HBN as a bolt grease additive

B

Boyd Allen

Active member
A while back, I bought some HCPL grade HBN to try on my bags. After a brief trial, I decided to stick with Sail Kote, and set my quadruple lifetime supply back on the shelf. Some time later, when the television was getting boring and the weather outside had been uninviting for quite some time, I decided to try mixing a little HBN into some bolt grease. I think that I used a Pro Shot Gold. with the tip of one of those giveaway miniature screwdrivers with a pocket clip, I scooped a small amount of the white powder onto a flat plastic lid, and added perhaps four times that much grease, and mixed them to a uniform consistency. I applied this mixture to the rear faces of the locking lugs of my Viper action, as well as to the cocking cam, using the same screwdriver, a thin film on the lugs, and a little more than that on the cam. It seemed to be slicker than I remembered it being, after application of unmodified grease...by quite a bit. If you have some of the powder, I would be interested in your results with a similar mixture, and application.

I found this after the original post.
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It seems to me that what is taking place is that the grease is holding the HBN in position to be "buffed in" to the surfaces as the bolt is cycled. In any case, the result is an extremely slick bolt. Next, I may make a new batch, apply a light coat to the body of the bolt and cycle it a number of times, remove most of it with a cloth, and see if any of the lubricity is retained.
 

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Boyd,
That's very interesting - I've been using HCPL to coat bullets for some time, and have wondered whether it'd have other applications. Sounds like it'd be worth trying. Now, if I could find an equally good use for the 5lbs. or so of left-over moly I have since discontinuing using it for bullet coating....
 
If you try it, would you report back to us with your results, initial, and after the bolt has been cycled a number of times?
 
hbn

I have used just the dry powder in a suspension with alcohol to lube my bolt and I was not happy with it at all. It seemed to add friction. I am sceptical about the real uses for HBN in shooting, but am contemplating using it with a melonite treated barrel.

Joe
 
A friend,who coats his bullets with it, tells me that they are so slick that he has changed the type of container he keeps them in, to make them easier to get a hold of. Perhaps it is your method of application. I was not suggesting that HBN by itself was the way to go, but that as an additive in my bolt grease, it seemed to lower the coefficient of friction.
 
I kept reading about how hard it is to hold onto hbn bullets but I find them just the same as other bullets. I think that the impact coating puts small dents into the copper while the bullets are in my tumbler. That probably doesn't matter at all when the bullet is being swaged down the bore, but it doesn't feel that slick to me.
Joe
 
My friend uses a different method, small containers in a vibratory case cleaner. Another friend applies moly this way. He got the idea from Dave Dohrmann. In both cases the results seem to be just fine.
 
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