Robb, no it doesn't matter that you started off clean and conditioned. Despite all the popular press to the contrary, moly plating doesn't prevent all copper fouling. Reduces it, yes. Even greatly reduces it in many applications. But I've never seen it actually eliminate jacket fouling entirely.
Just how bad it may or may not be, depends on a whole lot of different things. Velocity, intensity, number of rounds between cleanings, rapidity of fire (heat), initial quality of bore finish, jacket material, how the moly was applied to the bullets, how the bullets were seated (did the moly get scraped off the shank?) and on and on and on. Way too many factors to list them all.
May not be "bad" at all. May be simply horrendous. May be, that even if it is horrendous, it really doesn't matter in your application. There simply isn't any one-size-fits-all way of looking at anything like this. Which is the root of the situation. Walt Berger had great success with his method of moly usage in his particular, very, VERY narrowly defined set of circumstances (6 PPC competition Bench Rest rifles). A whole slew of folks just kind of took what he was doing and ran with it, whether the situation they were applying his methods to even REMOTELY resembled his particular set of variables or not. For 90% of the folks shooting moly today, they have never bothered to really think about why they are using it, what they hope to accomplish with it and how best to go about getting that done for the particular situation they are in. They just heard that you don't have to clean anymore - which has never been true, for anybody - not even Walt Berger or Roger Johnston (founder of NECO).
With only one wet patch down the bore, the second dry one isn't going to have much showing on it, regardless. If you have a rifle that you don't use moly in, try it - betcha that second dry patch doesn't show much either. Hoppe's isn't a particularly aggressive solvent. One wet patch of it won't even start to loosen up even slightly stubborn jacket fouling, nor even mildly stubborn powder fouling for that matter. If the fouling is still nice and tightly bonded to the bore, a couple of dry patches sure aren't going to break it loose and give you any visual indication. This is just common sense. But, a peek through a bore scope now and then demonstrates that that what common sense tells us is indeed true.
I don't want y'all to think I'm just dead set against moly. It has proven useful in many applications. I only use it in one barrel, for which I'm trying to solve a particular problem and in which the thoughtful use of moly plated bullets does in fact solve the specific problem. I personally don't care to use it without specific reason though, and don't have any other barrels where I see any advantage. I also don't want to sound like one of these guys that runs around proclaiming doom and gloom for all who dare to use moly and stop regular cleaning. For the vast majority of shooters, it just isn't going to matter, one way or the other. Their requirements just aren't that high. A pitted, filthy bore kills coyotes just as dead as a sparkling shiny clean one. And for anyone using it and remembering to clean, there isn't anything to be concerned with anyway.
- DAA
