lube

[Springfield]

Using the right bullet for the job is important. 454190 was intended for revolvers. The 32 Big lube was intended for small pocket pistols. The Big Lube DD moulds work fine for CAS shooting, but with the big flat meplats they aren't very aerodynamic, and mostly suck at real long range shooting. I have most every DD mould made, some of them I designed myself, but I also have many Accurate Molds, as I don't only shoot CAS events. Bullet fit is important, but also having a bullet soft enough for BP shooting also helps. I have a 38-55 rifle that I got for a very good deal as the shooter was using hard, too small, skimpily lubed bullets and couldn't hit the side of a barn with it. I just used a softer better lubed bullet and it now works great.
As for lube, there are many good recipes out there, but if there just isn't enough for BP use it won't matter what you use. If you have a large enough lube groove it almost anything will work as long as it keeps the fouling soft.

[Nobade]

Using the right bullet for the job is important. 454190 was intended for revolvers. The 32 Big lube was intended for small pocket pistols. The Big Lube DD moulds work fine for CAS shooting, but with the big flat meplats they aren't very aerodynamic, and mostly suck at real long range shooting. I have most every DD mould made, some of them I designed myself, but I also have many Accurate Molds, as I don't only shoot CAS events. Bullet fit is important, but also having a bullet soft enough for BP shooting also helps. I have a 38-55 rifle that I got for a very good deal as the shooter was using hard, too small, skimpily lubed bullets and couldn't hit the side of a barn with it. I just used a softer better lubed bullet and it now works great.
As for lube, there are many good recipes out there, but if there just isn't enough for BP use it won't matter what you use. If you have a large enough lube groove it almost anything will work as long as it keeps the fouling soft.

I just remembered, I have one of the molds you designed. The Springfield Slim, about 150 grains for the 44 if I remember correctly. I haven't shot those in years, thanks for the reminder. I need to get it out and play with it some.

[Springfield]

It is called the 44Slim. I have started using it again after a few years of not, trying to get a bit faster in competition using a lighter bullet. I have even started shooting 2 handed instead of Duelist style( the horror!). I am experimenting with some cut-down 44-40 shells, basically a 44 Russian but slightly larger diameter. My 2 kids were getting close to beating me and I had to do something about it. Just in my pistols, still run full loads of BP with 44-40 shells in the rifles.

[Silhouette]

When researching lube, don't Google "Crisco lube formula".
The results have nothing to do with bullets!

[Outpost75]

With BP I've found nothing better than beeswax-olive oil in over 50 years fooling with the stuff.

[TurnipEaterDown]

Honest question, as I don't use muzzle loaders too often: What sort of bad things happen if a person uses typical smokeless lubes (50/50, LBT Blue, commercial soft reds, etc.) w/ Black powder?
I have heard not to do it, and I take it at face value.
However, for a few shots in a day (10?) w/ LEE REAL and a CVA in line, some time in the past I have done it, and the gun did seem to clean up just fine.
No argument intended, and I have made up some beeswax-olive oil to use next time, but just curious what would happen if someone did this more often, or for longer shot strings, or...

[Castaway]

Turnip Eater, the primary purpose of a black powder lube is to keep the fouling goopy. Since the velocities are sedate, leading is not generally an issue, but black powder lubes do that job too. If shooting black powder with a hard lube used for smokeless loads, fouling will quickly collect in the barrel and accuracy will go south.