Reloading BP cartridges (help needed)

[jon_norstog]

Villiers,

I have been having pretty good luck just lubing the bullets by hand. Currently I am using a flat-base Lyman about 385 gr. in my 45/70 rolling block and trapdoor rifles. Previously I did load and shoot .43 Spanish a lot.

When I was a kid I would buy water pump grease, a heavy petroleum grease that came in a can. Nobody greases water pumps any more and you can not get that product. Lately I've been using this stuff called "Bore Butter." It smells good and you can get it into the grooves pretty easily with your fingers. It comes in winter and summer grades.

I don't size bullets. Actually for the Trapdoor I cast them hot enough to look like they are frosted, on the theory that hey will be larger diameter, for the trapdoor. 20-1 lead to tin. and a compressed charge. I use a greased felt wad, mainly to keep the powder in place while I'm charging a bunch of cases prior to seating the bullets.

I choronographed some of my loads last year. The maximum variation on 10 shots was 17 fps, but most of them were closer to the mean than that.

HTH

jn

[villiers]

My chrono results are a tad greater ... but I´m working on it. Using a greased felt wad might soak into the powder, so I just use a cork disk that´s slightly larger than the case diameter. Am still experimenting with bullet greasing methods. There MUST be a way to somehow press them out of the melted wax/grease so that it remains in the cannelures. Maybe I´ll have to purchase a commercial product like Bore Butter. Have ordered some beeswax and will try that with cooking fat when it arrives.

[13Echo]

If you are going to use a felt wad try one soaked in beeswax. It will supply some lubrication, seal the powder chamber from the bullet lube and won't contaminate the powder charge. AS for lubing the bullets try Emmert's lube and pan lube as described in an earlier post. It works and I've used it for years for bullets from .35 to .50 caliber. The secret is to prewarm the bullets and removing the lube cake from the pan when it pulls away from the edges of the pan while it is still just a bit warm. The bullets push out and the lube stays in the grooves.

Jerry Liles

[villiers]

All probs sorted out. Beeswax and solidified cooking fat (palm oil) sticks well and is also used for the grease disk under the bullet with a thin cork disk under that. The hollow base bullet is quite accurate, even to 100 metres but I need good light with the short carbine sight base. The Werder mechanism is a great joy to use and I can´t see anything that´s liable to break. AND I´ve found a very old `leg of mutton´ leather case that fits the short Werder perfectly with a sling for the bike trip to the range.

Attachment 47592

[gsimmons]

Beautiful carbine! Glad you got it sorted.

[villiers]

I don´t know how I´d be able to get a sizer that´s exactly the diameter of the cast bullet but doesn´t alter its size. Are they adjustable?

[gsimmons]

Measure the bullet and get that size die. For example if the bullet measures .577 get a sizing die that is .577. Then it should just take off high spots at the seam etc.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Has anyone tried "paraffin wax".

It is (was) commonly used to seal jars of jams and preserves for many years: pour the hot jam into the jars, let it cool a "little" and then pour molten paraffin wax over the top. Screw on the lids when the jars are cool enough to touch (otherwise they are almost impossible to remove). Stores in a dark cupboard for a lifetime!

The paraffin wax sets quite hard and does not smear all over the place like pure beeswax does when "warm".

Being a petroleum derivative (hence "paraffin" wax), it was probably not generally available before about 1900.

And furthermore, has anyone tried Teflon plumbers / gasfitters tape wrapped tightly around the lube grooves? Teflon is tough, very slippery, fire-resistant and non-greasy.

[jmoore]

Has anyone tried "paraffin wax".

And furthermore, has anyone tried Teflon plumbers / gasfitters tape wrapped tightly around the lube grooves?

Yes to the first, no to the second. Have heard of teflon tape being used, but seem to remember it's not ideal. Maybe too slippery, or it doesn't survive the trip down the bore. Something.

As to paraffin, I've made lube out of it for a long time. Mix with petroleum jelly/"Vaseline" and maybe one or two other things. Usually just the two, about 50/50, depending on requirements. But only in nitrocelluse loads. Mostly because it doesn't combine with moisture, I guess, so the fouling is more stubborn.

I wonder if one could combine paraffin and Ballistol as a BP lube?

[villiers]

I just wonder what the expectations of the original BP users were? Did they really achieve anything like precision using the methods at their disposal? I´ve got the original Bavarian mil. procedures and can hardly imagine that they expected to achieve anything like what we´re hoping for today. Most likely they only wanted to loose off an effective "volley".