2Q - Colour Case Harding & Lube Starvation in 24” bbl.

[greenjoytj]

I’m contemplating the purchase of a New Winchester 1873 and I have 2 questions (so far).
Q1 - How delicate is a “color case Hardened” finish?

I understand this finish is a chemical dye treatment, a faux knock off of real bone char carbon case harding process. I worry about the durability of this finish, that it may just rub off from routine cleaning & oiling after shooting BP.

Q2 - Will my bullet a SAECO #955 45 cal. 255 gr. RNFP with a single lube groove, carry enough Emmert’s Improved lube to exit a 24 inch barrel and leave a lube star?

My understanding is that no lube star equals indicates lube starvation has occurred and this is confirmed by a cleaning rod that drags or jams up 4” from the muzzle.

[Tatume]

Q2 - a lot depends on a lot of variables. The best thing you can do is shoot some and how they do.

[lar45]

I've never tried Emmert's lube, but...
I have a Rossi/Puma M92 in 45 Colt with the 24" stainless octagon barrel.
I lubed a bunch of 265 RF style bullets with 45-45-10 and shot about 300 of them through it in one weekend and the barrel was still spotless, with no leading or fouling...
I have also tried the Ranch Dog 45-290RF lubed with Carnauba Blue and had good results with it also. I think I only shot about 40 rounds through it until we stopped and checked the barrel. Agian, there was no leading or fouling.

[country gent]

Ive heard that the chemical coloring isnt near a lasting or durable as the true bone and charcoal case hardening. There are companies still doing the real process and it is a vary good looking durable finish. A couple that come to mind still doing the process are Shiloh Sharps, C Sharps arms, CPA (I dont know if they would do others though). The other tht does restorations and really beautiful finishes is Doug Turnball., But his work isn't cheap. A friend had a lever gun done by him and the case hardening is a real eye catcher as is the blued job he did on barrel mag tube. The screw heads match the finished area and slots are now all north south timed. None of the stampings are faded looking, and corners are still crisp and sharp.

I would think that bullet will carry enough lube for a 24" barrel with smokeless powder loads, but may be on the light side when also keeping black powder fouling soft. As stated above try them and see what they do. I use SPG and or emmerts improved in my BPCR rifles 30"-34" barrels with BP loads and they do very well in these long barrels.

Depending on the mould and size it casts I would start as cast lubed with spg or emmerts with an alloy of 20-1 maybe 16-1. Slug your barrel and see what its groove dia is and compare to the bullets as cast dia. A .458 size die can be used to just lube these bullets. Otherwise size .001-.002 over groove dia.