Minie Ball Lube

[ZUG]

It has been a while since I shot my 1863 Remington repoduction and I gathered together my "stuff" for the outing. I noticed that the Minies that I lubed with beeswax & lard (Mantica) a long while back was hard and brittle. I removed all the old lube and want to make up some new lube. For those of you that shoot minies what do you lube your's with and how long does the lube stay soft without getting hard & useless. I will be "pan lubing" about 100 of the Minies which were cast from a Lyman mold -bullet #575213 which weighs in at 506 gr. and will be using 63 gr of 2F Goex powder. Thanks in advance :v .

 

[Jim C]

Lyman Black Powder Gold lube is some really good stuff for that, unless you are more interested in making your own. Beeswax concoctions make good lube if you intend to shoot the bullets pretty soon, but if allowed to age will usually end up hard and brittle.

 

[nkbj]

Lanolin-Olive Oil-Beeswax won't get dried out.
I try to use it for all the applications, patch lube and lubed bullets that I can. When it doesn't work there's always a gazillion other things to try.

 

[nkbj]

Is that the 213 old style or maybe the one with the shorty hollow cavity?

 

[azmntman]

I have always just put a tad bit of patch lube on the hard stuff just so it will load easier. I dont think it being hard matters as at ignition it aint hard no mo

 

[ZUG]

Is that the 213 old style or maybe the one with the shorty hollow cavity?

The ones I am re-doing are the "old style" which I bought from a friend about 15 years ago. The Lyman mold I bought 5 years ago are the new style but I have a lathe and made an "old style" plug for the new mold.

 

[ZUG]

Here is what I have done so far;
I re-melted all my old lube which was 60/40 beeswax to lard (about 3-1/2 lbs). I added 2 tablespoons of pure lanolin and 2-1/2 oz of Bert's Bees Hand Salve which I had laying around -- this is what I came up with ---




I will tie off the bullet and then add the powder next. Thanks for all your suggestions. I don't shoot this gun often but I do like the way it "kills" water jugs :grin: .

 

[Pmringer]

I've found my best results come from putting a thin coat of bore butter over the skirt rings. The reduction in fouling after multiple shots was surprising as well.

 

[pargent]

YOU CAN GET GOOD RESULTS FROM A MIX OF BEEF AND PIG FAT , SO I HAVE HEARD :wink:

 

[Heelerau]

Mate I have used and currently used for years, 5 parts by volume beeswax to 1 part by volume of unsalted lard. I use this on my Enfield paper cartridges, .451 Parker Hale Volunteer, and all my Enfield rifle muskets. Admittedly here in Western Australia we do not have the bitter northern winters, but hot as hades Summers !
When I dip them I poke them through a simple brass lube size die to get rid of the excess. Any really dried old minnies I just throw back into the lead pot.

 

[ZUG]

Thanks for you reply - good info. I don't shoot this gun much but I do like shooting it :grin: . I had these Minies hanging around for some time which I had pan lubed with 60/40 beeswax/Mantica lard (unsalted). The lube got hard and brittle so I used a very stiff brush and brushed the old lube off and re-lubed only 100 so they will not be sitting around like the last batch. It was easer for me to clean the lube off then to go through the exercise of recasting/sizing/lubing :hatsoff: .

 

[azmntman]

Faster yet, just smear a tad of fresh lube over the dried lube. load n shoot. They dont know they're dry when the powder goes off!

 

[Billnpatti]

I don't shoot Minie Balls but I have used Lee Liquid Alox http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/bullet-lube/ on both conical bullets in my cap and ball revolvers and on Maxi Balls in my rifles and it works pretty well. It works very well on the bullets for my centerfire pistols and rifles as well as my black powder cartridge rifle. It is very easily applied and after it dries, it is not at all messy. To see the dried coating on the bullets, you would not think would work but it seems to work very well.

 

[ZUG]

Thanks all -- I have used the Lee Alox on my centerfire stuff but prefer my Star sizer/luber combo for centerfire stuff :grin: .