Lube wad over ball?

[Pete453]

Ernbar, why don't you mix up your lube with a different oil? Coconut oil turns runny(liquid) when warm, so if you put your wads in a warm gun they may be almost liquid in just a moment. Try olive oil, or mineral oil, only using enough to get the finished consistency you're after. I've had zero issues with olive, my lube doesn't get runny at any temperature i care to shoot in.

 

[Pete453]

I use wads with every shot, my bores look great, and a rinse in the kitchen sink with hot tap water gets it all. The first two patches dry the bore, third one oils it. Every time.

 

[user 52391]

I've tried it as well...Seems to me all that happened is that I was just wasting wads by blowing them out of the barrel before the projectile. After all, it's the heat from the burning powder that melts the lubrication.

 

[ernbar]

Ernbar, why don't you mix up your lube with a different oil? Coconut oil turns runny(liquid) when warm, so if you put your wads in a warm gun they may be almost liquid in just a moment. Try olive oil, or mineral oil, only using enough to get the finished consistency you're after. I've had zero issues with olive, my lube doesn't get runny at any temperature i care to shoot in.

The stuff I have is premixed from Hobby Lobby but I will try a different recipe. Thanks

 

[alcessapiens]

In SIXGUNS, Elmer Keith talks about old civil war vets teaching him to shoot his navy. He also talks about punching wads from old tallow soaked hats. Someone taught him that in the early 1900s. That was likely something figured out and used by the old timers because it worked.
There's nothing new under the sun....

Always liked Keith’s down to earth style. “Hell, I was there “ is a great book.

 

[necchi]

Thank you @ernbar , there's folks here that know a lot more about 6-shooters than I do,
(I'm just glad ya seen the light)

 

[Stantheman86]

I just like how much easier the bore is to clean after a day of shooting with either wads or over ball lube

When I shoot without lube or wads, the gun gets gummy after a few cylinders which is probably more than they'd have fired "back in the day" anyway

A lot of guys hate subs, but I've fired about 100 rounds through my .44 Brassers using Pyrodex P without lube or wads. The fouling either stays "wetter" and/or doesn't accumulate as much. The gun will be absolutely filthy afterwards and the fouling comes out of the bore like tar. The wads are $60 per 1,000 on Ebay, it's just easier to use them

Skeeter says a "gun treated as such will shoot clean all day" when speaking of the wads under the ball, and he's right , about using them in .36's and .44's that use smaller charges

My Dragoons and Walkers need lube over the ball if I want to shoot multiple cylinders without cleaning.

 

[barnettshale]

https://www.sageoutfitters.com/Muzzleloader.htmlHere is a company with reasonably priced wads lubed and dry

 

[barnettshale]

I have ordered from them. Good service

 

[stikshooter]

Ok, then just go back to when modern wads became available,,
It's simple, if the folks that made them then and make them now would have found it to be safe and effective,, we would have marketing for that use,,
They could sell twice as many,,
I still think the chance of a bore blocking obstruction is too high a risk.
You go ahead, but I won't be standing near enough to "hold your beer" while you do.

That's how Bore Butter is sold !/Ed

 

[Packrat]

Being an old geezer I'm not comfortable with "Paying with my Toy's" All firearms are by nature DANGEROUS, Playing with your toys, to me is a FLIPPANT type of speech that should not be associated with firearm's JMO

 

[Tenring]

There are no rules you can do it any way you want.

 

[ernbar]

Being an old geezer I'm not comfortable with "Paying with my Toy's" All firearms are by nature DANGEROUS, Playing with your toys, to me is a FLIPPANT type of speech that should not be associated with firearm's JM

Lighten up, it’s just a saying. No need to get offended

 

[ernbar]

https://www.sageoutfitters.com/Muzzleloader.htmlHere is a company with reasonably priced wads lubed and dry

Thanks for the link, looks great.

 

[webb116054]

You can do both ? Put a lubed wad over the powder and over the bullet ! The purpose of the wad is to keep the cylinder chamber sealed so sparks from firing will not start a chain firing of the other chambers ! I have shot thousands of rounds and blanks through black powder revolvers and have had chain firing with blanks and loaded cylinders, and it is not fun ! The live loaded chambers that chain fire splatter lead everywhere and you will get hit by some of it, no matter what you do. It is a very scary and dangerous thing ! I always put lube over the wad in live loaded cylinders to make sure I don’t get a chamber firing . You can also make cardboard wads/cards and put over the powder in the revolvers chambers and then put in the bullet and either put a greased wad over the bullet to seal the chamber or you can put lube over the bullet to seal the chamber ! Putting lube over the bullet is very messy . You can make your own wads by buying a gasket punch at Harbor Freight and punch your own wads or cards out of card board and you can make your own greased wads by buying the round cotton, make up remover pads from the make up section at walmart and then mix up your own lube by mixing lambs tallow, ( any animal fat will work), bees wax and a little crisco , melted together and dip the cotton pads in the mixture and let harden ! Then take the proper size punch and punch out greased wads for your revolver . You can also punch out rifle or shotgun size wads and put them over the powder charge before you put the patched bullet down the barrel ! It makes the rifle or shotgun fire more accurate and the lube helps keep the powder residue soft and it aids cleaning and gives more shots before having to clean the weapon . You can also use felt and soak it in your lube and punch out wads from it ! I hope this helps someone and keeps your pistol, revolver , rifle or shotgun firing .

