Maxi-Ball

[Wolfebyte]

question for the knowledgeable ones..

when I bought my Austin & Halleck, it came with 3 boxes of .50 TC Maxi-Ball bullets (2 - 370 gr) (1 - 320 gr)

it indicates that they are lubricated with Natural Lube 1000+ but.. it appears that Natural Lube does not stand up to air too well and as I opened the box, the yellow rings of lube are somewhat.. well, dry, oxidized and falling away from the bullet.

I've read the threads on the beeswax, the paraffin, the olive oil mixtures but what would work well in a pinch? Just starting the bullet then putting a squirt of bore butter around the grease rings?

I've been shooting the patched ball and with a 50 gr charge I'm very impressed with it.. but time to reach out a bit..

 

[BHP FAN]

up your patched ball load to 60 grains.

 

[dispatch55126]

I just looked at their website and it mentions the barrels have 1 in 28" rifling. If this is the case, you may lose accuracy if you increase the charge though there is only one way to find out...

 

[SHIPCHIEF]

I have the same problem; Old prelubed Maxi-balls that the lube falls off, plus the lead is turning white (oxidizing).
It's just dried out Bore Butter. I was thinking I would wipe off each bullet while wearing some medical gloves to keep the lead absorbtion down, then lube them as you suggested, while loading in the gun.
I use the old Thompson Center Maxi-ball bullet boxes to carry the ones I cast.
Which has been Lee 540-415m hollow based mini's. (see my other thread about 1st range trip, poor result) I also have other molds, so I may use a larger charge or different bullet or round ball, but back to your question, yes.
Just about any lube with vegi or animal oil, and or bees wax is fair game.
Or Crisco.
Just remember to bring a good bore brush and patches with some bore cleaner, and use it every few shots to keep the bore from plating up with cinders. Then accuracy drops off, and you could get a bullet stuck when loading. That's a bummer.

 

[Pulp]

You might look for the T/C Bore Butter lubing tool. I don't know if they still make it or not. I have one, just a little plastic thing that screws over a tube of BB. You put a bullet into the tool, squeeze the BB tube and it squirts lube into the lube grooves.

 

[SHIPCHIEF]

I've wondered about that tool.
Bore Butter is very temperature sensitive. If too cool, you can barely squeeze some out of the tube. Too warm and it runs out.
I squeeze the tube until the bore butter is just a bit 'proud' of the tube, then wipe the bullet thru it with a twist to spread the bore butter around. then as I wipe it on the rest of the way with my fingers, it warms up and wicks into the bullet grooves better, plus makes a mess all over my fingers. :banghead:
Then I load the bullet in the barrel and wipe off my hands on a rag.
What a mess.
I suppose you could try to keep the bore butter 'just warm enough' and use the tool to lube, then push the bullet straight down into the barrel from the luber with a bullet starter...if you have 3 hands???? or a nice rifle stand for loading; kind of like the revolver loading stand idea?