Lubed ppb vs dry and patching GG boolits

[bbqncigars]

I did a little experiment in the Sharps today (45-70) with some of the identical ppb that shot well (but leaded badly) but this time with a little Mathew's lube wiped on them before seating. I also took some BACO lubed Postell boolits and sized/wrapped/lubed them as well, just for giggles. The result: the lubed ppb had no leading, but accuracy was degraded by 4x exhibiting vertical stringing. A surprise was that the Postells grouped well, with no leading. Damn, just when you think you have a handle on things! Both boolits are within 5 grains of each other, so I was lazy and used the same load (37gr Varget & LR magnum primer) on both. The Postells were sized to the same o.d. as the ppb (bore + .0005). Additional data is that the Postells were 20:1 alloy, whereas the ppb are cast with Lyman #2 alloy. This kind of thing is driving me nuttier.

[XWrench3]

i think you need to aproach this a little more scientificly. when you perform experimennts, the goal should be to change ONLY 1 thing at a time. otherwise, the results may not be accurate. in order to take the same boolit and use it as a paper patch, you could just size it down a few thousandths, paper patch it then. then measure the weight difference, un wrap the paper and simply drill or sand by hand a little of the lead off the base of the boolit, and re wrap it. that way you will have boolits that are the same weight and design, and i think you will be a lot happier with knowing the results are true. experiments should be fun, but sometimes you need to go through some painstaking prep work to get it right. also, when i perform experiments, i shoot a minimum of 3 shot of each type. the more of each type you shoot, the more accurate your results will be.

[303Guy]

Well, what sounds like might have happened is that you have solved the leading issue but introduced a new issue, that being case mouth grip. Other variable might explain it too but it occurs to me that the lubed then seated patch has less case grip. I rely on a heavy for caliber boolit to ensure good combustion. In a bottleneck case likr the 303 Brit (one of mine at least) it makes no difference how low I load the cartridge as long as the case is filled with wheat bran, the pressure remains about the same. One load actually left a ring of compressed wheat bran behind the neck in the case, indicating that it forms a healthy wad (these are light to medium 4227 loads). Point is, something needs to raise the pressure to ensure good combustion. Sometimes it going to be more powder and sometimes its going to be a heavier boolit - that's to avoid having to crimp or something.

(My findings are not holy writ, to borrow a phrase).