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Thread: Lubricatiing Wilkinson bullets?

  1. #11
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    Sizing them in a lube sizer base down pushing from the nose deforms them and starts compressing the 'wedge' resulting in a poor shooting bullet.
    This is a good point. I size mine with a luberisizer and if the bullet is even the slightest offset from the sizing die it will scrape or even bend that side of the flange. I tend to pre-drop the plunger so that the base of the bullet kind of self-centers in the sizing die before plunging it down.

    I think a nose-first sizer would be better, but I don't have one in .576 (what I shoot).

    Steve
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  2. #12
    Don Dixon is offline
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    To repeat. Don't use a lubrisizer on "Wilkinson" bullets. It pre-compresses the bullets and defeats Ritter von Lorenz's design, purely aside from the fact that it puts grease in the compression groove(s) where you really don't want it and which further compromises compression.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by fullertc View Post
    I plugged in "Lubricating Wilkinson bullets" in the Search field but only found a discussion on quality of Union and Confederate gun powder. I see Don Dixon had an article on it but could not locate. Thank you.
    I believe the original title was, "Treading the Winding Road to Insanity: Shooting the Wilkinson Bullet." It came out about the same time as its companion article, "Treading the Winding Road to Insanity [Part 2]; Shooting the Percussion Sharps Carbine." One of the better known quotes as to the latter from posterity was by one Rufus Griswold, describing long time Sharps shooters who "walked the streets, in madness or melancholy, with lips moving in indistinct curses."
    Last edited by Eggman; 09-19-2021 at 10:07 AM.

  4. #14
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    To repeat. Don't use a lubrisizer on "Wilkinson" bullets. It pre-compresses the bullets and defeats Ritter von Lorenz's design, purely aside from the fact that it puts grease in the compression groove(s) where you really don't want it and which further compromises compression.
    I don't use mine for lubing, just sizing.

    I'm not sure how you can avoid compressing the bullet somewhat when you drive it through a sizing die either nose-first or tail first. Though I could see that driving it nose-first would require less force. I agree a nose-first sizer is the way to go.

    Steve
    Steve Sheldon
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  5. #15
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    I know there have been numerous sizing discussions on this forum. Whether one compensates with variations in lubrication, or sublimates with sizing projections, it is a difficult issue to get a grip on. Often group discussions a beneficial.

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