lubing minies

[chris kilmer]

I was wondering what the easiest way to lube minies was without a sizer. Also, I have a lee reloading press and was wondering if I could get a sizing die for it to use and where I could get one. Thanks for any help, Chris

[gmkmd]

Hi Chris,
Well, it depends what type of lubing you want to use. Some guys lube the grooves of their Minies, some guys put lube in the hollow base of them, some guys do both. And you can bet that there will be good scoring shooters who swear that one of these techniques is the only way to go and the other ways will never work.
Having said that...
Base lubing: the simplest technique is to fill the base of the Minie with Crisco. It keeps your fouling soft; you can shoot dozens of shots without any appreciable loss of accuracy nor difficulty loading. Some guys will fill the hollow with another of the many available lubes.
Groove lubing: the simplest way is simply dipping the bullet into melted lube. One of the sutlers, John at North East Trading, sells a device for dipping that also allows melted lube to splash up into the hollow base of the bullet (coating, but not filling it).
Lubri-sizing: If you are going to size your bullets, and lube them, the most efficient way is to use a lubri-sizer. This device simultaneously sizes and lubricates the bullets. You can get sizing dies up to I think 0.585.
Sizing equipment: If you want to size without lubing, or if you are sizing larger bullets (like .69 caliber or larger), you can get dies that screw into a reloading press. These are also made by North East Trading. Other sutlers sell simple push-through dies, with which you simply knock the bullet through with a dowel or the like. Rapine made similar dies and a device they mounted into to push the bullets through.
THE BOTTOM LINE: It sounds like you are looking to use your reloading press, so call John at North East Trading (570-546-2061) and order the size you need (and the pusher which fits into the shell holder). Dip lube your bullets before you size them (they'll size more easily and distort less). You can just melt the lube in an empty tuna can on a hotplate or fondue heater or whatever. I actually have an old paraffin heater from a pathology lab with a tray that lets me dip 25 of my .69 caliber semi-wadcutters at a time. But if you're doing .58 caliber or smaller you might want to invest in a lubrisizer, because it's so much more efficient doing it in one step instead of two. Keep your eyes peeled at the guns shows for a used lubrisizer. I've got three set up, so I don't have to change the dies between doing my carbine bullets and my musket bullets and others, and I don't think I paid more than $20 for each one of them.
Good luck, and good shooting!

[Muley Gil]

I use a push through sizing die first, then place my Minies in an old fry basket and dip them in melted lube.

[marv762]

the easy way is to go with the luber from North East Trader. I have been using one for about 8 years. It also works up to a 69 cal minnie. To size I use a push through sizer with a dowel. Marv

[Lou Lou Lou]

If you size the minies first or don't siza at all, the cleanest way to lube is to assemble the round with the minie', nose first into the tube and then use the tube as a handle to dip the minies.

[Mike McDaniel]

I lube the grooves. Just get an empty cap tin, put your lube in it. Melt it on your stove. Dip the bullet bases using pliers to hold the bullet by the nose. Works fine.

[dstrong]

As with discussions of lube recipes, techniques for lubing bullets always vary. One way that has not been mentioned yet is actually placing the minnies in shallow cake pan, pour melted lube into the pan and allow it to cool until somewhat solid then pull the bullets out from the lube. It leaves lube in the groves and not on the perimeter of the skirt where the dipping method does. I have used the dip method for years and transitioned over the pan method recently. No better or worse than other methods but works all the same. I size my bullets after lubing, with takes any excess off the outside. Anyway just another list in the helpful suggestion department.

[Scott Kurki, 12475]

If you size the minies first or don't siza at all, the cleanest way to lube is to assemble the round with the minie', nose first into the tube and then use the tube as a handle to dip the minies.

Plus one for this solution.

I might add also that I need all the lube I can get for my particular gun, bullet, lube combination. I was having to brush between events with less lube. I am using MCM lube.

[chris kilmer]

Thanks a lot to everyone for the great info, Chris

[Maillemaker]

I use a Lyman Lubrisizer, with dies purchased from S&S firearms. It sizes and lubes simultaneously.

