So, newbie but not newbie

[Chill Wills]

IS there such a thing as "salted Crisco"? Maybe is....
I have seen Butter flavored Crisco. I bet that has salt.

I would avoid the buttered version unless you want your lube to do double duty and smear it on your morning toast too.

I use a softer mix of this, about equal parts (BW-Crisco-oil) to spread over the balls of my Cap-N-Ball revolvers. Pure Crisco is too soft.

[Brimstone]

So, that's the question - if i load a standard wad in the case for lube...will the lube cause the powder to go bad over time? Not like I am going to load a ton of these to stash, doubt black powder cartridges will be a huge factor in my end of the world planning. I do have quite a few of the standard lubed patches in for the 44, should fit right down in the case.
I have to say that the process you guys use to make home made bullet lube sounds pretty complicated for a casual BP loader.

Skip the refinement. Make your own lube or just buy SPG.

As to inside cartridge lube wads, I do like everyone else and use 2 thin waxed card wads to sandwich the greased felt. Cut them from whatever, milk cartons, waxed paper plates, plastic jugs...the list is endless. The point is they're water and grease proof so powder contamination isn't an issue nor having the greased felt (or cookie) stuck to the base of the bullet.

Or skip wads entirely and invest in an NOE "big lube" style bullet mold.

[armoredman]

Interesting idea. Thank you.

[indian joe]

So, that's the question - if i load a standard wad in the case for lube...will the lube cause the powder to go bad over time? Not like I am going to load a ton of these to stash, doubt black powder cartridges will be a huge factor in my end of the world planning. I do have quite a few of the standard lubed patches in for the 44, should fit right down in the case.
I have to say that the process you guys use to make home made bullet lube sounds pretty complicated for a casual BP loader.

yre overthinking this
plus getting un neccessary complex advice from guys who been doin this so long they forgot the KISS principle
we are plinkin with a pistol
1) if you have a boolit with any kind of decent lube grooves - forget about puttin anything down in the case except for black powder - forget lubed wads and forget lube cookies under the boolit
2) black powder lube is so simple its ridiculous ----some beeswax to stiffen it ----35 to 50 % depending on weather conditions - then the rest is some kind of non mineral oil/ soft grease / fat - ---olive oil, neatsfoot oil, jojoba oil, mutton fat, lard, crisco, bear grease , pick one at random - it will work
make a mix that will set into a soft cake at room temp sos it will stay in the grooves on a boolit
now
A) fill case to appropriate height with powder ( about where the bottom lube groove is on a seated boolit )
B) compress powder column to seated boolit height, (most neck expander dies will work for this) - so you can set the boolit in the case by hand and it sits on the powder in the right position for crimping.
C) seat a grease lubed boolit (make sure the grooves are full of lube ) and crimp
D) go shoot !!!!

if you wanna refine the process a bit can put a thin card wad (juice box or cereal pack) over the powder
if your gun fouls up quick doing this - the most likely culprit is too small of lube grooves on the boolit couple examples 45 colt boolit has 2 skinny shallow lube grooves and a good crimp groove - my opinion not a good blackpowder boolit (might get away with it ok but bigger lube grooves would be better) other boolit has two better sze lube grooves - a bit wider , deeper = more lube. Still not excessive but better.

[armoredman]

Ok, thank you very much.

[Nobade]

Indian Joe, I tried to say the same thing but you said it better. This stuff is easy, just has a couple of rules to follow.

[armoredman]

OK, I have some wax bullets a buddy gave me that I melted to make bullet lube for the paper cartridges;



which is a mix of the beeswax and olive oil. I will try melting that and lubing the bullet grooves on the cast bullet I have, this one.



I'll widen the heck out of a case to use as a cookie cutter, then load it and see how it goes.

[GrizzLeeBear]

I have an NOE 454-241-RF mold for 45 Colt black powder loads. NOE currently shows them in stock. I have some loaded up for my Uberti 1873 but haven't shot them yet. This mold has a huge lube groove and carries a ton of lube. I'm sure you wouldn't run out of lube even in a rifle barrel with this boolit. No need to mess with wads, lube cookies, etc. Just fill the case with enough BP to get 1/16 to 1/8 in. compression.

[armoredman]

Unfortunately, my wife just left her employment to get her breast reconstruction after her 0one year anniversary of the mastectomy, so my toy funds just shrank way down. So while I would love a new NOE mold, (I have one, which is excellent), that probably won't happen any time soon.
I will try what I said I have above, and the other mold that most excellent buddy just loaned me, a 200gr Lee SWC boolit. I think it has standard lube grooves, though.
Thank you all for your help.

[Nobade]

It will be just fine in the revolver. Lack of lube is much more of an issue in rifles.

[armoredman]

So here is what I did, in pictures.
I didn't have a cookie cutter for the BP lube, so boolits were dipped, then sized with a Lee push through sizer. Lube is a beeswax/olive oil/something I can't remember lube I used with paper cartridges, so I know it works OK in black powder.
Yes, that is a cat food can full of lube. That is my hot plate I use to warm up molds.


They look goofy.



I also powdercoated and sized other boolits for smokeless loading.



Dipped boolits sized - what a mess. However, it looks like they got the grooves lubed.



First ever BP cartridges loaded. I loaded 10 total, 5 with 29, 5 with 29.5gr Olde Eynsford 3F.



Perfect fit.



Shorter COAL for a shorter cylinder



And at the end of all this, I looked at the other mold my buddy sent to try - THAT looks like a black powder lube groove! Gonna cast some of them up this weekend, I guess.



Now off to the range ASAP.

Critique away.

[armoredman]

So, I tried them. Was not impressed.

It was fun, I'll give it that. Da Boy squeezing off his 5.



And then grabbed this great photo, when he decided to sit down.



But the accuracy of the black powder rounds were lacking. Out of 5 at 11 yards, one wasn't even on the paper.



The second target was worse, with one keyholing. I am guessing that the lube was not enough, and I will give the black powder loads one more try with the other boolit.

By way of comparison, the 45 Colt powder coated smokeless powder loads worked decent enough. At least I kept them all on the paper!



Thank you for reading - I think I lost most everyone by now, though.

[Nobade]

Next time try a full load of 35 grains and soft lead if those were hard.

[armoredman]

I am casting some different boolits today. I used the 29 grain starting load from a suggestion from another person.

[LAGS]

Are you going to try the softer lead for the boolits that you will shoot with BP

[armoredman]

Yes, cast these up with the range Lead, which is as close to dead soft as I can get. NICE big lube groove.

[LAGS]

Those slugs look good.
You are using them for shooting out of the cartridge in both of your pistols.
Will that 200 grainer work as a conical in your BP revolver cylinder.

[armoredman]

I don't know, but it's worth exploring! Yes, I PC'd some of them last night and loaded up testers with AA#2 for the conversion cylinder and the Judge.