Lube or not .518 Eras Gone

[jrelouhess]

Good day all,
I have both original 2nd model Maynard and a original Smith carbine. I have noticed some lube their bullets, some do not. I also use 3fff, 21g for the Maynard, 26g for the Smith. Any suggestions on load and lube or not to lube bullets.
Thanks in advance

[Hal]

My original Smith likes 30 grains of 1.5F Swiss, 0.5cc of Cream of Wheat, and a .318 Lee bullet lubed with 50/50 beeswax and olive oil. Not sure why you wouldn't want to use lube. In my experience, it softens the fouling and makes it very easy to clean afterward. I see folks literally forcing brushes down their bores trying to remove fouling and can't help but think Goex and Lee Liquid Alox. All while I use nothing more than a jag and relatively few patches. Whatever works.......

[jrelouhess]

My original Smith likes 30 grains of 1.5F Swiss, 0.5cc of Cream of Wheat, and a .318 Lee bullet lubed with 50/50 beeswax and olive oil. Not sure why you wouldn't want to use lube. In my experience, it softens the fouling and makes it very easy to clean afterward. I see folks literally forcing brushes down their bores trying to remove fouling and can't help but think Goex and Lee Liquid Alox. All while I use nothing more than a jag and relatively few patches. Whatever works.......

Thanks. Appriciate the info

[bobanderson]

Good day all,
I have both original 2nd model Maynard and a original Smith carbine. I have noticed some lube their bullets, some do not. I also use 3fff, 21g for the Maynard, 26g for the Smith. Any suggestions on load and lube or not to lube bullets.
Thanks in advance

The purpose of lube in a black powder firearm is to coat the barrel and mingle with the fouling to keep it soft enough that it doesn't affect the next shot. If you shoot unlubed bullets and do not wipe/clean or brush, the barrel will become filled with a hard coke like fouling that will really mess with your accuracy.
For this reason, lube should contain enough moisture to get to the end of the barrel when in use. A good test to see if your lube is doing it's job is to wipe your thumb over the crown of the barrel and see if there is a quantity of SOFT grease remaining. Very often there will be straight lines of grease radiating out from the rifling grooves of the barrel. The shorter the barrel, the more grease will be present. The ability to carry lube to the muzzle is also affected by the width and depth of the grease grooves on the bullet. The Lyman 575602 Minie that I recently posted for sale has very shallow grooves. Most of the traditional lubes won't make it all the way down in a 3 band musket, causing hard fouling and reduced accuracy in long shot strings.

The only black powder gun I don't use lube with is my smoothbore, but that is another kettle of fish.

[jrelouhess]

Thanks to all for response to my questions
Jamie

[threepdr]

Jerlous,

I always lube my Eras Gone Smith bullets. I use a US Ordnance of 8 parts beeswax and 1 part Tallow. They shoot great for me.

[ms3635v]

I shoot booth an original Smith and an original Maynard and I always lube the bullets.

[Southron Sr.]

Shooting a rifled black powder arm without lubing the bullets is the same as driving your car without any oil in the engine.

Avoid like the plague using paraffin in your lube mixture as paraffin and black powder fouling interact to form a fouling, which looks like to me, like something resembling a low grade asphalt. Use real beeswax instead-available at your local Michael's hobby shop.

[Hal]

Or apiary, for a WHOLE lot less.

[Southron Sr.]

Dear Hal:

The Michael's Beeswax is imported from FRANCE, so it is the "Champagne of Beeswax," being made by French Bees. One must keep up appearances!

All My Best

Southron

[bobanderson]

Use real beeswax instead-available at your local Michael's hobby shop.

I've found that my scores improved when I started using beeswax right from the hive. The stuff that still has small pieces of bees. Maybe wing parts makes the bullets fly better?