How to lube wadcutter with BP ?

[Mataham]

Hi everyone,

I would like to use .357 hollow base wadcutters with a 38 LC (.375) in order to get some expansion a fill the grooves.
I have everything I need, except for one thing: what kind of lube can I use and where will I put it?

I have tumble lube, but not for BP. I also have my homemade BP lube, but not for tumbling nor dipping. How do you manage to avoid hard foulings in these case? What are your methods and lubing recipes?

Thanks for attention.

 

[arcticap]

SPG Lube is sold in 1/2 lb. bricks and can be melted in a double boiler for dipping bullets.
There's instructions on the product page. --->>> https://blackpowderspg.com/spglube.html

"SPG Lube has been used by more Black Powder Champion Shooters than any other bullet lubricant.
Insist On Genuine SPG All-Purpose Bullet Lube! Smokeless or Blackpowder "

 

[Mataham]

Thanks for the tip.

I've read a lot about this lube, but it's not easy to find around here. That's why some recipe with wax, jelly, copha, lanolin and so on would allow me to make some tests with the rest before "trying the best".

 

[J-Bar]

Do your wadcutters have lube and/or crimp grooves, or are they the “grooveless” type that are designed to seat all these way down into the case? A photo of one will help. I suspect that filling the hollow base of the bullet would work just dandy, but of course you would want to confirm that with your own experiments.

I dip conventional bullets with lube and crimp grooves into a 50/50 beeswax/ Crisco mix for black powder cartridges. I leave the bottom of the bullet covered with lube which is in contact with the powder. It acts like the lube “cookie” that some folks place between the powder and bullet. I store the cartridges inside my house until going to a match and have had no problem with lube compromising powder, even when the outside temperature approaches 100 degrees at the range.

125 grain home cast Lee RNFP dipped with beeswax/crisco:

 

[ThomasT]

If you are using a HB WC bullet why don't you just put some lube in the hollow base of the bullet? Its what I do when shooting Minnie bullets in my rifles and it works fine.

 

[Mataham]

Thanks for the answers.

Do your wadcutters have lube and/or crimp grooves, or are they the “grooveless” type that are designed to seat all these way down into the case?

They don't have any crimp:

.

 

[Rebel Dave]

Lubing the hollow base will work just fine. I do that to all my.58, and .69 minnies. Been doing it for 45+ years.
Lots of guys in the N-SSA do it also. Try it you might like it.

Dave

 

[ThomasT]

Not that I would recommend trying it but saw a drawing of an early pistol bullet that had 3-4 tiny holes drilled in the sides and into the hollow base and the hollow base was filled with lube. On firing the pressure would squirt the lube out of the side of the bullet so it was lubed all the way down the bore.

Like I said, I wouldn't recommend trying it. Not more than a couple of times anyway.

 

[Thomasss]

Either slop some on the sides and put some in the hollow base when loading. You don't need a lot of what ever you use. Hodgden's Bore Butter works very good too.

 

[arcticap]

1. If putting lube in the hollow base then why not add a layer of wax paper underneath the base as insurance.
Ammo stored in cars can get really hot, and who knows how long the rounds will be stored for.

2. I wonder if knurling the bullets with a rasp or file would allow the roughed surface to hold enough lube.
Buffalo Bullets added knurling and lube to the sides of their Ball-et pistol bullets.
But perhaps knurling could make the bullets more difficult to load due to increasing their diameter.
They could still be resized but it sounds like a lot of extra work.

3. A small amount of lube can be placed over the bullets after they're loaded into the chambers just like with a C&B cylinder.
Because the smaller bullets are seated deep inside the cartridge case, there should be plenty of room for lube at the front of the chamber.
Perhaps only every other chamber would need to be lubed since the smaller .38 powder charges may not produce very much residue with those bullets.
And only a tiny amount of lube may be needed.
IMO this allows more options for using different types of lubes.
A small bead of Vaseline, Gojo or virtually anything else squeezed into some chambers may be effective enough if given a try.

4. The tip of the loaded cartridges could be dipped in lube but who knows how much lube would stick to the top of the bullet, and whether that would be enough?
Plus if the lube could get melted off, then you'd need to go back to option #3 and apply new lube manually to the chambers.

 

[whughett]

Cap&Ball in one vlog just added a smear of lube over the chamber mouth after loading the rounds. I use the tumble lube on all bullets but will also use a small oiler to place a drop of Ballistol on the bullet nose after loading.

 

[misskitty2]

can u use alox as a lube in pan lubing

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

can u use alox as a lube in pan lubing

Yes