Lube grooves

[bcr]

What is the difference between different designs of lube grooves?

For instance, what's the performance difference between a single wide, deep lube groove like on a traditional Keith SWC and the many shallow lube grooves on a Ranch Dog design?

[44man]

Not much of anything if you use a good lube like Felix or Lar's lubes.

[Wayne Smith]

Flexability. You can lube as many or few of many grooves as you like. You can't put less lube in a single big grove.

[sundog]

Flexability. You can lube as many or few of many grooves as you like. You can't put less lube in a single big grove.

Well, actually you sorta can by thinning and dipping, ala LLA or JPW, or any other loob that his been thinned. I'm not saying it works well or works at all, or that it is a good option, but it can be done.

[Will]

Elmer always liked the one big grove and wanted it square. He didn't like it when Lyman changed his 429421 to a rounded grove. I don't know why but if Elmer said it I believe it.

[Calamity Jake]

WAKSUPI knows all about them lube grooves, he sells em ya know.

You might want to get a few so you can sperment a little. :bigsmyl2:

[44man]

I think Elmer was concerned with boolit deformation with the round bottom grooves because he shot pretty soft lead.
I shoot harder lead and have made all kinds of lube grooves and I never found a difference. It seems to me a round bottom groove would be stronger then a flat bottom anyway.
I no longer shoot cast in rifles but it has always been a mystery to me when someone says to leave one or two grooves free of lube to shoot better??????
I fill all grooves in any boolit for my revolvers and the rest of the nose is also messy with lube. I only wipe the brass clean. Felix lube gets everywhere, bench, press handles, dies, etc.
My boolits in plastic boxes are a huge stuck together mess and I would not have it any other way.
Watch me load and you will think I was cleaning the grease traps at the army post! :bigsmyl2:[smilie=l:

[44man]

WAKSUPI knows all about them lube grooves, he sells em ya know.

You might want to get a few so you can sperment a little. :bigsmyl2:
Why did you make me spit out my coffee? :holysheep

[old turtle]

Right on 44! Hell, I even fill the crimping grooves on my rifle boolits.

[MT Gianni]

Elmer always liked the one big grove and wanted it square. He didn't like it when Lyman changed his 429421 to a rounded grove. I don't know why but if Elmer said it I believe it.

The common lubes in those days were chicken fat and paraffin wax. Shooters needed a lot of it.

[44man]

The common lubes in those days were chicken fat and paraffin wax. Shooters needed a lot of it.
That would take a chicken per boolit! :groner:

[prs]

My boolits are lube hogs too; matter fact, they look mighty similar to the one that purdy gal at the top of the forum page is riding.

prs

[ghh3rd]

Before i acquired a lube sizer, I followed 44man's advice about hand rubbing Felix lube on boolits, and can attest to the fact that it's 'a bit messy'. However, there was zero leading, and the boolits flew where I wanted them. What else can you ask for? :)

[geargnasher]

When shooting for the best accuracy I can squeeze out of my small (.30 and under) bore rifles I've found beyond a doubt that the less lube you can get by with the better. Several reasons I believe, but the main two are the amount of lube the boolit has to spin off after muzzle exit, and the film left in the barrel. I know it would seem that the lube film would be the same regardless of how many grooves were filled, but it really does build up and purge every few shots if you use too much, causing fliers. You can tell the difference in bore film by using dry patches. Hard or even medium-hard lubes give me accuracy fits, especially in cooler weather (40-60*). Felix lube is the way to go, and the least you can get by with.

I have a theory that quantity doesn't matter much on revolver boolits because so much of it is blown out of the cylinder gap. If there is excess, it is purged every shot before reaching the bore whether you like it or not, so there is little change to notice in accuracy between different amounts of lube, even at long range. On boolits that have several, tiny lube grooves like the Lee .45 RF series, there is almost no lube film on my revolvers around the cylinder and frame. If I go with the humongous lube groove designs like the RCBS Keith and some big single-groove WFN designs there is lube film all over the gun, even on the backs of my shooting-hand fingers. Good thing Felix lube doubles as a great hand salve, I can shoot and moisturize the cracked skin on my knuckles at the same time!

Gear

[44man]

Gear, that's funny! [smilie=l:
I get lube on brass but never on the gun except for a lube star at the muzzle. Even shooting creedmore, my blast shield stays clean.
Now the 45-70 BFR stays super clean and brass is still shiny and clean along with the bore, never had a revolver that will do that.
If you want to see DIRTY, shoot a cap and ball Creedmore with a blast shield. :holysheep My hands will be BLACK! :redneck:
Lube purge at the cone and gap might be deforming boolits, squeezing lube grooves shut.
This revolver has been shot for 8 months without cleaning, using a LOT of Felix. Notice even the cylinder fronts are pretty clean.