357maximum
11-23-2009, 02:47 PM
Did some playing with ye' ol .50 Green Mountain barrelled underhammer this morning.
I used a few different versions of rendered deer tallow based lubes.
#1 was 50/50 by volume tallow/coconut oil
#2 was 60/40 by volume tallow/coconut oil
#3 was 70/30 by volume tallow/ petrolatum
#4 was 80/20 by volume tallow/ petrolatum
I shot 9 shots with each lube for group then spitshine cleaned the bore with ballistol/water before moving onto the next lube. Not a huge test, but it is all I wanted to do for today.
The clear winner in the group department was all of them basically tied as...I could see no glaring differences. They all shot about 1.5 to 1.6 inches at 100 for the 9shot groups, which is a little more open than this gun can and normally shoots...but we will call that my fault as I have shot it tighter before with lube #1 but it was awful cloudy today and my eyes like a bit more sun with my homemade front sight.
The petrolatum loads actually cleaned easier and were easier to load by a very small fraction.
The petrolatum lubes were alot easier to lube a patch with than the coconut oiled ones. The petro patches simply spread the lube around easier and seemed to "wet" better without being "drippy". I was handlubing the patches as this was just a R&D session. Normally I simply deep fry/soak and squeeze in batches. Patches were 1.125 diameter cutout of .018 walmart ticking with a sharpend steel 1.25 in pipe nipple and a hammer.
The petrolatum lubes are also seem a bit more flexible with more body. I believe I could make a decent conical lube with the 2 ingredients. I might possibly need a bit of beeswax to embody it properly for a lube groove however. When I get back from the rifle zone buck only hunt with my 35whelen stoked with BRP 260-220's I will have to do some playing. I will use tallow/vaseline/beeswax and the BRP 50-275 maxi hunter type boolits that Bruce built me in my old 1:48 cva from a kit and see if my assumptions are correct.
I am still thinking about my results, but the main thing is...I have a great use for all this deer tallow I have canned up. ;-)
Final thought: When you are close to a good patch lube, do fine percentages of mix ratio really matter in the real world?
Michael
I used a few different versions of rendered deer tallow based lubes.
#1 was 50/50 by volume tallow/coconut oil
#2 was 60/40 by volume tallow/coconut oil
#3 was 70/30 by volume tallow/ petrolatum
#4 was 80/20 by volume tallow/ petrolatum
I shot 9 shots with each lube for group then spitshine cleaned the bore with ballistol/water before moving onto the next lube. Not a huge test, but it is all I wanted to do for today.
The clear winner in the group department was all of them basically tied as...I could see no glaring differences. They all shot about 1.5 to 1.6 inches at 100 for the 9shot groups, which is a little more open than this gun can and normally shoots...but we will call that my fault as I have shot it tighter before with lube #1 but it was awful cloudy today and my eyes like a bit more sun with my homemade front sight.
The petrolatum loads actually cleaned easier and were easier to load by a very small fraction.
The petrolatum lubes were alot easier to lube a patch with than the coconut oiled ones. The petro patches simply spread the lube around easier and seemed to "wet" better without being "drippy". I was handlubing the patches as this was just a R&D session. Normally I simply deep fry/soak and squeeze in batches. Patches were 1.125 diameter cutout of .018 walmart ticking with a sharpend steel 1.25 in pipe nipple and a hammer.
The petrolatum lubes are also seem a bit more flexible with more body. I believe I could make a decent conical lube with the 2 ingredients. I might possibly need a bit of beeswax to embody it properly for a lube groove however. When I get back from the rifle zone buck only hunt with my 35whelen stoked with BRP 260-220's I will have to do some playing. I will use tallow/vaseline/beeswax and the BRP 50-275 maxi hunter type boolits that Bruce built me in my old 1:48 cva from a kit and see if my assumptions are correct.
I am still thinking about my results, but the main thing is...I have a great use for all this deer tallow I have canned up. ;-)
Final thought: When you are close to a good patch lube, do fine percentages of mix ratio really matter in the real world?
Michael