 

[ernbar]

You can do both ? Put a lubed wad over the powder and over the bullet ! The purpose of the wad is to keep the cylinder chamber sealed so sparks from firing will not start a chain firing of the other chambers ! I have shot thousands of rounds and blanks through black powder revolvers and have had chain firing with blanks and loaded cylinders, and it is not fun ! The live loaded chambers that chain fire splatter lead everywhere and you will get hit by some of it, no matter what you do. It is a very scary and dangerous thing ! I always put lube over the wad in live loaded cylinders to make sure I don’t get a chamber firing . You can also make cardboard wads/cards and put over the powder in the revolvers chambers and then put in the bullet and either put a greased wad over the bullet to seal the chamber or you can put lube over the bullet to seal the chamber ! Putting lube over the bullet is very messy . You can make your own wads by buying a gasket punch at Harbor Freight and punch your own wads or cards out of card board and you can make your own greased wads by buying the round cotton, make up remover pads from the make up section at walmart and then mix up your own lube by mixing lambs tallow, ( any animal fat will work), bees wax and a little crisco , melted together and dip the cotton pads in the mixture and let harden ! Then take the proper size punch and punch out greased wads for your revolver . You can also punch out rifle or shotgun size wads and put them over the powder charge before you put the patched bullet down the barrel ! It makes the rifle or shotgun fire more accurate and the lube helps keep the powder residue soft and it aids cleaning and gives more shots before having to clean the weapon . You can also use felt and soak it in your lube and punch out wads from it ! I hope this helps someone and keeps your pistol, revolver , rifle or shotgun firing .

Thanks for your input. As a matter of fact I have that Harbor Freight punch set. I purchased on sale for something like $4 a long time ago and used it on a 12”x12” wool felt sheet I bought at Michaels for $4. I punched out about 250 ish .44 sized wads and lightly dipped them in my beeswax and coconut oil pre mixed bar I got on sale at Hobby Lobby. I also have some waxed milk carton material that can be punched out as discs to protect the powder from contamination which is happening when I use my homemade wads but not from the ones from Cabelas.
So you have used the wads over the ball in your pistols and didn’t notice any irregularities?

 

[smoothshooter]

I have tried putting the wool wads over the ball but I had this weird thought that it might be bad to put an obstruction over the ball.....I thought that if the wad enters the forcing cone at some wonky angle it might obstruct the ball or something

Plus the wads can help accuracy by helping the powder push on the ball more uniformly or whatever science is behind it

Ox Yoke makes these pre formed plugs of lube I'm going to try over the ball on my Walkers

I also just slop Crisco over the balls and I've run revolvers all day without cleaning doing that. Just bring baby wipes for your hands or wear old pants

Felt wads do not have enough mass to interfere with the bullet’s travel down the bore when loaded on top of the bullet.
Put them under the ball where they belong and don’t worry about it.
Make them yourself and it will cut your shooting costs by at least a third.

 

[smoothshooter]

Ok, then just go back to when modern wads became available,,
It's simple, if the folks that made them then and make them now would have found it to be safe and effective,, we would have marketing for that use,,
They could sell twice as many,,
I still think the chance of a bore blocking obstruction is too high a risk.
You go ahead, but I won't be standing near enough to "hold your beer" while you do.

A lubed felt wad does not have enough mass to have any effect as a bore obstruction.

 

[necchi]

A lubed felt wad does not have enough mass to have any effect as a bore obstruction.

If it enters the forcing cone in perfect symmetry in front of the projectile your right. It should just blow right out.
But if it's canted at all due to the force of the ejection, it would/could easily become a wedge.
The next issue is,, let's just say all six are loaded in the cylinder, perfectly,, what happens to the position of the remaining 5 after the first shot,,
You go right ahead,, won't be me.
If it was wise in practice to do this,, it would already be common knowledge.
It's a matter of going back to the basic safety we teach our youth,, Bore and chamber obstructions are bad.

 

[smoothshooter]

If it enters the forcing cone in perfect symmetry in front of the projectile your right. It should just blow right out.
But if it's canted at all due to the force of the ejection, it would/could easily become a wedge.
The next issue is,, let's just say all six are loaded in the cylinder, perfectly,, what happens to the position of the remaining 5 after the first shot,,
You go right ahead,, won't be me.
If it was wise in practice to do this,, it would already be common knowledge.
It's a matter of going back to the basic safety we teach our youth,, Bore and chamber obstructions are bad.

We don’t load wads over the balls because it serves no purpose.
We are dealing with extremely low pressures anyway. A wad in any position will blow out just fine.
Amazing how so many BP shooters love to make things as complicated as possible.