Pure Lead ?'s

[bullseye308]

When melting some sheet lead I got the skittles effect, a beautiful rainbow in the pot. I hear this is normal and proves that it is pure. There is a film that can be skimmed off that takes the color with it, then it reforms later on. Should you leave this film on or keep skimming it off till it is all gone?
I did skim it off but saved it just in case, and made ingots for when I get a mould for my muzzleloader. Which brings me to my second ?. Do muzzleloader bullets get lubed? Nothing I have seen anywhere mentioned it. TIA.

 

[tlen]

Unless you're using a lubbed minnie ball, traditional round ball muzzleloaders use a ball & lubbed patch. Cartridge BP are lubbed.

 

[GP100man]

flux it back in with parriffin wax& pour into ingots as qwikly as possible .
pure oxidizes fast, as soon as the colors start it`s oxidezing.

some take sawdust & sprinkle over the top to put up a carbon barrier from oxygen.

GP100man

 

[bullseye308]

I'm not gonna be using a round ball, they will be Improved Minie or REAL bullets from Lee moulds. I like the Modern Minie but they don't have it in 54. I am casting for a CVA Hawken 54 and also have the barrel for 50 but haven't used it yet.

flux it back in with parriffin wax& pour into ingots as qwikly as possible .

Well crap, guess I'll throw them back in the pot and add back in the skimmings and be quicker this time. Thanks for the info.

 

[rcmodel]

Flux, flux, & more flux. Keep it stirred in with air, and then skim off any dross that floats to the top.

As already noted, the rainbow colors are oxidation taking place.

rcmodel

 

[bonza]

Bullseye308 asked:

Do muzzleloader bullets get lubed?

I lube all my muzzleloading conical bullets with SPG-brand lube, it was designed for use with black powder in both muzzle & breech-loading guns. I used to use a 50/50 mix of beeswax & petroleum jelly with good results, but have since switched to SPG for convenience sake.

 

[spur0701]

I just poured some Lee REALs and improved Mini's, both in .50, after some research I decided to just use lee liquid alox and then dusted them with mica so they weren't so sticky. I've only shot 20 of them so far in two different MLs but no problems so far.

 

[bonza]

Unlike with smokeless firearms, the lube on blackpowder bullets isn't so much to reduce leading as to keep the fouling soft. Smokeless lubes might work ok for very short strings or were you are wiping the bore between shots, but you would be better served by using the BP-specific lubes.

 

[snuffy]

Unlike with smokeless firearms, the lube on blackpowder bullets isn't so much to reduce leading as to keep the fouling soft. Smokeless lubes might work ok for very short strings or were you are wiping the bore between shots, but you would be better served by using the BP-specific lubes.

One thing I would add to that is the lube for real black powder, AND pyrodex, should be natural based lube. By that I mean NOT petroleum based, or oil based. Lanolin, bees wax, any vegetable oil, and maybe others are good for lubing BP projectiles.

The problem with oil based lubes,(and lee liquid alox IS oil based), is they combine with the combustion byproducts of black powder to form a tar like substance. It builds up in layers, destroying accuracy. Then when cleaning, it's darn hard to dissolve. It takes a lot of heat and soap to get it all out. IF you DON'T get it all out of the bore, you will get rust! The best lube I've found is TC bore paste. It's actually vegetable oil and wintergreen oil.

The BP substitutes are mostly still corrosive. Pyrodex is actually MORE corrosive than BP! So they need to be neutralized by removal. Most if not all are are soluble in water. Add soap to that, you'll get the corrosive fouling out of the barrel. Now some like 777 say they're not corrosive. Triple seven doesn't foul badly at all. BUT then you use a corrosive cap or musket cap, you still are dealing with a corrosion problem.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

Lanolin mixed 50-50 w/beeswax (careful melting it down, stir a lot) makes a good BP slug lube. I use this on REAL slugs for my .50 cal and my Lee mold .45's for revolvers.

 

[bullseye308]

I've got a few pounds of beeswax on hand and was thinking about using that to make a lube out of. I just haven't looked into it enough yet and was hoping to "tumble lube" them or pan lube. I am also using Pyrodex and do clean well after, so buildup won't be a problem. More research to do yet.....