Lubing and sizing. Or sizing and lubing?

[Tonibaruch]

At this moment my process is: lubing the raw bullet, which makes for a smoother pushing through the Pedersoli hand sizer I have and make a good batch of bullets to set aside.

Before I shoot them the soft grease on the bullet (pedersoli grease, supposedly animal grease of some kind) will dry out enough to let me feel unconfortable, so I relube my bullets just before load them with the Pedersoli hand lubricator, which I have to bring with me at the range.

I am not sure I am doing right. What do you do with your minies/conicals?

 

[Blizzard of '93]

the conicals I cast for my revolvers I just lube as best I can to fill the grooves. the chamber shaves them to size when loading.

 

[Tonibaruch]

the conicals I cast for my revolvers I just lube as best I can to fill the grooves. the chamber shaves them to size when loading.

Have you ever noticed any difference in results with presized bullets?

 

[jdstrang]

Just as there are many formulae for lube, there are many approaches as to when and where to apply it.

In the N-SSA, standard practice for revolvers is to load the cylinders, THEN apply the lube (lithium grease, bore butter, whatever) with a fingertip or popsicle-stick spatula so it is flush with the cylinder face, effectively sealing off the chambers from any possibility of spark ignition chain fire. (Capping, of course, is the absolute last step before firing!)

Musket rounds, however, are lubed in various ways. Some shooters use lubrasizers, which size and lube in one stroke of the lever. Personally, I don't like this approach because it leaves the whole bullet with enough lube to make powder stick to it. And you neither need nor want powder covering your ogive.

Instead, I and many other shooters assemble our loads in the caplug cartridges we use, then as a last step we dip the exposed base of the bullet in melted or soft lube. That keeps the ogive lube-free and leaves all the measured powder loose to go down the bore.

There is a Youtube video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpI0zcaEjA
which shows a fellow loading a musket with the above-described caplug cartridge. If you plan to shoot more than a few minies, I know of no more practical loading arrangement. The caplugs, either soft vinyl or harder plastic, are available for about $10 per 100 from any number of sutlers, a list of which is available at: http://www.n-ssa.org/links.html

Hope this helps.

 

[paulvallandigham]

When I was sizing cast bullets, I had a rag handy as each bullet came out of the lubrisizer, so that I could wipe excess lube off the OGIVE, and off the bottom of the bullet. before placing it in a box for storage, and later use. Only in really hot summers did I have to change the formula of the lube to keep it from melting. ( use more wax than oil)

 

[Tonibaruch]

Instead, I and many other shooters assemble our loads in the caplug cartridges we use, then as a last step we dip the exposed base of the bullet in melted or soft lube. That keeps the ogive lube-free and leaves all the measured powder loose to go down the bore.

There is a Youtube video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpI0zcaEjA
which shows a fellow loading a musket with the above-described caplug cartridge. If you plan to shoot more than a few minies, I know of no more practical loading arrangement. The caplugs, either soft vinyl or harder plastic, are available for about $10 per 100 from any number of sutlers, a list of which is available at: http://www.n-ssa.org/links.html

Hope this helps.

Are those caplugs the same thing sometimes named as "speedloaders"?

Tb

 

[Tonibaruch]

When I was sizing cast bullets, I had a rag handy as each bullet came out of the lubrisizer, so that I could wipe excess lube off the OGIVE, and off the bottom of the bullet. before placing it in a box for storage, and later use. Only in really hot summers did I have to change the formula of the lube to keep it from melting. ( use more wax than oil)

I'd like to put the lubed bullet aside for later use but when I came back to bullets my impression was that the once creamy lubricant was now a kind of dried whitish wax and much reduced in quantity.

 

[jdstrang]

No, the caplugs are not speedloaders.

As I understand them, speedloaders are designed to have the ramrod pass through them while they are held in place over the muzzle. N-SSA rules disallow any loading device that requires the ramrod to pass through it. The reason is to keep fingers and other things away from the charged muzzle as much as possible in case of the rare, but occasional, cook-off.

