Inline FabricationRepackboxLoad DataReloading Everything
WidenersRotoMetals2Lee PrecisionTitan Reloading
MidSouth Shooters Supply
Results 1 to 20 of 20

Thread: 41 long colt outside lube/black powder. Lube type?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master smkummer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    So. Indiana
    Posts
    1,861

    41 long colt outside lube/black powder. Lube type?

    Loading ideal’s 386177 outside lube groove bullet for 41 colt with blackpowder. Initial search here reveals 50/50 crisco/beeswax. I am guessing this lube would remain in the single lube groove even when temps hit 90. Anyone else recommend this or something else for an exposed lube groove black powder cartridge? Thanks

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    over the hill, out in the woods and far away
    Posts
    10,158
    The 50-50 Crisco-beeswax is going to be pretty soft at 90 degs. F, but I would try some and see how it holds up. I use it for BP cartridges where the lube grooves are covered and it works well, but in loading .58 rifle-muskets it gets gooey.
    The ENEMY is listening.
    HE wants to know what YOU know.
    Keep it to yourself.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy


    hpbear101's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Montana
    Posts
    256
    http://westernbullet.com/ly3gr10.html
    They sell this bullet commercially and say it is "dip lubed". I use their hollowbase in my .41. I don't think your going to be able to carry enough lube in that one groove to help with bp fouling, so I might try the LLA or 45/45/10. I use the 45/45/10 in a number of other applications and it works well.

    Tom

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy kootne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Libby, Mt.
    Posts
    423
    This is what I do on outside lube heel base bullets. It is a bit more work being 2 steps but the finished product is a lot less messy. I first pan lube with SPG. When I push the bullets out of the lube I first push maybe a 1/32" in the direction of the heel then push the bullet completely out the other way. This seems to leave the lube much tighter in the grooves. SPG is fairly soft and sticky which makes it a great lube at lower velocity (they say under 1500 fps). But the sticky also means picking up junk when used on outside lubed bullets. I tried tumble lubing over the SPG using Rooster Jacket. The Rooster lube will dissolve the SPG so use the absolute minimum. With my .32, 90 gr. bullets that is about 5 drops for 50 bullets. You will probably double that or more on your bullets. This gives me a thin hard shell over the soft lube in the grooves making the bullets much more "pocket" friendly. They are real sticky/messy when first tumbled. I set them base down on waxed paper for a day or two until the Rooster Jacket sets up and they are good to load.

    Dennis

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Oyeboten's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Kansas
    Posts
    757
    I hate 'crisco' and I will never use it for anything of any kind..! Ugh!

    Beeswax I love, and if contemplating hot Climes or Season, one can add some Carnauba ( buy pure Carnauba pellets or flakes on ebay and elsewhere ) and that stiffens it up just fine.

    Crisco is just utterly vile, it stinks, it is messy, gets slime all over everything, and has no justification for use in any application I can imagine...and it is a wrong order of base material to even vaporize for use as Lube with Black Powder Bullets unless one wants stench, slime, mess, slime, black streaks on hands, face, etc.

    Beeswax is perfect...Beeswax and some Carnauba is perfect...totally clean, neat, tidy, and is a right Lube in every way for Black Powder Ball or Bullets or Boolits in Hand Guns.

    One can also just saturate ordinary Paper Towel strips by dipping them in Molten Beeswax, let cool on Foil, cut out 'Discs' with a Hole Punch over smooth end grain Pine or other soft wood, sized to be just a little larger than Boolit diameter, put a Disc between Boolit and Powder, and all is perfect and fine then, and it works beautifully...bigger heavy Boolits, one can use two. They are thin and do not displace enough Powder to be any loss there worth mentioning.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master smkummer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    So. Indiana
    Posts
    1,861
    Thanks guys. I’ll try your all suggestions. Another one I just thought about is applying cap-n-ball lube to the lube groove of the bullet just before loading it into the gun.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master


    missionary5155's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Last trip to Arequipa... till April.
    Posts
    7,133
    Good morning
    We have used 55%beeswax and 45% olive oil for years.
    We have an old New Army Colt revolver in 41 Colt with a 6" barrel. Case full of Goex 3F. Insert the heel type cast of 1-40. Range scrap is our plinker mix.
    Heat the BW/O oil to a liquid (but not smoking). Dip the noses of the loaded cartridge and stand upright in one of those throw away factory ammo trays. They cool quickly. Put the tray in a factory ammo box and fire whenever. But keep them under cover as bees and flies and other bugs are attracted to the honey. While you have the lube warm spread some on toast !
    In our 6" Colt we have never had a "need more lube" condition. I normally only fire 50 a day and never yet had any issues.
    12 rounds fired quickly will heat the barrel. 18 rounds quickly and the barrel on a sunny hot day will not cool down as fast as it heated up.
    Mike in LLama Land
    "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
    Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master smkummer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    So. Indiana
    Posts
    1,861
    Quote Originally Posted by missionary5155 View Post
    Good morning
    We have used 55%beeswax and 45% olive oil for years.
    We have an old New Army Colt revolver in 41 Colt with a 6" barrel. Case full of Goex 3F. Insert the heel type cast of 1-40. Range scrap is our plinker mix.
    Heat the BW/O oil to a liquid (but not smoking). Dip the noses of the loaded cartridge and stand upright in one of those throw away factory ammo trays. They cool quickly. Put the tray in a factory ammo box and fire whenever. But keep them under cover as bees and flies and other bugs are attracted to the honey. While you have the lube warm spread some on toast !
    In our 6" Colt we have never had a "need more lube" condition. I normally only fire 50 a day and never yet had any issues.
    12 rounds fired quickly will heat the barrel. 18 rounds quickly and the barrel on a sunny hot day will not cool down as fast as it heated up.
    Mike in LLama Land
    I like this idea best! I have a 1909 Army special 4 1/2” and a 4 3/4” bisley. What case length are you using for New Army DA 41?

