Lube Question on Hornady Great Plains

I bought a couple of boxes of Hornady Great Plains 425 gr in 54 cal last year. Due to some knee problems, I haven't had a chance to use them and when I looked at them recently I see that they are no longer "gooey" but the lube has dried. Is this a problem? Do I need to add some fresh lube to these prior to loading? Have only shot round, patched ball in the past in my 50 cal, so this is something new now that I have a 54 cal.
Thanks!

maybee put a small dab of lube on the bottom to keep fouling down

I had the same problem when I was shooting those, they wouldn't keep lubed from season to season. I just knocked off what I could and used the yellow stuff to replace it. It seems any bore grease would work, except petroleum.

If you put the bullets in a pot of water on the stove at a low heat the lube will melt and float to the surface. You can then pan lube the bullets. I think they will probably be alright as the are though. If you use a greased wad under them it may help.

i had the same problem with some Buffalo bullets i purchased, looked like they had psoriasis :grin: In the original manual for my cva hawken kit it says Crisco is a good lube although ive never tried straight Crisco. ive also heard Alox from Lyman was an excellent choice for conicals. i made my own conical lube from bees wax, murphy's oil soap, lard, and a blue Crayola crayon (for color & lubricity) seems to work pretty good. just a word of advice, if you have deep rifling (i.e. like a GPR) be sure to use a wad between the powder & bullet, otherwise you might end up with a bit of a leading problem and poor accuracy. good luck :thumbsup:

It's a dry lube and an excessive amount has been put on the bullets at the factory to allow for some loss, you don't need to add any more so don't worry about them.

Thanks for the reply everyone. The rifle I'm using is a GPR with the Hunter barrel, 54 caliber. A couple of folks said that I should use a wad between the powder and bullet...this is the first I have heard of that. Is this really the best thing to do? Do you simply seat the wad on top of the powder before you load the bullet? What type of wad (I assume this is different from the patches I use with my regular GPR)?

I bought a couple hundred Hornady Plains Bullets real cheap on Ebay years ago. They were all dry and crusty looking. I heated a batch of my olive oil/beeswax lube on the stove and put the bullets in. The old lube melted off the bullets. Then I just set them on waxed paper to drain and cool. They've worked fine with just a thin film of lube on them. I swab between each shot so fouling isn't a problem.

HD

jkeith said:

Thanks for the reply everyone. The rifle I'm using is a GPR with the Hunter barrel, 54 caliber. A couple of folks said that I should use a wad between the powder and bullet...this is the first I have heard of that. Is this really the best thing to do? Do you simply seat the wad on top of the powder before you load the bullet? What type of wad (I assume this is different from the patches I use with my regular GPR)?

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Sometimes the addition of a caliber sized wad, lubed or not can tighten up the groups when shooting any type of conical but it's not absolutely neccessary. These are different than your patching material in that they are not woven cloth but a fiber wad that is about 1/4 inch thick and the same caliber as your rifle. They can be pre-lubed or dry, and they are differing opinions as to which is better. After you pour your powder, then just press the wad into the muzzle and load the conical. This has the effect of giving a better gas seal and enabling the bullet to better engage the rifling thus increasing accuracy, or at least that is how it's been explained to me. At least in my rifle the groups tighten up a little bit, yours may be different.

Thanks for the info!

A noted barrel maker (Ed Rayl) some years ago reccomended using a wool felt wad under a Lyman plains bullet in a custom .54 Hawken that would not shoot well for the original owner. The end result was a really accurate rifle that shoots conicals all day long without wiping.We have tried the same combo in 4 or 5 other fast twist rifles always with great results. The wool felt wad is essential to good accuracy.