Comments on: Boron Nitride Application Procedures for Bullet-Coating

By: ELR Researcher

ELR Researcher — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 18:21:11 +0000

I’ve purchased from Tom (good guy). I coat both my projectiles (HCPL grade – tumbled in small jars) and barrels (AC6111 grade – mixed in 90% isopropyl alcohol and swabbed in). No comparative data as the only serious shooting has been done using hBN.

Another source for hBN is http://www.bulletcoatings.com/products.html

They also carry Ws2/Danzac and moly.

I have not tried their products.

By: ReedG

ReedG — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:39:41 +0000

It seems Larry’s story is dated 2008. Is there any follow-up info: Chrony faster, slower? More consistent? Reduced barrel fouling? More accurate? Reduced vertical? Seems there should be some data accumulated in the last four years.

By: Killshot

Killshot — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 03:27:07 +0000

The story ends with “Is that due to the hBN or bullet pointing?”

That is what I would like to know….

By: John S

John S — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 19:51:43 +0000

What about all of the countless world records that have been set without all of this questionable coating crapola?

By: Steve Clark

Steve Clark — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:58:26 +0000

Thanks Jon, the two latter links are news to me. Thanks for posting them!

Yes, this application is new-ish for shooting sports; Tubb switched three or four years ago & the rest is history. He’s the only commercially available source (Superior Shooting Systems) for custom-coated bullets ($50/K) that I’m aware of, besides the 6mm DTAC 115 he developed and sells. Those of us who have undertaken to get involved are do-it-yourselfers; I bought a pound of .5 micron powder from Impex Canada in 2006 & have been coating my own bullets ever since to good effect.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:46:51 +0000

Steve:

It seems folks are using a fine grade of ours, AC6111, dispersed in alcohol to coat the insides of barrels. Other folks tumble bullets in our crystalline grade HCPL. I don’t have any results feedback, aside from what is available on the web at the usual sites:

http://www.davidtubb.com/tcom_images/dtac/dtac_bn_coating.html
http://firearm.skidome.org/Boron_Nitride_Solid_Lube.htm
http://www.spacetechsolutions.com/success.asp?STORY_ID=10166

To be honest, the whole application has only recently “bubbled up” to be noticable in our list of application inquiries. More and more are trying the material. I think we’re waiting on those folks to confirm the benefits. I can also tell you that this application is gaining more attention internally, and we are evaluating how we should respond. That’s all I can say.

Jon

By: Steve Clark

Steve Clark — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:31:43 +0000

Mike – no, I haven’t tried that yet; typically I shoot a clean bore either offhand (for NMC events) or let my sighters foul the bore before record shots for long range. When I used moly I’d pre-foul clean bores with something like moly-slide paste.

I use bullet lube to reduce friction and swaging forces bullet jackets undergo when encountering the bore lands, nothing more. I have some Danzac but never tried it for the same reasons I don’t care for moly: messy stuff to work with and the sulfur component worries me with regard to its corrosion potential. I know others who use and like it but the same can be said of moly.

Jon – can you share anything from the results of your sampling program? To non-technical end-users, that kind of information could shed some light on what is otherwise a rather dim area of expertise. I feel bullet lubes have their place in our sport but backing up that conjecture with facts isn’t as easy as feeling confident based exclusively on personal results.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:46:07 +0000

If anyone is interested, my company manufactures HBN and has sampled quite a bit for use in barrel treatments, bullet tumbling, and incorporating in the charge. We sell through a hobbyist by the name of TAI Lubricants. You can contact them at: Tom Madden, nyoil@aol.com, 302-326-0200.

Best regards,

Jon

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:00:39 +0000

Steve, have you pre-fouled a clean bore with HBN?
Was the first shot with the rest?
Have you considered use of WS2?

By: Steve Clark

Steve Clark — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:08:13 +0000

My experiences with hBN indicate far less pre-fouling needed with clean bores than moly. Never used WS2 so can’t offer up how that behaves by comparison.

Biggest advantages to me of hBN over the alternatives are 1.) no sulfur involved and 2.) far less trouble to obtain a decent bullet coating.

Sulfur and moisture in combination are enemies of barrel steel, whether chrome moly or stainless. Corrosion is the inevitable result if steps aren’t taken to prevent humidity from reacting with the sulfur compounds left behind when moly is used.

David Tubb pioneered using hBN for bullet coating largely because of his experiences with moly giving inconsistent performance across changes in ambient humidity when shooting.He’s certainly “good enough” to notice the difference where others may not.

I’ve found it’s much easier – once the details are worked out – to consistently produce home-coated hBN bullets than with moly.