Too Much Boolit Lube?

[longbow]

I was just out shooting some cast loads in a Lee Enfield .303 that has been a little bit of a challenge so far.

I've tried a number of different diameters and styles of boolits and was narrowing in a load that was working reasonably well until today.

This load is:

228 gr. boolit cast in a homemade mould - 0.307" nose and 0.314" body (grooveless)

Alox lube wad under the boolit

Cornmeal filler

10.4 gr. Unique (I've used up to 13.5 gr. with the same boolit)

Somewhat unconventional but it shoots and doesn't lead. The mould was made to suit the gun as I was having trouble with several other designs.

Anyway, today I added lube to the outside of the boolit (just a thin coat) and the groups went bad.

I scraped of most of the lube from the outside of the remaining boolits and shot another group - back to good grouping!

I once read that the shutzen shooters get concerned with too much lube as the boolits "float" and it affects accuracy. Seems the goal is to have just enough lube so as not to lead but no extra - to kinda maintain traction.

The short story is that I am trying to find a boolit the gun likes so am using a light load. Once the boolit size/style is sorted out I will try other loads.

This lube thing just got me confused a little.

Anyone familair with this or have similar experiences? This is the first time I have run into what seemed like too much lube.

Thanks,
Longbow

[454PB]

My experience is only with conventionally groove lubed boolits. I have also used the Lee Liquid Alox. The only negative I've ever seen from "too much lube" is that it will spatter on the bench and surroundings when the boolit exits the bore, and I find chunks of lube on the face of my chronographs occasionally. If it ever affected accuracy, I was unaware of it and blamed it on something else.

[PAT303]

What your saying is right I think because I have a PH Musketoon that never shot good enough to win , then buy accident I shot minnies with next to no lube on them because I ran out and had to make it last and low and behold it shot the best groups ever and has been ever since. PAT

[Bass Ackward]

Anyway, today I added lube to the outside of the boolit (just a thin coat) and the groups went bad.

I scraped of most of the lube from the outside of the remaining boolits and shot another group - back to good grouping!

This lube thing just got me confused a little.

Anyone familair with this or have similar experiences? This is the first time I have run into what seemed like too much lube.

Thanks,
Longbow


LB,

What you did constitutes an individual gun test. The answer is what it is. Stay in what is thought of as the cast "zone" for your particular caliber and you will have the widest latitude for accuracy. Even some very experienced people never truely learn how to perfect accuracy in their situations because they become satisfied with results that they achieve. When satisfaction is achieved, experimentation stops.

I shoot (used to and I am slowly changing my bullet designs over) a lot of olgival designs that don't deal with fouling very well. I also like soft lead for hunting and run velocities above what is conventionally thought of for cast. This is what really teached you about lube. Temperature changes drive me nuts. I have less than MOA loads at 2600 fps for over 80 degrees that are 6" by 50 degrees. And just the opposite.

Many people use judgements from passed results to get them to logical places to start. You have to understand what you are seeing to .... guestimate where you want to go with lube. So if you are just starting out, you will need to .... learn by trial and error. Change lube .... and you start that process all over again. You are using a lube cookie. And cornmeal filler under that. Both minimize pressure on the bullet's base. So you have minimized the need for lube. Change powders, pressures, .... or temperatures or any of a bazillion other things and you can be looking at a hole new situation again.

[PAT303]

BA Do you have different lube to deal with the changing weather conditions. With black powder, I shoot with a summer and winter lube because in australia our summers are very hot (40 degree's+) and winters are -3 so one type won't cover it. Pat

[Bass Ackward]

BA Do you have different lube to deal with the changing weather conditions. With black powder, I shoot with a summer and winter lube because in australia our summers are very hot (40 degree's+) and winters are -3 so one type won't cover it. Pat

Pat,

I have 6 different lubrizers, each with a different lube for different applications.

[VTDW]

Why not saturate a patch and fill the grooves with lube? Just thinking.

[PAT303]

Bass I think you should write a thread about lubes,there's a lot I need to learn. Pat