  9. #9
    Banner Sponsor

    lar45's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    2,823
    I have 2 BP lubes that might work for you.
    BP-01 has BeesWax, an obscene amount of Lanolin and a bunch of other stuff. Works great in BP cartridges and muzzle loaders.
    BPCR Supreme works great in high temp applications, won't melt and run off your bullet. Works great in BP cartridges and muzzle loaders.

    I can send you samples of each to try if you cover the first class postage. PM me with info.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master


    missionary5155's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Last trip to Arequipa... till April.
    Posts
    7,133
    Howdy smkummer
    Been using the 41 Colt Long but if I a remembering correct had to shorten them some. I am in Peru right now and it has been a bit over two years sine I have fired it. So giving you an exact measurement I cannot do.
    I found the Lyman heeled mold 200+ grain is far more accurate in my revolver than the HB .386 types. And far easier to cast up a couple hundred.
    My first loads were made with a 180 grain .357 SWC that I put in a vice and squeezed them to a shorter diameter until the 358 body was at .405. Then loaded them nose first in a charged brass. Had to chamber them one at a time as we did not have a means to crimp the too narrow in diameter nose. But they shot very well.
    "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
    Male Guanaco out in dry lakebed at 10,800 feet south of Arequipa.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master smkummer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    So. Indiana
    Posts
    1,861
    Quote Originally Posted by lar45 View Post
    I have 2 BP lubes that might work for you.
    BP-01 has BeesWax, an obscene amount of Lanolin and a bunch of other stuff. Works great in BP cartridges and muzzle loaders.
    BPCR Supreme works great in high temp applications, won't melt and run off your bullet. Works great in BP cartridges and muzzle loaders.

    I can send you samples of each to try if you cover the first class postage. PM me with info.
    Thanks for the offer. At this time I am going to go with what I have or can make. This may be a one time event unless it has a big following. I mostly shoot smokeless loads but know good old black powder can put a big smile on other people’s faces when it’s the first time.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master Castaway's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Dade City, Fl
    Posts
    779
    The lube Gato Feo resurrected was originally an outside lube. Said to be the equivalent of SPG, or possibly better, it does it’s job quite well in heat or cold. I use it in Florida and haven’t detected an issue with powder contamination in 90 degree temperatures. Simple to make. All you need is a double boiler, two parts paraffin (canning wax), two parts mutton tallow and one part bees wax by weight. Mutton tallow is available from Duro-Felt.

  13. #13
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    41
    A plus 1 to Castaway. The Gato Feo lube was ( I believe ) from a ’way back when’ article from the American Rifleman. I use that lube to soak felt wads for cap and ball revolver shooting and for outside lube groove heeled bullets. Works great.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master Castaway's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Dade City, Fl
    Posts
    779
    I started using it as a wad lube with my cap and ball revolvers and now lube 45 Colt and 45-70 with it, all black powder of course.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Fredericksburg, virginia
    Posts
    1,347
    Perusing the archives, I came across a post describing a couple bullet lube recipes that appeared in a 1943 American Rifleman magazine. One was said to be a factory lube for external lube groove/heel bullet ammunition. Apparently it is a smokeless lube and little harder/less sticky than lubes for internal groove bullets. Its a simple recipe and I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so I made a small batch to try out on my 44 Remington Centerfire cartridges.

    1 part paraffin
    1 part mutton tallow
    1/2 part beeswax

    It is a fairly hard, non- sticky blend.
    I loaded up some rounds last night. So today I'll dip lube the bullets of completed rounds and see how it does the next time out.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master Castaway's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Dade City, Fl
    Posts
    779
    ndnchf, the lube you referenced is the one that Gato Feo describes. He gives credit to the Rifleman article you mentioned. Works great as a black powder lube and I’ve also used it with moderate velocity 45 Colt smokeless loads.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Fredericksburg, virginia
    Posts
    1,347
    I dip lubed a batch of smokeless rounds with the heel bullet lube and shot them saturday. The my worked fine - no leading. Good accuracy.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Fredericksburg, virginia
    Posts
    1,347
    I just loaded another batch of 44 CF heel bullet rounds with a compressed load of 23gr of Old Eynsford 3F. I dipped them in the old time heel lube. It's a waxy, but non-stick coating. I like it and will make a larger batch today.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 20200503_092139_copy_651x681.jpg   20200503_092050_copy_335x805.jpg  
    Last edited by ndnchf; 05-03-2020 at 09:25 AM.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

    Wayne Smith's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Hampton Roads, Virginia
    Posts
    13,617
    I shoot my 41Colt (Uberti) with smokeless and thinned LLA. No problem with leading. Of course, not enough lube for BP either. For those I use Emmerts Modified and use that for all my other pistol rounds - bp or smokeless.
    Wayne the Shrink

    There is no 'right' that requires me to work for you or you to work for me!

  20. #20
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    SW Missouri
    Posts
    50
    Glad I saw this thread, I've been looking for a BP lube for my 56-50 Spencer.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check