NRA 50/50 Lube vs Black Powder Boolits?

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Foto Joe

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Given the fact that I have more soft lead than I have a real use for right now I was thinking that I'd like to get back to loading Black Powder Cartridge for 45 Colt and 44-40 and cast up some boolits for both.

The issue that I have is that my lube sizer is charged with NRA 50/50 (50% Alox & 50% Beeswax) and I don't have any great desire to clean it out and recharge it with SPG. Nor do I want to buy another lube sizer although the thought has crossed my mind.

Given the fact that NRA 50/50 is half beeswax I'm just wondering how the Alox mix might work with Black Powder. If you've got any experience with this let me know BEFORE I go out and play crash test dummy.
 
BP needs a much softer lube, AND needs to leave a lot of it in the barrel after the bullet's passage
to keep the fouling soft. 50-50 is way too hard for that. (Ask me how I know :banghead: )

I just pan lube my BPCR bullets in SPG, DSG (or whatever), and then cake-cutter them out with
a fired case.
 
Not sure about the Alox, but generally speaking, for handguns you don't need that much lube anyway. I've shot a lot of CAS matches with smokeless lubed bullets over BP and never had problems with handguns. Can't say that about my rifle though!:D

Couple of thoughts: if they need to be sized down a bit, can you size them in your sizer without lube, then pan lube? Or just pan lube them without sizing? Or pan lube, then size?
 
It will work alright, you may encounter some fouling problems as the stuff doesn't hydrate very well, but surely nothing that can't be dealt with. I did have some trouble with that lube with the old Elephant powder, but that crap was just plain filthy to begin with..
Lots of myth around what should or shouldn't be used with blackpowder, lubes containing petro products and must use soft bullets at the extreme top of the list.
 
Pulp,
The only reason they go through the sizer is to lube 'em. As far as the pan lubing is concerned I'll give you two reasons I'm not thrilled about it: 1st, I'm lazy and 2nd, I'm in an RV and I can't say for sure but I'm guessing my wife would be less than impressed if I used the RV oven to melt lets say Beeswax with some Ballistol in it.:what:

Even though I know you've only got a couple of weeks experience with Black Powder;) I'll take your advice and/or observation into consideration.

I think I'll cast up some 200gr SWC's when I get around to doing RB's and play with it a little bit with the 50/50. Worst case I'll be boiling a SAA and making a note to not do that again. Thanks for putting your 2¢ worth in.
 
Don,

You posted while I was responding to Pulp but yeah I agree with you when it comes to lubricants and the "Rules of Thumb" we've all been taught to use. As far as the soft boolits I think that has more to do with round balls than boolits myself, unless of course you're trying to stuff one into a revolver then I'd definitely want a dead soft boolit. There was a member here a few years ago who gave me a bunch of cast RB's that were from clip on wheel weights. Those things put me off casting my own for quite a while because the little buggers were so hard to load. I've since figured out that using stick on wheel weights (tape weights) which are almost pure I get nice soft RB's.

Right now I'm down in Arizona escaping the ice up in your neck of the woods and have scrounged probably close to 75lbs of tape weights from a local tire shop so I'm looking for a purpose for them. Who knows, I may just cast up a couple thousand .454's and offer them for sale if nothing else.
 
Why would you use the oven to pan lube? Most folks simply use a double boiler set up to melt the lube and then pour the lube into another pan where the bullets are.
 
Get the smallest crockpot they make and dedicate it to melting lube for black powder bullets. I cast my own bullets and after they are cooled, hold them with forceps and dip their butts into the melted lube, drop 'em in a bowl of cold water to set up quickly, then load them after they dry off. No sizing. Some excess lube comes off in the loading dies, clean 'email once a year.
 
Don McDowell said:
Why would you use the oven to pan lube?
Click to expand...

I probably should have said "stove". In reality I should give pan lubing a shot I guess just if for nothing more than the experience. Given the fact that we are in an RV I'm really tight on room for "stuff" especially stuff that adds weight. Our 5th wheel has a GVWR of 15,500 pounds and just for grins I weighed us again last fall when we departed and came up with 16,300. And that was with all my lead and reloading equipment in the back of the truck!! I told my wife that she has too many books and she responded that I have too many guns, I believe we'll agree to disagree.
 
I finally threw in the towel some years ago and bought a second,used,sizer luber just for my BP bullets. I understand that extra cash and even space are always an issue.
 
Foto I hear you on the limited space availability.Pan lubing does require some extra stuff, that takes space.
I still think you'll be fine just running those bullets thru the lubrisizer. Worst case scenario you might have to swab the barrel with a damp patch every half dozen rounds or so. And like you say, if they don't work for you they'll make good trading material or generate some pocket money.
 
I'm not buying that the shot glass is for "scale" only. Personally I would have used a beer bottle.
 
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