Lube Star

[TCLouis]

Do you always get a lube star no matter the cartridge/loading.
I got distinct lube stars (will send someone the pics to post here if there is any interest) with my Husky 7 mm Mag and a 24" SS AR15 (5.56) barrel.

I do not seem to get the lube star with any handgun or other rifle calibers.

Is the lube star indicative of anything, or just kind of kewl to look at after a shooting session?

[35 shooter]

I use "soft" lubes (Ben's Red, BLL, and sometimes Simple lube) and get a consistent light lube star on my muzzles. All three "fling off" the boolit quickly on exit...which is a good thing to me. I never find any remaining lube on recovered boolits at the range.
My lube stars seem to stay light, thin, and consistent(not runny, gummy, or thick) and does'nt seem to build up thick, which i take as a sign i'm not using too much lube, and it's doing it's job consistently.

Lol, that's about it for what i know about "reading" lube stars. I've read a thick, gummy star can be a sign of too much lube?
I've also used commercial lubes in the past that had chunks of lube staying with the boolit, which was evident when looking at recovered boolits.
If i remember right, i wasn't getting much of a lube star, but admit back then, i wasn't paying much attention to that.

Btw, when i included BLL
(which dries fast and hardish) in my "soft lubes", it still evidently goes liquid fast on firing and flings off the boolit quickly on exit.

[gwpercle]

What the star indicates is you have enough lubricant in the bullet, the boolit exits the barrel and there is still enough lube to leave the star .
If there is no star...the boolit ran out of lubricant before exiting the barrel.
No star means your boolit needs more lubricant or a better lubricant.
Now all of the above is concerning handguns, cast boolits and soft lubes.
I don't use hard lubes , that need heating for application, so am not sure if they leave a star.
I have always believed that soft lube worked better than hard ...in handguns that is.
I've recovered many commercial boolits with hard lube that still had the hard lube stuck in the groove, I want it in the barrel not stuck on the boolit downrange .
My lube of choice is Lithium-Beeswax , 1 part Lithium grease to 3 parts beeswax . Lithi-Bee is the common term. Not all lubricants are equal.
Gary