Lube, wads and my .58

[firestick]

Was out with my NA Buffallo Hunter and shooting bullets for the 1st time. Also the 1st time I have used wads. Upon reading recommendations I got some wool felt in1/8 and 1/4 inch from durofelt products. (nice people btw). Wet them down with my moose milk and let dry. Used some beeswax and olive oil for lube. Cut just enough with the oil to make cutting them out of the "cake" easy enough yet clean enough to handle without a mess. Tried dipping them also and found something interesting about that. Didn't seem to make much difference in wads thickness but size did matter. 15mm worked way better than the 5/8" under the bullet. The surprise was I tried them under my PRB and the 1/8" wads REALLY tightened up the grouping. Somewhere around 1.5 to 1.75 inches at 50 yds. I was shocked. Next time I will be using the 100 yd target stand and see if this is a fluke. The one shocker I had was the dipped bullets were not as accurate and if I left lube on the base they wouldn't even hit the target at 50 yds! Wiping them helped a lot but still I went form about a 2.5" group to about a 6" group when I switched to the dipped bullet. Not sure why that would be as the lube was even around the bullet. All in all fun stuff to experiment with.

 

[mooman76]

The base is very important to bullet flight. More so than the tip or fore end of the bullet. When the bullet exits the muzzle of the gun, if the bullet base is uneven the gasses will push the bullet out into a different direction. Just slightly usually but enough to throw it off. That's why Minies depend on well formed bases for accuracy. Also likely why your thicker wads throw off your accuracy. When compressed, if the wad is uneven in the thickness, it will throw it off.

 

[firestick]

I was thinking the soft lube would disperse upon firing but I was wrong as usually LOL. The bases form the Lee mold are very clean. I used a Lee RB mold for my 45 I gave to my son and the sprue was cut very clean with them as well.

 

[mooman76]

Things aren't always as they seem. I saw a slow motion camera shot of someone firing a bullet and it shows very well what happens.

 

[firestick]

It was quickly apparent that the glob of lube on the base was the culprit as it was the only thing changed. Man did it make a change.... in the WRONG direction. LOL

 

[mooman76]

We learn from out mistakes. Sometimes more than out successes.

 

[Britsmoothy]

In my day we called them firewalls. Now every one thinks it's something to do with pooters.
The base thing is correct. Also any hot gas leaking past the bullet will take the path of least resistance and cause a jet of gas to influence the bullet at emergence from the barrel.
An additional barrier helps prevent that.

 

[firestick]

In my day we called them firewalls. Now every one thinks it's something to do with pooters.
The base thing is correct. Also any hot gas leaking past the bullet will take the path of least resistance and cause a jet of gas to influence the bullet at emergence from the barrel.
An additional barrier helps prevent that.

Makes me want to shoot 2 groups of 3 shots. One with a bare dented base and one with a dented base over a wad. I had a feeling the wad was going to improve things even on prb. I just didn't think it would make a huge difference like it did.