Lube on the targets

[ScottJ]

Shot some of my cast 9MM in an IDPA match today. The RCBS 115gr RN over 3.8gr Bullseye. Pan lubled with the NRA beeswax, parafin and petroleum jelly formula.

All day long while pasting I'd see strings of lube I'd flung onto the target.

I'm wondering if they left the boolit en route or were flung off as it passed through the cardboard.

I was seeing them on targets well beyond the range of muzzle blast so I don't think it's a case of the lube flinging off at the muzzle.

I've shot hundreds of a 140gr .357 lubed the same way and have never seen that.

[waksupi]

At least you know you have a good lube!

[Sonnypie]

The boolit missed him...
But the loob strings took him down. ;-)

[luis7]

Hi.
I see my lube (nra formula) in my targets too when I shoot 9mm, but with 38 sp I can´t see it. very curious thing.
I think that we have a very good lube.
Greetings.

[Cherokee]

I shoot a lot of 9 mm cast, never see lube on the target @ 7, 15 or 25 yd. It's still on the bullets, at least the ones I recover.

[geargnasher]

Shot some of my cast 9MM in an IDPA match today. The RCBS 115gr RN over 3.8gr Bullseye. Pan lubled with the NRA beeswax, parafin and petroleum jelly formula.

All day long while pasting I'd see strings of lube I'd flung onto the target.

I'm wondering if they left the boolit en route or were flung off as it passed through the cardboard.

I was seeing them on targets well beyond the range of muzzle blast so I don't think it's a case of the lube flinging off at the muzzle.

I've shot hundreds of a 140gr .357 lubed the same way and have never seen that.

The lube spins out of the grooves in flight if: 1). Your boolit fit is good enough to seal the bore and the lube doesn't get blown out the muzzle ahead of the boolit, and 2). The lube is soft enough not to stay in the grooves all the way into the berm/backstop. As the lube spins off in flight it travels with the boolit for a ways until the static air drags it back and it either splatters on something or falls to the ground.

Like Sonnypie said, if you miss a head shot, you might blind the bad guy with the lube! (I doubt, however, that the SO would see it that way!)

I've seen it frequently on 100-yard rifle targets. When I do, I soften the lube some so it blows off at the muzzle and/or lube one fewer grooves, which usually improves accuracy some due to (I think) improving boolit balance.

Gear

[RobS]

I've seen it frequently on 100-yard rifle targets. When I do, I soften the lube some so it blows off at the muzzle and/or lube one fewer grooves, which usually improves accuracy some due to (I think) improving boolit balance.

Gear

+1 & this is the reason why I started to make my own lube. I can make it to the consistency that allows for the lube to quickly come out of the lube grooves (nearest the muzzle) and not out at the target.

[runfiverun]

it needs to either stay or go.
comin off in bits and chunks ain't good.

[RobS]

it needs to either stay or go.
comin off in bits and chunks ain't good.

Yep, that was the problem I had with some of the commercial lubes, especially during the cold months.

[Larry Gibson]

it needs to either stay or go.
comin off in bits and chunks ain't good.

Exactly, it is what it is.

Larry Gibson

[gray wolf]

I have found that while some things I add to my lube can make it soft,
it will also make it wetter. Some other things can make it soft but the lube is not as wet--just softer.
The soft wet lubes gunk up the action on the 1911 and show up on the target.
The soft lube that is just soft and not as wet does not come off on the target and adds less crud in the action, and stays on the bullet to a 50 yard target.
Hard as in commercial lube leaves the cleanest action and does not come off the bullet. My 45 accuracy is close to the same with all three.
I get zero leading as long as my bullet fits the barrel/ .453
I hope I didn't confuse the issue with my wet dry explanation.

[ScottJ]

From what I could tell it looked like the lube groove was emptying for the most part.

My real quandry is why I've never seen it with the .357s. I'm suspecting because the RCBS groove is so much deeper than those on the Lee boolit.

[prs]

I was slow to the draw here, but I agee that lube being shed down range is not a good thing. My preference is for the lube to be soft enough to be shed very rapidly at muzzle exit. I don't mind seeing it on the sky screens if I am doing velocity checks, but I sure don't want to see it on my targets. In my opine, I don't want to see in on the boolits in the berm either. So I make my lube soft and put-up with a bit of mess in the boolit seat die that requires cleaning. Then again, I come from a black powder background.

prs