Hex
Boron Nitride (hBN) Bullet Coating
The hBN Bug
finally bite me. I got some of David Tubb’s 117 gr.
Boron Nitride Coated Bullets and I generally liked the appearance and
feel of the bullets. Although the bullet coating was not as smooth and
clear has I thought it might be. I still have not shot any of David’s
boron
coated bullets. I am waiting for the throat to wear a bite longer on my
6XC more before I start using them.
Clear Hex Boron
Nitride Coated bullets after towel wipe
There has not been very much talk
going on about the New Boron Nitride coating as I thought there would
be by now. I could not find anyone actually selling the hBN powder
specific for bullet coating. There is a Canadian Company, Lower
Friction that has
many types or grades of dry lubricants including Hex-Boron Nitride
powder. Finally one day I
spotted a paragraph in an article on bullet coating at 6mmBR.com that
mentioned
something about the sizes or grades of Hex-Boron Nitride being used to
coat bullet.
“The two particle sizes appropriate for bullet coating are
70
nm (MK-hBN-N70-Nano) and 0.50 micron (MKhBN-050). Some shooters prefer
the smaller 70 nm version, while others say the larger 0.50 micron
works
fine. Lowerfriction.com sells 70 nm HBN for $90.00 per pound, and the
0.50 micron HBN for $79.00 per pound”, October 2008.
I am using three
grains
per batch of 50 to 100 bullets.
Batch sizes vary based on bullet size and how I feel.
I settled on the
fine 70 nanometer powder and I had to order a pound of
the stuff. So I ordered a pound from the Canadian Company and got 14
ounces US. After actually coating some bullets I am very pleased
with the appearance and smoothness of the 70 nm hBN coating. I
think
my coating is a little thinner then the coating on the Tubb bullets I
have. I think my coating looks better than the Tubb coating, smoother
and
clearer. Comparing the two coatings to peanut butter, mine are smooth
and creamy
and Tubb’s are chucky. I imagine that the coater for Mr. David Tubb
runs much
larger batches than I do and I might be seeing some mechanical surface
scarring on the bullet surfaces. The extra powder seems to ball
up on itself I my coating process and is easily separated out when
removing
bullets and pouring the balls back into the jar. I seem to see
something like little powder chucks on my bullets from Tubb. I also
think the Tubb
coater might be using the coarser (0.50 micron) hBN powder. However so
far I
am very pleased with my coated bullets smoothness and appearance.
Peanut Butter Jars in
the Tumbler Process.
Extra sieve type top used to separate bullets from corn cob.
I am using my same peanut butter jars in the Thumbler's Tumbler process
that I have used to moly coat bullets. In fact I am using the
same steel balls. That is after I washed the steel balls. I
sprayed some Fantastik to the jar of steel balls and shook them. Then I
added some Ivory disk
soap and hot water and shook again. Rinse and rinse until water
was clear of soap bubbles while pouring the balls back and forth in a
couple of
bowls. The washed and rinse steel balls still had a burned brown
color on them. I dried the balls in the oven at 170 F for a
couple of
hours and after cooling I put them in the corn cob jar and tumbled for
24 hours. The
balls got the bright steel color back. So same balls but new jars
for both
the steel and new corn cob. Moly dust verses hBN dust, dust is
dust.
There is no such thing as good dust that will not screw up your
lungs. I have
a little power vent system that filters the air on my work bench which
worked
okay for moly dust. I turn the vent on and work in front of
it. After
reviewing the MSD
Sheets on powdered boron nitride, it appears to be
about the same as
moly dust and better than coal or cement dust.
Fresh out of the
tumbler.
The coating process is much better than Moly, no black mess. My
coating
process times are the same as I used for Moly. Three hours of
tumbling in the corn
cob and three hours of tumbling in the steel balls with 3.0 grains of
hBN
Powder. The bullets look something like sugar coated donuts when I dump
the jar of
steel balls with the freshly coated bullets into my sieve to
separate. The
coated bullets wipe clean to the touch with a little towel rub down and
remain
very slippery.
Before final towel
wipe.
I most likely have white powder all over the place but you can't see
it. Another nice feature about using hBN powder is I can throw the
towel I
used to wipe the bullets clean into laundry area and have the towel
washed. When I tried that with a towel I used to wipe moly
bullets the towel was rejected, "that towel is to dirty for my washing
machine".
My bottom line so far is the hBN coats just like Moly without all the
black mess, just some white mess you can not see. My coated
bullets have a clear satin finish and if any of it builds up in my
rifle’s bore
the guys with bore scopes will never find it.
I will know shortly if the hBN works as well as moly. I have a
good bench mark for my 6XC barrel using 107 grain bullets and my 22BR
using 80 grain bullets. I have shot up all my moly coated 80
grain bullets
and have about two range trips left of moly coated 107 grain bullets to
shoot.
10/22/2008
Shooting Update
I have shot the hBN
coated bullets a couple of times now at 600 yards and everything seems
to be okay or a lot like Moly. Funny thing is the hBN coated bullets
are shooting higher by 7/8 MOA. I have to check the speed and see
if it has changed enough for that POI change. Good news is I had
a string of fifteen shots with less than 1.5 inches of vertical which
is the best I have ever seen with my rifles. However is that do
to the hBN or bullet pointing?
If anyone would like to
try using the 70 nm Hex Boron Nitride powder, I
have made a few small bags with 500 grains of the hBN powder.
Enough to between 10,000 to 16,000 bullets based of what I am doing so
far. $20.00 includes shipping, just Email me to check
availability. Gone
Larry Medler
anyrange@comcast.net
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Released -
October 11, 2008
Revised - January 12, 2010
