What do bullet lube do? or What does bullet lube do?

[Char-Gar]

I am putting together a series of posts on cast bullet in rifles on another forum. Call it an evangelistic effort to preach to true faith. I am "fixin" to take on the subject of bullet lube in rifle cast bullets and wanted the input of the cognoscenti.

So..what is the function of a bullet lube and how does it accomplish that function? What is the difference between good lube and bad lube? OK lubistist..sound off!

[45 2.1]

Lube acts as a plastic material to keep the fire where it belongs. Thats about all it does too.

[Wayne Smith]

In BP shooting it softens the fouling the complete length of the barrel (ideally) so that it does not cake on the inside of the barrel but is pushed out by the next shot. When your bullet is running out of lube, i.e. inadequate lube grooves, the last few inches of the barrel toward the muzzle will become fouled but the rest of the barrel won't. The solution is to add a lube cookie or to change to a bullet carrying more lube.

[felix]

An attribute of good lube is that it lays down flat and uniform throughout a barrel, and never builds up past the point where the land height becomes too small for the load. A bad lube does the opposite. Yes, the purpose of the lube is to maintain a consistent seal against gas leakage. Preventing wear? No, because powder heat does the damage there, and not the hardness of the boolit. It will take 4 times more shots to wear out a barrel because of an overly abrasive boolit versus a constant 50K powder load with the smoothest and mildest boolit around. A barrel is considered worn out after the throat has been altered enough to destroy accuracy with the "same" load. That happens to be around 750 to a 1000 rounds in a BR gun shooting 50-65K pressures, which is standard fare for these kinds of guns. ... felix

[grumble]

I ain't smart like the rest of you guys. I just think lube works like oil in an engine. Hauls away grit, improves compression, and makes things work slick. BWDIK?

[utk]

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/fryxell/lube.htm

[felix]

Yep, a very good and accurate article. ... felix

[26Charlie]

The article linked to above by utk explains why my results have been generally good with my own old-fashioned lube formulation: 2/3 beef tallow and 1/3 beeswax. It is a soft lube, suited to the tire-weight/range-scrap alloys I use because I can get them free. I don't try to run above 2000 fps, since the alloy won't take it, but then I don't have to use a special lube either.
This 2/3 tallow 1/3 beeswax mix came from one of Ned Roberts books Muzzle-loading Cap-lock Rifles, or his next one Breech-loading Singleshot Rifles, I am not sure which. Anyway, it is an old formulation which basically uses the beeswax to stiffen up and raise the melting point of beef tallow, which otherwise would melt in your hand. (In fact, if you get black automotive grease all over your hands, take a dollop of beef or pork grease to clean your hands first, it pulls out a lot of the black grease - then use soap).

[omgb]

There is a BP lube out there called White Lightning. If you haven't tried it, you aren't experiencing the fullness of life.....well, not really but seriously guys, this stuff works. (90 plus degree desert heat, 10% humidity and long strings of 11/2F in a 45-90 behind a 530 grain bullet and no fouling build up with just a short, 15 second puff on a blow tube between shots. I have gotten 20 shot strings without a drop in accuracy but a few have done even better. This stuff is the "cat's meow". Buffalo Arms.com has it. In hot weather it beats SPG and that is saying a lot.
R J Talley

[StarMetal]

Yeah that was an interesting article and I posted it before myself, but it still doesn't explain bullet lube engraved in stone. For those of you that think the lube just seals "the fire" have you ever cleaned luber/sizer die with a solvent of all traces of lube and reinstalled it and tried to lube some bullets? Well let me tell you the first one is really "grabby" because there's no lube on the walls of the die. After a few bullets they slide in and out alot easier. That's telling me that there is a lubing charactoristic in bullet lubes. I think the lube serves multiple functions, some of which where mentioned here and unknown ones. If it just seals "the fire" why not go to Lowes are a well stocked hardware store and buy O rings to fit the grooves and see if your theory holds true. That's what a gascheck is suppose to do, will your barrel lead with just a gascheck and no lube? I think so. The thing is which is the greater of the two mechanical functions, the sealing or the lubing? Further more which is the more important.

Joe

[omgb]

The "go to" guy on this subject these days has got to be Veral Smith of LBT. His book goes into this business indepth. Veral believes that lubricity and gas sealing are equal partners if I understood him correctly. He goes into great length however on a proper fit of the bullet to the bore. His book, "Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets" is a must read by all serious bullet casters. I think he must know what he's talking about because LBT Blue sure works in my '06 and my 45-90 with smokeless loads.

Keep in mind though, BP is a whole different ball game.

[felix]

Equally important, Joe. Compression and boolit-form must ideally be the same for each shot. Compression for internal dynamics, and boolit-form for external dynamics. A perfect fit occurs when a boolit contracts and the barrel expands to allow boolit passage, and then both boolit and barrel return to their origonal forms. The mass of the barrel far exceeds the mass of the boolit, so protection against destruction must be awarded to the boolit by any means possible. That means lube. ... felix

[PatMarlin]

An attribute of good lube is that it lays down flat and uniform throughout a barrel, and never builds up past the point where the land height becomes too small for the load. A bad lube does the opposite. Yes, the purpose of the lube is to maintain a consistent seal against gas leakage. Preventing wear? No, because powder heat does the damage there, and not the hardness of the boolit. It will take 4 times more shots to wear out a barrel because of an overly abrasive boolit versus a constant 50K powder load with the smoothest and mildest boolit around. A barrel is considered worn out after the throat has been altered enough to destroy accuracy with the "same" load. That happens to be around 750 to a 1000 rounds in a BR gun shooting 50-65K pressures, which is standard fare for these kinds of guns. ... felix

Felix- what does "BR gun" mean? And would the 50-65K pressures have the same wear effect in shooting a wheel gun such as a 454 Casull?

I thought shooting cast was a warranty against wearing out a barrel, and I guess it would because normally we shoot at fairly low pressures... Right? But at what pressure point does hot gasses start doing it's damage?

[PatMarlin]

The article linked to above by utk explains why my results have been generally good with my own old-fashioned lube formulation: 2/3 beef tallow and 1/3 beeswax. It is a soft lube, suited to the tire-weight/range-scrap alloys I use because I can get them free. I don't try to run above 2000 fps, since the alloy won't take it, but then I don't have to use a special lube either.
This 2/3 tallow 1/3 beeswax mix came from one of Ned Roberts books Muzzle-loading Cap-lock Rifles, or his next one Breech-loading Singleshot Rifles, I am not sure which. Anyway, it is an old formulation which basically uses the beeswax to stiffen up and raise the melting point of beef tallow, which otherwise would melt in your hand. (In fact, if you get black automotive grease all over your hands, take a dollop of beef or pork grease to clean your hands first, it pulls out a lot of the black grease - then use soap).

I just read bout' a guy swearing about this recipie, but it included quite a good percentage of parafin.

[felix]

Pat, a BR gun is a gun designed only for competition off of a rock-solid bench. Its purpose (nowadays) is to allow the shooter to concentrate entirely on weather conditions, by itself having the capability to shoot 5 shot groups less than 0.1 inch at 100 yards.

Revolters seldom reach 50K CUP because of the gap. Your guns will last a long time shooting 35K CUP, lead or jacketed.

felix