hi-tec/low-tec .45 Colt BP loading...

scrat, it's apparent that several of you here look upon this sub-forum as your own little kingdom, and that you can't wait to try to pick apart a newcomer's post.

This is the Blackpowder Shooting forum.....NOT the muzzleloading forum, civil war weapons forum, CAS forum or buckskinner's forum....shooting cartridges/guns designed in 1873 is plenty enough antique for this forum.....if blackpowder cartridges don't interest you, then pass over the thread.

I'll take issue with your unproven assertion that "most" BP shooters do their own casting/lubing......I'd go as far as to say that most BP shooters purchase 20:1 cast/soft-lubed bullets from specialty suppliers such as www.cowboybullets.com, or (and even more likely) shoot a majority of swaged balls from vendors such as Hornady and Speer, and that most black powder shooters have never run/cast a ball in their life, and certainly don't own a ball mold.....and many of these same shooters have struggled with getting commercial hard-cast to shoot well with BP before giving up in disgust.

Your comment of

Now we all know that low powered cowboy action loads is what we need to be shooting. Not high velocity loads. As we are shooting these out of Cap and Ball Revolvers. We talked about this before

Click to expand...

just leaves me scratching my head....most folk would agree "high velocity" and "black powder" are mutually exclusive terms, where you'd be lucky to see 1000fps with a .45Colt using black powder....and "we" don't all shoot C&B revolvers exclusively....

The original post reached out to those/new sorts of shooters, not self-appointed experts. I have been casting/handloading/shooting for over 30yrs, and I wasn't born knowledgeable about any of this stuff.....and neither have been any of the new shooters that show up on sites like this...

New shooters might be more inclined to give BP cartridge or muzzleloading a whirl with simple-to-try kitchen-sink handloading, and might then move on to more advanced methods.....they are certainly scared off by experts proclaiming you have to cast your own soft bullets, buy speciality lubes, own/operate a lubrisizer, own double-boilers, convection ovens etc if you want decent results....my posts take issue with such assertions, and always will......so, why don't you cease and desist from trying to throw a monkey-wrench into things? I find it petty and meanspirited.

I didn't claim to invent pan lubing....it's NOT messy if the lube isn't left to goo consistancy, and sticky beeswax base will give 100% groove filling, and without tracking down a KakeKutter.

There seems to be a wide streak of paranoia or resistance to trying the microwave...so, I'll add a few safety caveats.

It entered my mind when first trying the bullets that even if things didn't spark (and they didn't), there might remain an airpocket in poorly cast bullets that might cause a rupture as the bullet heated up.....this is why I mentioned using a low setting on the microwave, and keeping an eye/hand on things....plus, too hot a bullet will melt the tupperware.

Ditto the lube mix in the tupperware....nuke until liquid, and then stop....the wax/oil are self-mixing, no stirring required.....flimsy plastic might warp from heat.

Don't use the tupperware in contact with the lead for any food uses, just to be safe.

Don't stick your finger in light sockets, try to mug a uniformed cop, or call-in sick at work with the excuse of "abducted by aliens."

Thanks, SOS...there are surely better ways of loading BP handgun cartridges....this one's just field-expedient for those wanting to give it whirl with hope for success....personally, I recommend 20:1 plain-base bullets with deep-cornered large lube grooves for all non-manglem handgunning, but that's just me....lube batches larger than experimental are much more efficiently done with a double-boiler, with numerous cakes cast and put aside....the lube itself works about as well as any, in my experience, with BP, anyhow....the bevel-base bullets with shallow grooves would probably allow blow-by leading and run out of lube going down longer barrels....the bullet lubing via cake/pan method is suprisingly efficient and tidy, and unless as-cast diameters are too large to chamber in loaded rounds, sizing is sorta wasted to some degree....glad you found some of it of interest.

There are many successful loading/lubing-recipes/cleaning methods...this just happens to be one of them.

Just sort of a microwave vs. alternate method delubing of cheap bullets update.

I was suprised small batches of the bullets that I nuked didn't spark....in fact, your bullets might spark, large batches might spark, etc etc...

Several responders to the thread suggested boiling them....I've never tried that one myself....never needed to, actually, being a caster/loader myself....but gave it a try today.

Firstly, you'll about wreck any pot you try it in....at least the red crayon hard lube on bullets I boiled will wreck a pot.

After cooling (which takes a while even to get to where you might try the fridge), it left a frothy plastic-like scum on the water, and caked on plastic-like residue on the pot....bullets are clean enough, as pouring hot lube on them will finish the job when pan lubing....but, it does work.

I did my very first handloading with a Lee .45ACP Loader...many happy hours at the cobbler's bench, banging away.....