Bunged Up Dies

[Guy La Pourque]

Hey guys - I'm new to this BPCR nonsense. I have been admonished not to shoot the Holy Black in lever guns but my conscience won't let me go smokeless in my 1876 repro. (I yam a man of morals and ethics dontchya know...:))

In any event I cooked up a century's worth of the official BPCR lube (I think it was citronella, beeswax and Crisco) and it seems to work good enough...

Problem is I seem to get this lube all over everything...my hands, the cartridges, in the dies and some even gets on the bullets. Am I doing something wrong? Do you have any tricks for cleaning out dies?

[Red River Rick]

..........and some even gets on the bullets. Am I doing something wrong? Do you have any tricks for cleaning out dies?

The lube is supposed to get on the bullet............that's why they call it bullet lube!

Sounds like your having a bad time of it. How are you lubing your bullets...........pan lubing I hope.

Unless you live in the tropics and have to worry about lots of mosquitos's, I'd do away with the citronella (whatever) and use peanut oil.

Read thru some of the old posts, you'll find all the info you seek.

RRR

[country gent]

I have a small fixed cleaning rod about 3" long I made for cleaning revolver cylinders that also works great with a nylon bore brush and bore mop for cleaning dies. Sometimes a little belling of the case mouth keeps thelube where it belongs better. Other wise a rag and wipe the rounds downafterwards and occasionally clean the dies.

[fouronesix]

No way around it. But the excess can be controlled. For pan lubing, use only enough to reach the upper grease groove with the pan full of bullets. This time of year I let the pan sit outside to really cool off and get cold. Bring it back in after and hour or so and let the bullets just start to warm. Push them straight out pressing on the nose onto a paper towel placed in a paper plate.

Different lubes act differently. I like a soft lube that when pushed out of the cake, very little gets smeared in the crimp groove, upper drive band or nose. That usually takes care of excess lube getting transferred to the dies. Once loaded and crimped, I use a paper towel and a little acetone to wipe lube off the case and bullet nose. Rarely do I have to clean lube from dies. Soft lube that hasn't aged or hardened won't affect the dies' function. Excess or hardened lube will mainly affect the bullet seating die-- care early on in the lubing process helps prevent the problem.

[oldred]

I have been admonished not to shoot the Holy Black in lever guns


You were told right, whatever you do DON'T shoot black in those lever guns! It's as bad as shooting black in a single shot, once you fire the first round you're hooked forever and there's turning back, DON'T DO IT!!!



Of course I'm just funnin with you and who ever told you not to shoot black in a lever gun is missing a lot of fun, and this is coming from someone who only a couple of years ago said I would never shoot black in any of my cartridge rifles. I had black on hand for my MLs but felt it to be too much fuss and bother for cartridges but after reading too much here curiosity got the best of me and now I shoot more BP than that other stuff, including my 1895 Marlin, 45-90 Winchester and my custom 45-90 highwall type single shot. There seems to be a misconception that clean up of these lever guns is too much of a problem but I found that not to be the case at all, bottom line is if you want to shoot real black in a lever gun don't let anyone talk you into cheating yourself out of a heck of a lot of fun!

For the last year my Marlin 45/70 has had a steady diet of Goex FFG and cast Lee 405 FN which it seems to like a lot, if damage from BP residue in the action is what you were warned about I can assure you it is no problem at all at least it hasn't been for me.

[Ramar]

"Once you go Black; you don't go Back."
Ramar