With caplugs, one pulls the minie either with their teeth (the way I do it), or with the fingers of the off hand. Then one pours the powder down the muzzle, drops (or pockets) the caplug, places the minie in the muzzle and drives it home.

The fellow who demonstrates its use in the video is one of the fastest (and best) shooters in the organization, a member of the multi-national-champion Union Guards. He's flat good.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I began using the Lyman black lube, then graduated to Alox, and now have some of the SPG lube. I don't have the smearing problems in my lubrisizer, and its doesn't dry out over time.

 

[Tonibaruch]

No, the caplugs are not speedloaders.

As I understand them, speedloaders are designed to have the ramrod pass through them while they are held in place over the muzzle. N-SSA rules disallow any loading device that requires the ramrod to pass through it. The reason is to keep fingers and other things away from the charged muzzle as much as possible in case of the rare, but occasional, cook-off.

With caplugs, one pulls the minie either with their teeth (the way I do it), or with the fingers of the off hand. Then one pours the powder down the muzzle, drops (or pockets) the caplug, places the minie in the muzzle and drives it home.

The fellow who demonstrates its use in the video is one of the fastest (and best) shooters in the organization, a member of the multi-national-champion Union Guards. He's flat good.

So, it is something like the paper cartridge was?
Couldn't you post me a link? I tried to search "caplug" at TOW, but didn't find the thing.

Tb

 

[jdstrang]

Here's a link to the Winchester Sutler's explanatory page. They call them QuickCharge Tubes:
http://cwsutler.hypermart.net/ShotLoad.html#QCTube

The ones shown here are the soft vinyl type, with rounded bases. The other major type are harder plastic with flat bases, and look a lot like a big plastic rimmed cartridge case. Both styles are widely used throughout the N-SSA.

"Caplugs" actually is a trade name for vinyl and plastic protective closures used to cover threaded pipes, etc. The company site is here: http://www.caplugs.com/
Years ago, some skirmishers discovered that certain of these devices, like those in the Winchester Sutler illustration, would work most excellently for loading musket rounds. They have become so common in skirmishing, and are so relatively cheap, that few Websites bother to show them.

They are the re-usable descendants of both the original, single-use paper cartridges, and the later re-usable, but relatively frail, cardboard skirmish tubes. They clean up in the washing machine (use a nylon mesh bag) and can be re-used hundreds of times.

 

[jdstrang]

And I just found loading tubes at Dixie, too:
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=7714

:thumbsup:

 

[Tonibaruch]

And I just found loading tubes at Dixie, too:
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=7714

:thumbsup:

Great, thanks.
Probably 45 grains are a bit on the low side to push some heavy conicals in 45 caliber.

Probably the hunting tubes are a better allpourpose choice.

Nice stuff, though. I didn't realize they were existing. Probably, for maximum convenience I should trash the long brass funnel and start to pour powder directly in the muzzle, which I never did.

Tb

 

[paulvallandigham]

Don't Trash anything/ The loading tubes are commonly used with target rifles. They allow the 3Fg, commonly loaded, to compact just from the force of gravity. The compaction is consistent from load to load using a loading tube, and you get a smaller Standard Deviation in Velocity(SDV) using it. Gravity actually compacts the powder better than using weight or " muscle " to try to compact the powder after its been dropped into the barrel.

The plastic tubes simply allow you to pre-measure your powder charges, and put a lubed, sized, bullet in the tube to carry to the range, or field, keeping all the components for a single round clean, and together, so you don't forget anything. They allow for a faster reload for some people. As you gain in experience, loading and cleaning your gun during matches, you find you can load your gun accurately without the gizmos. I still like them for use in the field when hunting, because the weather changes so quickly and often. You don't worry about powder getting wet, or losing components in the bottom of your hunting pouch if you carry each load in its own plastic( or wood, or bamboo( grass), or metal) tube.

I used tubes to carry loads on my first Wild Boar Hunt, where we suffered fog, drizzle, mist, rain, heat sucking up the moisture from around us, and back and forth all day long, in Eastern Tennessee over a Labor Day weekend. Even my pipe tobacco burned wetter that weekend than I had ever experienced before. The tubes kept my powder dry.