Lubricating Black Powder 45 Colt Reloads

[armoredman]

Now that is exactly what I was looking for when I started this very recently. Thank you, I will use this information!
BTW, if you make your own BP, it's still economical.
Edit to add, looks like Big Lube is out of business, so no more of those molds. Bummer.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

If you make your own Black Powder, and you blow up your house, your insurance will not cover the loss.

In all these years I have never even considered making my own BP.

 

[Roverguy]

Powder, a .455 card, then a little pill of lube under the bullet. All good.

 

[armoredman]

If you make your own Black Powder, and you blow up your house, your insurance will not cover the loss.

In all these years I have never even considered making my own BP.

Yeah, it's not really a huge problem. There's no nitroglycerin involved. Its easy, safe, and cheap.

 

[Outpost75]

I've been reloading 45 Colt with smokeless powder for some time. Very efficient and economical, relatively speaking. I want to try reloading with Black Powder for use in my Uberti SAA. Looking to use about 30-35 grains of GOEX, with the same 250 grain RNFP lead bullet I use with smokeless. I'm getting some non-lubricated .44/.45 felt wads to ensure good compaction. My question is do I need to lube the bullets to minimize fouling in my pistol? And if so, what is the easiest and "cheapest" way to get that done? (Don't want to invest in new equipment if I can avoid it.)

 

[Outpost75]

50-50 olive oil and beeswax us cheap and effective. In hot weather use 40-60.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Yeah, it's not really a huge problem. There's no nitroglycerin involved. Its easy, safe, and cheap.

Correct, there is no Nitro involved. But powder mills have blown up regularly over the years. Goex had a mill blow up not too long ago, and they are the experts. Explosions in powder mills usually happen during the corning process.

 

[hawg]

Explosions in powder mills usually happen during the corning process.

Corning is just pressing damp powder into a puck. I don't see how that makes it vulnerable to explode.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Those explosions happen during the process of grinding the pucks into usable grains of powder. Dust in the air that is highly flammable finds an ignition source, or human error contributes to it.

 

[drobs]

Question - I have some smokeless lubed 45 colt bullets. Would you remove the smokeless lube and then relube with a black powder lube? And how would I go about removing that smokeless lube?

 

[hawg]

Question - I have some smokeless lubed 45 colt bullets. Would you remove the smokeless lube and then relube with a black powder lube? And how would I go about removing that smokeless lube?

Yeah I would unless you're going to use them in a rifle. You may not be able to get enough lube on them for that. Just put them in a pan on the stove and melt it off. It won't take much heat to melt it.

 

[.38 Special]

Question - I have some smokeless lubed 45 colt bullets. Would you remove the smokeless lube and then relube with a black powder lube? And how would I go about removing that smokeless lube?

Depends on the nature of the smokeless lube, in my experience. Softer is better, and if it's one of the very soft smokeless lubes, you're good to go - at least if there's enough of it for your barrel length.

If it's one of the much more common harder lubes (if they're factory bullets, hard lube is just about guaranteed) then you're better off replacing it.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

OK, after corning, the powder is ground

Question - I have some smokeless lubed 45 colt bullets. Would you remove the smokeless lube and then relube with a black powder lube? And how would I go about removing that smokeless lube?

Already answered:

"If pan lubing you can melt the standard lube out of the bullets in a warm oven. Lay the bullets on their sides on a cookie sheet covered with paper towels. Set the heat for the lowest level. After about 20 minutes the lube will be mostly wicked out of the lube grooves, if a little bit is left it does not matter."

Then you can either pan lube, as described above, or you can just smoosh some BP compatible bullet lube into the empty lube groove with your fingers.

There are lots and lots of recipes for BP compatible bullet lube. I used to use a mixture of about 50/50 Beeswax/Crisco. Exact proportions is not important. I used to melt them in a double boiler on the stove top. There are lots and lots of other formulas for BP compatible bullet lube.

 

[whughett]

I've been reloading 45 Colt with smokeless powder for some time. Very efficient and economical, relatively speaking. I want to try reloading with Black Powder for use in my Uberti SAA. Looking to use about 30-35 grains of GOEX, with the same 250 grain RNFP lead bullet I use with smokeless. I'm getting some non-lubricated .44/.45 felt wads to ensure good compaction. My question is do I need to lube the bullets to minimize fouling in my pistol? And if so, what is the easiest and "cheapest" way to get that done? (Don't want to invest in new equipment if I can avoid it.)

I melt equal parts crisco, solid version, and bees wax is a shallow pie pan. The bullets are dipped individually up to the crimp grove in the liquid. A pair of small long nose pliers makes it easier.

If the bullets are room temperature then the hot liquid will solidify thickly on the bullet. The bullets can be warmed before hand or, as I do, set as many bullets as will fit into the pan of hot lube for a few minutes. Then remove and set them on a paper towel on a flat surface.

