Lube for a Lee Conical in a ROA?

[Intel6]

getting my ROA set up to start doing to testing of loads. I got the Lee 220 gr. conical mould and the .457" RB mould and cast up some bullets from pure lead. I know many say RB's shoot better but that is what I am going to find out.

My question is should I lube the conical since it has lube grooves? If so, what are some of the ways it can be done and with what? With it's different sized driving bands I don't know if a regular lubesizer will work?

Just curious what other's have done?

Thanks,

Neal in AZ

[Outpost75]

When I load my ROA with whatever bullet, roundball, Maxi or conical, I just grease over the chambers with Crisco dispensed from a cake decorator. One lube does all.

For hunting use I carry Crisco in a Skoal can with a piece of popsicle stick to spread it.

In hot weather 2 parts by melted volume of Crisco to one of beeswax works for me!

[Mike 56]

Lee in his Modern Reloading manual recommends tumble lubing with Alox lube and using no lube over the bullet. It works but you have brush the bore once in awhile. I have also put a little cisco over the bullets as well as using grease cookies. After i cast the Lee conicals i push the heel of the bullet into the cylinder to size the heel it makes them much easier to load.

[Odinbreaker]

I use liquid alox and roll in motor mica put a felt wad under bullet.

[rodwha]

I've used Gatofeo's #1 lube, which is supposed to be more traditional.
Some pan lube, but I poured my excess into a soap mold and cut that into little squares. I then use it like a crayon. It's more effort, but I enjoy it that way.

[Hellgate]

I smear a BP lube into the grease grooves at home and put the conicals into a bullet tray or plastic bullet box to take to the range.

[winelover]

I use liquid alox and roll in motor mica put a felt wad under bullet.

Same here, except for the mica. BTW, my ROA prefers the Lee conical over the RB. Just don't be surprised when you discover there isn't enough adjustment in the rear sight to lower point of impact. If yours is a SS ROA, the easy fix is to call Ruger and get a higher front sight for a 45 BH. IIRC, it's .445 high.

Winelover

[Intel6]

Thanks all for the responses so far. I have pressed some BAC in the grooves by hand but it is slow going.

I thought about tumbling in Alox but I am not sure if that will even have any effect over plain? I do plan on using a lubed wad under it so there is some lube.

I also know some put lube on top of the projectile but I have found that to be messy and the gun gets dirty quick.

Again, thanks for the responses so far. I gues no one has tried pan lubing with these?

Thanks,

Neal in AZ

[Baja_Traveler]

I pan lube this conical for my ROA: http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=09d6fdda-c105-4c87-b269-68ebfdaba982

I use my standard BPCR lube: 1 pound beeswax, 1/2 pound lanolin and 1/2 pound canola oil (all by weight).

Works awesome - but like was mentioned in an above post - it will shoot higher than you can adjust your sights. Ruger sent me a .445 BH sight free of charge, and all is right with the world...

[johnson1942]

use the alox like odinbreaker says and a felt wad available from buffalo arms on the internet. i dont know what the other is? can you tell me what it is odin breaker. this combo will give you your best tight groups at a greater ft. per sec. believe it or not lube all your patches for the roundball with lee alox and let them dry good and your roundball will shoot better also.another good patch lube is rooster paper patch lube. prelube and dry like the lee alox lube.

[Mike 56]

If you have a copy of Lee's Modern Reloading read the black powder area. The Lee conicals do not need over the bullet lube or wads like round balls. The bullet was designed not to chain fire. Wads can be used for more lubrication or to help with accuracy. You only need powder and a lubed bullet. Lee recommends alox lube it works i also understand that is the lube Lee sells. In this thread their are lots good ideas for lubes you can use bore butter, Cisco. Bee's wax/Cisco, pan lube and Gatofeo's lube. I am sure their are lots of others. I have covered the chambers with grease before but i don't think that is a good idea. It did seam like it added a lot of pressure. Trying different loads and lubes is half the fun of shooting these guns.

[mazo kid]

[QUOTE= believe it or not lube all your patches for the roundball with lee alox and let them dry good and your roundball will shoot better also.another good patch lube is rooster paper patch lube. prelube and dry like the lee alox lube.[/QUOTE]
Patches....in a ROA?

[Intel6]

Just an update, I was able to get out and do some testing with my ROA. I ended up tumble lubing some of the conicals in Alox and then tossed them in mica.

I found that the conicals shot better out of my ROA than the balls but not by much. Both types of conicals basically shot the same wether they were lubed with BAC or Alox. I did not use a wad with the conicals and they shot fine. I also noticed that after firing the conicals with Alox the muzzle was wet with Alox so it seems that it was doing it's job.

So at this point I will be Alox lubing my conicals and mainly shooting those until I decide to do another round of testing.

Thanks again for all the help and information. This non blackpowder shooting guy is now a BP shooting fool!