couple of simple questions guys, what exactly is the purpose of the lube on TC maxi balls? why so much? and should a person worry about it contaminating the powder charge while hunting during warm weather? The reason I ask is I was shooting some sunday and temps around 85 and it was melting and getting very runny, most seamed to come off the bullets while loading, still shot ok just messy.
The lube on Maxi-Balls does get soft when the weather is hot. Methinks that the use of an over powder button would prevent the lube from contaminating the powder.
The lube as I understand it does a couple things. It helps in ease of loading. It also helps in the rotation of the conical as it makes it path up the barrel when fired. Last the lube helps to protect the soft lead (most conical bullets were made of pure lead ) from the heat of the blast.
For instance, ever notice that the new conical bullets such as copper and brass have no lube on the outside. Perhaps they do have some thin coating over them, but not like the lead conical. Also notice the Minnie ball conical which when fired the hollow base spreads out and catches the rifling, also stopping the heat as it would pass over the outside of the lead, had little to no lube, some are paper patched some are not? So I so believe the lube on such things as buffalo bullets, Bull Shop Conical bullets, Great Plains, REAL, Maxiball, and maxihunters serve to protect the soft lead of the bullet. But then I could be way off in my thoughts.
Heat and lubes just do not agree do they. I fired off 36 No Excuses in a White Rifle yesterday in 75 degree heat. The lube was soft and sticky but did stay on the bullet.
A wad might help protect the powder charge. Also because barrels tend to heat up when fired in hot weather, I often wonder how much of that lube melts to the barrel. I shot all of them yesterday and never used a wad. Accuracy was very very good with them also.
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Well not to disagree but because we each see things different.
I have always believed that the lube is mostly for keeping the leading in the barrel down as much as possible.
I reload lead bullets for some of my pistols so I lube them with regular bullet lube so I just made a die to use the same lubber and sizer and use regular lube for pistol bullets, it is not affected as much by the heat.
I thought lube was to help keep the fouling soft so as to make loading easier. A tight bore size conical is harder to ram, especially when the bore is fouled.
The lube could serve multiple purposes.
Some folks only lube one bottom groove of their bullets with Crisco.
I think it's most important function is to protect the bore from leading, which not only destroys accuracy but is a bi*ch to get out.
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Well not to disagree but because we each see things different.
I have always believed that the lube is mostly for keeping the leading in the barrel down as much as possible.
I reload lead bullets for some of my pistols so I lube them with regular bullet lube so I just made a die to use the same lubber and sizer and use regular lube for pistol bullets, it is not affected as much by the heat.
Agree, this is consistant with my thoughts. Lead is more easy to foul up a barrel and lubricants are use to keep this down to a minimum. Just look at all lead bullets, for smokeless or black powder. They all have lube rings filled! You can use lead bullets with no lube, but with consequences! Here are some thoughts from Jim Taylor on this issue:
"Dry lead on a dry barrel causes real problems. Once lead starts building up in a bore it can continue, aggravating itself. A man once brought Dad a pistol and asked him if he could clean it. It was an H&R .22 revolver. The bore was so leaded that it would not allow a .22 caliber brush into it. The guy had been shooting it that way for some time. He said it was hard to hit anything with it and figured maybe it needed cleaned.
Dad and I found some of the bullets that had been fired from this gun. They were squeezed down to about 15 caliber and were real long and skinny."
As for lube in Maxi Balls or Hunters, I have never experienced any of it melting during hot days. Now I will say that I have had a couple of messy days using Bore Butter in my BP handguns. But this lube is already in a softer state.
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My favorite way to lube them sofar is a blend of Liquid Alox and Lyman SuperMoly then fill the bottom lube groove with the SuperMoly. I use mostly BH209 so other lubes may work better with other powders.
Its a bit of a PITA but my 54s like them and they end up costing me way less than prelubed T/C Maxis.
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ULA Model 20 50cal
Savage MLII SS Pacnor 45
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I believe the lube serves all the purposes noted above.
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lube on maxi balls
