Lube For Clean Barrel

[Hip's Ax]

Greetings, I've read on CB more than once that you should lube a clean barrel before the first shot to ward off leading. Is this true or did I imagine reading this? I did a search but come up with too many hits on the key words. If it is true, what do you use? Oil? Grease? Bullet lube? :confused:

[Ricochet]

I normally leave my bores oily and don't wipe it out, just shoot it out.

I did have a thought the other day about running a patch wet with Lee Liquid Alox through prior to shooting bullets lubed with the same. Kinda like the moly freaks' bore conditioning. Unnecessary, though.

[Bad Flynch]

No surefire answer on this one. I do it with beeswax, some do it with bullet lube, some with oil. I appears to help throat leading in rifles, maybe some help in pistols. Jury is still out on this one. It does no harm that I know of.

[Hip's Ax]

Thanks folks, using oil is straight forward enough but if I choose to use bee's wax or bullet lube how is that done? Melt some and soak some patches in it? Run them back and forth in the bore several times then dry patch out? Perhaps a special very soft batch should be made just for this purpose?

[Bass Ackward]

Thanks folks, using oil is straight forward enough but if I choose to use bee's wax or bullet lube how is that done? Melt some and soak some patches in it? Run them back and forth in the bore several times then dry patch out? Perhaps a special very soft batch should be made just for this purpose?


Hip,

There are many possibilities. Some loads with some guns don't need it. My dad insists on the first bullet being coated with LLA just to prevent dry galling. If you use oil, it usually works counter to lubes. In fact, some have reported more leading in bores that were cleaned with Kroil.

I use it depending on the circumstances. But I also usually load a low velocity prepper too. This prepper always has a GC which usually takes out most of anything that is left. With handguns I also use the Shooter's Choice Lead remover with teflon that usually shoots out about 7 shots and settles back down.

Just be careful that what you leave in isn't more than what a bullet would leave behind other wise you risk it acting like an obstruction. Use common sence in other words.

[BruceB]

Normally my barrels are cleaned very seldom.

For occasions when they have been cleaned, I've taken to carrying a prescription bottle with a few bullet-lubed patches therein. The patches are prepared with a smallish glob of lube which is then warmed-up to the melting point with a heat gun. This really saturates the patches and a couple of passes down the barrel leaves just a thin film of lube on the bare steel.

I honestly don't know whether this does much good, but I like the theory better than the alternative of firing a nose-riding bare bullet down the un-lubed barrel. My M1A and #4 Mk2 are both copper-fouled right now, so I'll be going through this routine in the next few days.

[rockrat]

Before I shoot a new gun, I usually run some patches with a sapphire bore cleaning compound(like JB compound), and clean the bore. I used to run some moly bore prep, but read that some use LLA or Rooster Jacket(which I will try on my new #1 35 Whelen) followed by a dry patch to get any excess lube, otherwise as stated by Bass Ackward, it might act as an obstruction. So far, my 50BMG is running a cast slug at 2300fps with no leading.

[montana_charlie]

When running bullets through a luber/sizer, you usually have occasion to wipe off some lube that squeezed out someplace...or rub a small gob off the base of a bullet.

I collect these 'dabs' into a little wad of lube, roll it into a ball, and drop it in a small plastic bottle. To keep my fingers sorta 'wiped off', I keep a few patches by the luber/sizer to use as little 'napkins'. None get much lube on them, but it gets rubbed in to the cloth during the finger cleaning. When I have a set of rounds ready for the next shooting session, I put one of those lubed patches in the ammo box with them.
Before shooting, I run one tight dry patch to remove the oil from the bore, and follow it with the bullet lube patch.

It may not help a single aspect of shooting, but it makes me feel real 'thrifty' about that (otherwise) wasted lube.
CM

[Bad Flynch]

If you want to lube your bore before shooting the first round in a clean barrel, take some beeswax or bullet lube and dissolve (or suspend) it in some low flammability organic solvent. Then use that mix for application with patches. I use mineral spirits, but toluene or xylene, etc., would work. Just find some low-flammability, low-toxicity organic solvent that evaporates in decent order that mostly dissolves your lube.

[Edward429451]

+1 to the JB bore paste. Thats good stuff. I treated my bore before firing it and about every third outing with it. Who knows if it helps with the first shot but it helps get the trace lead out after normal cleaning and is supposed to help eliminate leading over time by polishing the bore. I can't say that is definitly does as I've been doing other things also, quenching, oversizing, etc., but I do know that I'm getting less leading lately.

(I'm finally out of aircooled boolits now! maybe I'll see no leading next time.)

[montana_charlie]

I don't want to be a spoil sport, and I have no experience in either breaking in a new barrel...or using JB paste. But this McMillan guy, before he died, was a highly respected custom barrel maker.

Perhaps some of what he had to say might be of interest.
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=12582
CM

[waksupi]

I seem to recall a recommendation by our old friend, Felix. I believe he stated some years ago, oil your bore with Ed's Red. Then, when ready to shoot, run a single dry patch through, and the first shot should land in group.

[Bass Ackward]

I don't want to be a spoil sport, and I have no experience in either breaking in a new barrel...or using JB paste. But this McMillan guy, before he died, was a highly respected custom barrel maker.


Another shooting falsehood about barrel break-in. The term break-in was modified from the old lead term "burnishing the bore". That was a term that has been around for a few centuries.

Some small percentage of barrels might not benifit from proper break-in. But no barrel will ever be ruined from break-in, done properly.

[buck1]

I seem to recall a recommendation by our old friend, Felix. I believe he stated some years ago, oil your bore with Ed's Red. Then, when ready to shoot, run a single dry patch through, and the first shot should land in group.

Thats the way I have been doing it , and it works great for me!
And yes Felix is where I heard it. ...Buck

[Bad Flynch]

As long as we are migrating to the subject:

For years now, I have used Corbin's (of the bullet making die fame) bore cleaner. It is loaded with synthetic sapphire, I believe, and does a really good job on a new barrel. I use it on the felt bobs that Brownell's sell to work over a bore before I shoot cast in it for the first time--and anytime I shoot copper and migrate to lead, too. Copper wash in a barrel is tough on lead bullets.

[Joey]

My revolver barrels do not need any lube, but on the other hand my pistols do and I still have a slight leading problem. This occurs even when I keep the fps down..

I cast hard bullets for both.

[MT Gianni]

I think the Cast Bullet Association has the answer. Their mag is called the fouling shot. Most of us have seen accuracy suffer when first changing brands of 22' LR. I think the best lube is the one on your bullets. Fire a few foulers before working on a group. Gianni.

[Bret4207]

I don't normally lube my barrels, or clean them for that matter till accuracy goes south or leading occurs. With some of my Mil-Surps with rough barrels I have "oiled" the bore with Lee's Frog Snot. I can't say it is a miracle worker, but it helps fill the pits and rough spots and give the boolits a fighting chance.