Do you fill minie base?

[hocuspocus]

I've heard some folk say you fill the base too, some say you dont. Is there a correct way?

 

[arquebus]

I've seen that done too. I shoot alot of Minies & I've never bothered with filling the cavity with lube....sufficient lubrication has never been a problem.

 

[billandbeaufort]

I only lube the grooves. I was always afraid the lube in the base would contaminate the powder. Seems like there has been plenty of lube. B&B

 

[BEP]

I just dip mine in a mixture of beeswax and Crisco. Always wondered if filling the cavity wouldn't cause the lube to deaden some of the powder charge. When shooting on a warm day, the barrel on my '61 Springfield repro warms up quite a bit. Some of the cavity lube would almost certainly melt and get into the powder - some from the bullet grooves maybe does anyway. At least that's my theory/guess and the dipping alone works great for me.

sneezy

 

[Stubert]

In my Father in laws original 58 cal. Springfield, We always filled just the base with crisco, not the sides. Never had a problem. We never left a load in for any length of time though.

 

[bingo1952]

I have always filled the bases on my minies but that is a personal choice. I think the air over hydraulic effect helps with the obturation of the skirt especially with thick skirted minies. JMO :wink:

 

[ord sgt]

On a hot day, I have seen crisco in the base of minies turn to liquid. Don't want to pour that down the barrel onto the powder charge. My .02

 

[RedFeather]

As a newbie starting out with my Zouave in the summer of '73, I lubed the bases up with Crisco. In the July heat it did not take more than a few shots to start generating hang fires. Ditto the mess on my 1858 Remington from sealing the chambers with it. Maybe something a little more solid...

 

[paulvallandigham]

Try it again using an OP Wad, or OS Card over the powder to protect it from any softening lube. An OP wad will apply pressure to the base of the minie, and hydraulic pressure will open the skirt to fill the grooves of the rifling.

 

[jdstrang]

Is there a correct way?

Yes. Several. Pick what works for you.

In my dozen years in the N-SSA I've seen good, winning shooters who use all possible permutations of lube placement. Some, grooves only. Some, base only. Some, grooves and just a coating in the base (my choice). Some, grooves and the base filled flush.

Some use lubrisizers. Some dip.

And beyond that, there's constant arguments as well about what the best lube is. Drop by the bulletin board ( http://www.n-ssa.net/phpbb/ ) and do a "search" on "lube".

Some very good shots I know use just a dollop of white lithium grease in the base. Some use a (godawful) combo of Mobil One and beeswax, thrice melted to obtain proper consistency. More, I believe, tend to food-quality contents so they can pull bullets with their teeth while loading. I like MCM.

Those who lube the base, however, generally do not use a substance that pours down the barrel when hot. Bore Butter has that problem, which I observed first-hand on my own Springfield one torrid summer. Straight Crisco does, too. Beeswax/Crisco and MCM both get slick as snot, but don't flow.

As best I can tell, the minie/Burton balls of the CW were lubed grooves-only. By historical standards, then, grooves-only would be "correct." They were also about 5-6 thousandths under bore size - a mismatch borne, like groove-only lubing, of practicality and necessity, for which no one I know now argues.

But that was then. Now, we're more into accuracy than laying down fast fields of random death. That accuracy involves experimentation.

Which all is to say, several ways work - which, for the user, makes it "correct." Only you can determine what works for you. Have fun making that determination! :thumbsup:

 

[arquebus]

Good post Pappa Bear! That about sums it up.....like with most things in this hobby experiment until you find what works for you in your gun.

 

[Pigman]

Did not some Minnies come with a wood plug in the base? Did that help?

Thanks,
Mark C. Foster

 

[TFoley]

Some had a clay plug, some had a woden plug, some even had a metal washer...

When the smoke finally cleared, all these were left out relying on the powder charge to drive the skirts into the rifling...

Works for me.

tac