Walther .243 barrel, 28", 1-8 twist. So far it shoots everything I have tried in it excellent to very good. My most accurate load is with the 107 grain SMK's. For powder I have tried H4350, Varget, Reloader 22, and H4831sc. H4831sc has been the most accurate for my barrel. Reloader 22 did well, but just slightly less accurate than the H4831sc. I don’t have the info or target around but I don’t remember being impressed with H4350. IMR may be more accurate than the “H” but the slow 4831 and R22 seem to go very well with this bullet in my 243.

As for moly; I have used it way back when everyone first started coating their bullets. Some benchrest friends of mine used it and turned me on to it. Like most of them I do not moly any more. Not that there was a problem for me, just that it is one more step to do. Personally if I found a good deal on moly coated bullets over naked bullets I would take it.

You will notice lower pressures and increased velocity for a given load with moly. But realize that any load you work up with coated bullets will not shoot the same with the naked bullet, you will have to work up another load. As far as increasing barrel life, I don't think it will do that. The life of your barrel comes from throat erosion and moly can’t prevent that. It will however, allow you to fire more shots before the fouling starts to degrade accuracy. This is why the benchrest guys were using it.

Moly will also build up in your bore over time. A hundred rounds or so, not so much, but several hundred and it will. Once this happens you may find that accuracy suffers and you will have to strip the moly out of the barrel. You will have to manually do this and it is a bear to get out. (The reason a lot of benchrest shooters stopped using moly.) Once the bore is stripped of moly, it will take about 15-20rounds to settle down and start shooting again.

This is just my observations. You might want to check out some benchrest forums for more moly information from some guys that probably have used a lot of it. Hope this helps some.

SE shooter, thanks for the reply. I was definitely wanting to try 2-3 different powders with these bullets to see what I can come up with.

I guess I'm going to commit myself to trying the moly 107 gr Sierra matchkings. I traded a Harris bipod to my buddy for the 500 bullets still new in the box that he has had for a while and he never got around to trying/using them, so not a bad deal considering places want about $175 for a 500 pc box of them. I have a 28" Criterion 1-8 twist barrel I'm going to be using so the 107's "should" work excellent with it. Time will tell. I just wish the weather would straighten out here in Iowa, I'm getting the "itch" to get out shooting really, really bad.:(

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According to the Sierra techs any load that will give you between 2750-3000 fps should give you match quality results out to 600 yards.
This was the main reason I just started my new build but I will have at least 4 month wait to varify their recomendations.