Lube Star? Edumacate me please..

[Snyd]

First off, I'm a newbie caster and have learned a TON here on these forums. Many thanks to all.

I've been working up a boolit/lube/load combo for my SBH 45 Colt. Here's the skinny... 350gr WFN GC LBT mould, water dropped WW, sized to .452, bore is .451, throats are reamed to .4525. Panned lubed with beeswax/paraffin/vaseline. Prolly 2-1 beeswax over paraffin and a little more than those of vaseline. The lube started out too soft so I kept adding beeswax. Anyway, I got em lubed up.

So I shot 24 rounds through the 7.5 inch SBH today. Excellent accuracy and no leading except one small strip along one rifling. I've read that that could be cause by too soft a boolit?? I am 99.9% sure I had it totally lead free before I hit the range.

Anyway, I took a couple pics of the muzzle to see if anyone here can tell me anything good or bad about the lube by looking at the muzzle/bore rifling.

http://homepage.mac.com/perryschneider/.Pictures/pics/bore_01.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/perryschneider/.Pictures/pics/bore_02.jpg



Here's how it shot.
http://homepage.mac.com/perryschneider/.Pictures/pics/sbh_355_02.jpg

[405]

Looks pretty good to me and about normal for smokeless shooting of GG cast. I don't see a classic lube star on the muzzle. Usually a lube star is something to look for when shooting blackpowder. All I see is "carbon" blowing out along the grooves and a light lead wash along the lands. Another indication is- you can wipe a finger across the muzzle and see or feel lube. Yet another sign of good ole' excess soft lube, especially for blackpowder shooting, is lube splatter on the face of the chrony or even around the bullet entry holes on the target. :)

[sagacious]

Looks fine to me. 405 gave you a good rundown on 'lube star.' Not really a factor to consider in your situation. That's just a little carbon soot on the muzzle.

You might also try air-cooled ww's. I shoot a similar 320gr GC bullet cast from ww's using a similar load, and it's been very accurate for me with my SBH 45Colt. No leading at all-- sometimes a little softer is better. Be sure to back off a bit and work back up.

Keep on keepin on. :drinks:

[geargnasher]

Not bad for lube without much "lube" in it. I get a wet lube star with milder loads, and it almost drips off my .45 Colt muzzles if I use Dacron filler. Hotter loads burn up most of the lube unless I use a Carnauba Red.

Gear

[cajun shooter]

With smokeless you will not get the classic lube star as has already been posted. You do know that you can get leading from shooting too hard an alloy. Go to the stickies and read everything you can from the LASC articles by Glenn Fryxell.