Felt wads, T/C Maxi-Balls & My Knight Bighorn

[Maven]

Someone recently posted [here] about how well lubed felt wads under his conical bullets performed. As I just cast ~60 .50cal. Maxi-Balls (pure Pb) from a T/C mold, and having both 3/16" felt and a 1/2" arch punch at hand, I decided to experiment. Cutting and lubing the wads (dipped them in Crisco + beeswax) wasn't a problem, nor was loading them atop the powder charge. The results, however, left something to be desired. The charge was 70 grs. Goex FFg, ignited by a very old Rem. #10 primer (extremely reliable). The projectile was the unweighed T/C Maxi-Ball seated over a cardboard disk. These grouped within 1" of each other @ 50 yds. and that is a repeatable result. I then tried the felt wad under the Maxi-, changing nothing else. These were high, out of group and no better than 2" from one another. I then returned to the Maxi- with the cardboard wad and got 1" groups again. In sum, felt wads may indeed work in some rifles, but mine isn't among them.

[idahoron]

I know I have had great luck with them in my rifle but for a 50 cal I use wads that are .62 they pucker a bit when they load but they seal well. For my 45 it likes them to be a little more bore diameter. Another thing my bullets are paper patched so my bullets are double protected. Ron

[flyingstick]

I just returned a REAL .50 mold that was out of round. In exchange they sent me another one and I'm going to experiment with the felt and cardboard OP wad. Just out of curiosity, do you dip the cardboard?

[Maven]

Dan, No dipping. I just cut them and store them in a 35mm film container (Remember those?) as the Maxi's and REAL's carry enough lube. Btw, contact Buckshot to see whether he'll make you a lube-only H & I die for your lube sizer. It makes a messy chore a lot neater and faster.

[fishhawk]

what kind of lube would you use on a maxi-ball using fake BP? steve k

[Maven]

Steve, The only lubes I've repeatedly used on REAL's & Maxi-Balls are T/C's original tannish, cream lube that came in a plastic container; T/C Bore Butter (yellow); Traditions (originally Ox-Yoke) Wonder Lube (also yellow and a clone of Bore Butter); and Ox-Yoke's stick lube*, which is made for a lube sizer. With the exception of the last named lube, all are applied by hand or with a popsicle stick. The Ox-Yoke stick lube is applied via a lube-only H & I die (made by Buckshot) in my Lub-A-Matic. All have worked very well, but it's still a good idea to damp swab the bore when seating becomes difficult...even with Pyrodex RS (haven't tried the other BP substitutes). Btw, I once tried a hard, smokeless powder lube (similar to Lyman Orange) on my Maxi-s and got terrible accuracy. Ditto Crisco & beeswax.


*Available from Track of the Wolf and is less expensive than SPG and Lyman Gold BP lube.