I decided to get into Black Powder Shooting this year. I bought a used .50 CVA Mag Hunter in line off a friend in my Rod & Gun Club. He broke me in shooting 240 gr. T/C Mag Sabots. The gun has a scope and shoots very well. At 50 yards, I can hit the black or be an inch off on a 50' Slow Fire Target from the bench.
He taught be to run a wet patch after every shoot, then a dry patach and then to fire the 209 Primer to dry out the barrel. Been cleaning with Ed's RedBore Mix & preserving with CLP. I dry patch out any CLP before shooting.
Here's the rub.....I've been reading everything Ican about blsck powder shooting. My friend taught me to "very slightly" lube the sabots with Bore Butter. Much of what I've read saysnot to do this.......the gun is shooting great. I use two 50 gr. pellets of Pyrodex...my friend always shot 3. I'm pleased with the accuracy. Is the Bore Butter harmful or dangerous if lightly used on sabots?
Is the Bore Butter harmful or dangerous if lightly used on sabots?
No! neither of the above, but they could cause the sabot to slip in the bore when you shoot it and your accuracy could suffer. Usually people put BB on the sabot so it would go down the bore easier, but it is a lot better to find the correct sabot so I will load easier.
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He taught be to run a wet patch after every shoot, then a dry patach and then to fire the 209 Primer to dry out the barrel.
You really should not need to shoot a cap each time you patch. I do shoot a couple of caps at the beginning of a shooting session when the gun has been cleaned and stored for awhile.
I wrote a thing the other day about "wet patches" might take a look at that.... "Damp bore Patches"
saltflyz ..... was kind enough to post this information about the use of bore butter. I believe this is straight from Thompson Center Arms.. the maker of bore butter or at least the distributor.
Note about Sabots[/b]
T/C's All Natural Lube 1000 Plus Bore Butter was designed as a lube to be used with traditional patched roundballs (lube the patches) and all lead conical bullets like our Maxi-Ball and Maxi-Hunters.
If you are shooting sabots, DO NOT LUBE YOUR SABOTS. Sabots are designed to be shot right out of the package____DRY. In fact, you should remove any trace of Natural Lube, or any lube for that matter, from the barrel before shooting sabots. The less lube you have in the barrel when shooting sabots, the better, to achieve optimum accuracy.
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Yep, I was just getting ready to say that sabots almost always come "dry lubed". Just like sabotloader said, lubing the sides of a sabot could cause it to slip in the barrel. That could also cause a dangerous situation!
I have a good friend that always lubes sabots in his Knight. It doesn't seem to hurt accuracy any. He can shoot <2" groups (most around 1")at 100 yards all day long.
I do not lube sabots. Not sure of the hurting accuracy, but they are designed to be loaded as-is, so why add an unnecessary step to the loading process?
Much of what I've read saysnot to do this.......the gun is shooting great. I use two 50 gr. pellets of Pyrodex...my friend always shot 3. I'm pleased with the accuracy. Is the Bore Butter harmful or dangerous if lightly used on sabots?
I have been told NOT to lubricate a sabot with ANYTHING. Supposedly, the stuff they're made from has adequate lubricating qualities "built right in". The problem is, you can't ever lubricate one by hand exactly the same each time you load up, and anything that introduces any sort of inconsistency can have a detrimental effect on accuracy.
But it is certainly NOT a dangerous thing to do.
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Why does TC warn against using lube with sabots? Probably because it could elevate pressures a little bit more, especiallywhen loadingmaximum powder charges, and during cold weather when the lube hardens.
However whenused sparingly it shouldn't really cause any harm and many claim that using it does have somebenefits.
Some folks use it tohelp the first shot out of cold clean barrelshoot to the same pointof impact as a fouled or warmbarrel will, andto aid with loading tightly fitting sabots.
And it shouldn't cause tight fitting sabots to strip the rifling. Sabots aren'tas susceptible to stripingas looser fitting patched round balls are, since they are moredeeply engraved when loaded.
Only a fractional amount of lube is actually adhering inside the corners of the rifling anyway.
Muzzle loading shooters are practical folks, andwhat mattersto them the most is finding andusing aloading procedure that produces good consistent results in their rifle, and maybe usinglube does help tocut down on friction caused by plastic fouling residue upon eachfiring, and makes for betterloading & firingconsistency, velocity and accuracy, even as the barrel heats up from multiple firings.
"The use of lubricants on the exterior of the sabot is not necessary. However, the sparing use of a lubircant will ease loading in many rifles and will also ease in cleaning the bore. If you choose to use a lubricant, use sparingly. Careless use of lubricants can contaminate the powder charge and cause hang-fires or misfires."
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Bore Butter on A Sabot