I have also lubed the hollow of the bullet. I have heard some say that you can get inconsistent amounts of lube that stay in the bullet, giving inconsistent bullet masses going to target, which can affect accuracy.

I don't have an accurate enough gun to say whether this is so yet or not. But I like lubing the bullet hollow because it makes the outside of the bullet less greasy and messy to handle when loading.


Steve

[Greg Ogdan 110th OVI]

I don't beleive the differing mass thing. Several springs ago,I won the 50yd Musket match shooting a tuned Euroarms Zouave and Rapine trashcans straight out of the mould, dipped in MCM and cavity filled with melted Crisco. It was one of those days when the gun just hung there and as an unclassified shooter, I shot 96XX. Yes, I'm bragging, but that's because I'll probably never shoot that score again!

[ms3635v]

For many years I put crisco in the base of my minies. About 5 or 6 years ago I started usin SPG lube and stopped lubinght bases and noticed no change in accuracy or how often the barrel needed to be swabbed.

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

Back in the 80's, I lubed the sides and bases with Crisco. I now only lube the sides, with a mix of bees wax and bear grease. I've tried MCM, SPG and other lubes, but like bear grease the best. Bear grease is slicker than snot on a door knob. If you touch it, you can feel it slippery on your fingertips hours later.

Over the years I've kicked up quite a few spent minies downrange that still have lube in the base with what I think is a lot of unburned powder squished into the lube. I suppose everything matters, but how much it matters is the real question. I suspect it doesn't matter all that much, but it doesn't make sense to me to spend extra time and effort weighing bullets and powder charges, then dampening some of the powder charge to the point that it won't ignite with lube.

[Yancey von Yeast, 8073]

I really think it all depends. I have noticed that with my sharps rifle, bullets in Hahn tubes and dipping the entire bullet in lube causes inconsistent accuracy. I have to lube the rings on the bullet only. On smoothbores, I used to dip the balls in a hard mix of beeswax and peanut oil. Invariably some of the lube solidified on one side of the ball. This caused severe inconsistency. I changed to rolling the balls on top of a container of lube and they shoot great.

With minies, some of my rifles do fine with dip lubing in a Northeast type sizer. Others really like a cleanly lubed bullet as they come out of the lubrisizer. I have not figured out why this is. I have done tons of bench testing changing nothing but the lube or the type of lubing and have found groups opening or wandering due to different lubes and methods of application. I think that it is impossible to open the lube debate and maintain that this or that type of lube is bar none, the best.

[Southron Sr.]

My experience was that between the early 1970's and 80's I used Crisco as part of my lube formula. During that time, I usually had between one and three "Cook-Offs" per year.

I lived and shot in the Deep South Region and noticed that generally I experienced Cook-Off when:

1. I had fired 10 or more rounds "Rapid Fire."

2. It was a Hot, Humid day in the Summer time.

In the later 80's I QUIT using Crisco in my lube formula (which had been a mixture of beeswax and Crisco.) I have not experienced a Cook-Off since I quit using Crisco.

[Ken Hansgen, 11094]

I learned to fill the bases of minies with Crisco when I began skirmishing on the Left Coast. It worked very well, 'tho I was convinced you really were pre-lubing the bore for the next round. Even shot once or twice in the Southern California Desert. It gets VERY hot there (had to keep unfired lubed rounds in a cooler 'til going to the line), but of course no humidity. I did bring this habit briefly to some N-SSA skirmishes in Alabama. Never had a cookoff (knock on wood). Perhaps I loaded too slow, wondering where that last round went!

Now I use a Lyman Lubrisizer--it has the additional advantage of giving you some leverage for sizing, and it lubes only the grooves. Good for Minies and breechloader rounds too. (Good idea, Glenn, using more than one Lubrisizer--hadn't thought of that!) Used some commercial Blackpowder Gold lube initially, Now I'm using some pre-made lube I bought from Rob Lewis at Tri-L Machine--it is based on synthetic oil, as I recall.