Which Bullet Lube for .58cal Minie Ball with Black Powder ?

[newrib]

I have a question which I am sure can be answered by the good folks here. I just bought a Navy Arms Zouave copy (my first m/l) and have cast some Lyman 575213 bullets, also I have some Grafs Fg and FFg. My question is: Which Bullet Lube should I use ? I have SPG but I do not care for it as the fouling left in my trapdoor when using black powder is unacceptable (hard and dry). My pal uses Crisco in his muzzle loaders with slightly better results. I am looking for a lube which will produce easy loading and manageable fouling. Is that possible ?

[bob208]

all I ever used was Crisco. 60 grs. 2f was the service charge.

[Nobade]

Crisco works great as long as it's not too hot out. I had a bunch of bore butter and ended up mixing it with soy wax flakes to make it stiffer, and it works quite well in the summer here. I can fire 20 rounds easy before I need to wipe, and that's with my homemade powder which isn't as clean as commercial.

-Nobade

[johnson1942]

im going to throw something at you from a different direction. use one wrap of poly coated freezer wrap paper, which is 18 pound paper, on your bullet after it has been resized through a push through bullet sizer, and use no lube at all. all you would have to do to make this work is resize to a size that when wraped with one time around it would fit just into the bore and go down the bore with out diff. you dont want it going down the bore too hard or too easy. to wrap that bullet it would be easy. the paper would look like a rectangle. it would be the size that when it went around the bullet the seams would just meet. it would be long enough that you could fold it over on to the base and tuck up around the lip of the hollow cavity. this patch would come off right at the muzzle and your shots would be consistantly accurate. no lube needed with real black powder with this type of bullet. the lip and deep cavity of the base of your type of bullet makes it so you dont need a wad behind the bullets base. if the paper is long enough to tuck up into the cavity it will stay on the bullet while you put it down the bore. all you need is a 31 dollar push through reduceing die or you may be able to make one you self. have fun.

[Rimfire]

For range shooting I fill the base with crisco. For hunting I do the same but, put a waxed paper disc over the crisco to keep it from getting to the powder.

[newrib]

Thanks to all for your input !

[varsity07840]

I have a question which I am sure can be answered by the good folks here. I just bought a Navy Arms Zouave copy (my first m/l) and have cast some Lyman 575213 bullets, also I have some Grafs Fg and FFg. My question is: Which Bullet Lube should I use ? I have SPG but I do not care for it as the fouling left in my trapdoor when using black powder is unacceptable (hard and dry). My pal uses Crisco in his muzzle loaders with slightly better results. I am looking for a lube which will produce easy loading and manageable fouling. Is that possible ?

MCM lube from North East Trade Co. 570-546-2061. Popular with N-SSA shooters. They also have a neat lubing device that will work on minies up to .69 cal. Regarding your hard fouling issues with SPG, do you use a blow tube?

Duane

[fouronesix]

First, don't over think it. Next, SPG is not known to leave hard, dry fouling?? And yes, blow tubing will help keep fouling soft for BP cartridge shooting. But, shooting Miniés in a muzzleloader is a little different. I, as do some shooters, blow down the muzzle after shooting to help keep the fouling soft.

Graf Wano is Schuetzen powder. While it may not be the cleanest burning blackpowder of all the choices, in my experience it leaves fairly soft fouling- which is important for Minié shooting when not swabbing between shots. You can experiment and add a dab of lube to the hollow base which will definitely help keep the fouling soft.

For most Minié shooting, I simply smear some Crisco on the sides of the bullet. During the hottest weather, I have a batch of Crisco mixed with some bee's wax so it's a little stiffer.

I use large lid, vitamin bottles to carry the Minié lube. One has Crisco and one has Crisco-bee's wax mix.

[Coffeecup]

My general-purpose lube for such things is a mix of half beeswax/half olive oil. It works as well as crisco at colder temps, but doesn't get too "runny" in hot weather.

[Tom-ADC]

I use Bore Butter in my Zouave

[Good Cheer]

Been using LOOB (Lanolin-Olive Oil-Beeswax) and sometimes adding some other things to suit for lube groove bullets.

[BPShooter]

Add some bees wax to Crisco,it will holdup better in hot weather.

[glenhunter]

Add some bees wax to Crisco,it will holdup better in hot weather.

BP said it best, just add some bees wax to your Crisco and you're good to go!

gh

[64rebel]

Mutton tallow and bees wax. Minies are designed to drop past the fowling and expand to fill the grooves on ignition.

[Good Cheer]

And we can mix lube to suit what we're doing seeing as we're not in combat with standard issue ammo and trying to get an over whelming weight of lead down range.

Ever wonder about those stacked separated skirt rings that were found in the bores of battlefield .58's? Can't help but wonder about the fouling putting too much grip on the expanding skirt. Was it failure of the standard issue lube under battle or climatic conditions? Did the scraper bullets not work? Or was it just too much barrel heat to let the weapon system work as designed? Beats me. ;)

[Trapnblackkid]

After i cast my Minis i take a small pant brush and some pure bees wax and give them a nice thin coat on the bottom half. I also feed my Zouave 60-75grs of FFg OR FFFg depending on what i got handy i like the FFg my grand dad likes the FFFg.

[ejcrist]

I've always used TC Bore Butter for lube for both prb's and minnies. Seems to work well.

[fouronesix]

And we can mix lube to suit what we're doing seeing as we're not in combat with standard issue ammo and trying to get an over whelming weight of lead down range.

Ever wonder about those stacked separated skirt rings that were found in the bores of battlefield .58's? Can't help but wonder about the fouling putting too much grip on the expanding skirt. Was it failure of the standard issue lube under battle or climatic conditions? Did the scraper bullets not work? Or was it just too much barrel heat to let the weapon system work as designed? Beats me. ;)

I think there is validity in that observation ^

Having looked at the old "arsenal" lube of tallow and bees wax (including some 150 year old examples)… that stuff tended to be extremely stiff and tacky! Of course it was purpose made to not run all over the place and migrate while in storage, travel, shipment and for all weather/temperature extremes, etc. as packed in paper cartridges.

Today is a different story. We have control of such things and can custom choose and easily make lubes that maintain softness, ease of application, soft fouling properties, etc.

And it isn't rocket science either. Simple Crisco when the weather is cool and Crisco mixed with a little beeswax when the weather is warm.

[heelerau]

I use 5 parts by volume beeswax to 1 part by volume unsalted lard, summer and winter, although down under our winters are not sub zero. Standard British Army mix from the late 19th century. I use the service charge of 75 grains of FFg Goex.

Cheers

Heelerau