For a few bucks more you can buy SPG by the 1/2 pound stick on Amazon. SPG is a better lube than the Crisco/beeswax.
For small batches an empty tuna or cat food can makes a handy melting pot and plastic covers are available that snap onto these for safe storage of unused lube.

I use a small electric hot plate for these chores.

 

[armoredman]

I pan lubed a few last night with SPG, and loaded them up with some home made 2F, using the "scratch mark" method of load to crunch. 200gr Lee cast with nice big lube groove - now they sit waiting for the next time I get out on the line and we'll see how they do.

 

[Smokin Gator]

I use a homemade ruler like Driftwood except I use a large diameter pencil. Sanded down the black covering until it's bare wood and marked it.

 

[Smokin Gator]

Also as Driftwood pointed out with 44-40 or45 Colt and using no filler you don't get a lot of loaded ammo per pound of powder. But compared to buying ammo with the correct bullets, lube, loaded with real black powder it's still much cheaper. IF you can even find the ammo in the first place.

 

[hawg]

I use a homemade ruler like Driftwood except I use a large diameter pencil. Sanded down the black covering until it's bare wood and marked it.

A lot more than I get using 90 grains in a muzzleloader. Fillers suck.

 

[armoredman]

Now I did one thing that might not be right. I didn't get complete coverage of the lube groove pan lubing and using the home made cookie cutter, so I just smooshed some left over lube fragments in the groove, smoother it all over and then put them through the push through sizer. It seemed to work OK. Not going to spend the coin on a lubrisizer when I would only use it for this once in a while.

 

[Dave T]

This isn't meant to give anyone a hard time but I have to ask. Why go to all the trouble of loading black powder in your 45 Colt cases, lube your bullets with the correct BP lubricant, and then use a totally in-appropriate and non-traditional bullet weight and configuration?

The standard bullet weight for the 45 Colt for many years, going back to 1873, was either 250g or 255g RNFP. Yes there were light gallery loads (often just a round ball pushed down in a case) and the military wimped out with the 45 S&W's 230g bullet. But if you walked into the local mercantile and asked for a box of "45 Colt's" you would either get 250g bullets from UMC (and later REM-UMC) or 255g bullets from Winchester.

Dave

PS: Firing a fully loaded (35-36g of FFFg - to make up for the reduced internal case capacity of modern brass) behind a soft cast 255g RNFP is an experience to be remembered. Hitting a steel gong 10 or 15 yards out with this load from a 7-1/2" single action revolver will put a smile on your face that will be there for some time.

 

[dickydalton]

I still have a couple boxes of loaded Goex Black Dawg Black Powder 235 grain here I need to shoot sometime.

 

[woodnbow]

This isn't meant to give anyone a hard time but I have to ask. Why go to all the trouble of loading black powder in your 45 Colt cases, lube your bullets with the correct BP lubricant, and then use a totally in-appropriate and non-traditional bullet weight and configuration?

The standard bullet weight for the 45 Colt for many years, going back to 1873, was either 250g or 255g RNFP. Yes there were light gallery loads (often just a round ball pushed down in a case) and the military wimped out with the 45 S&W's 230g bullet. But if you walked into the local mercantile and asked for a box of "45 Colt's" you would either get 250g bullets from UMC (and later REM-UMC) or 255g bullets from Winchester.

Dave

PS: Firing a fully loaded (35-36g of FFFg - to make up for the reduced internal case capacity of modern brass) behind a soft cast 255g RNFP is an experience to be remembered. Hitting a steel gong 10 or 15 yards out with this load from a 7-1/2" single action revolver will put a smile on your face that will be there for some time.

Such a load twisted the larger disc on one of my spinner targets. There’s pretty significant power in that load.

 

[armoredman]

This isn't meant to give anyone a hard time but I have to ask. Why go to all the trouble of loading black powder in your 45 Colt cases, lube your bullets with the correct BP lubricant, and then use a totally in-appropriate and non-traditional bullet weight and configuration?

The standard bullet weight for the 45 Colt for many years, going back to 1873, was either 250g or 255g RNFP. Yes there were light gallery loads (often just a round ball pushed down in a case) and the military wimped out with the 45 S&W's 230g bullet. But if you walked into the local mercantile and asked for a box of "45 Colt's" you would either get 250g bullets from UMC (and later REM-UMC) or 255g bullets from Winchester.

Dave

PS: Firing a fully loaded (35-36g of FFFg - to make up for the reduced internal case capacity of modern brass) behind a soft cast 255g RNFP is an experience to be remembered. Hitting a steel gong 10 or 15 yards out with this load from a 7-1/2" single action revolver will put a smile on your face that will be there for some time.

Because I want to.