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Lubing Minnies??
- Thread starter Old Hawkeye
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Old Hawkeye
50 Cal.
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H&R Springfield Stalker 58 cal. Just got it last week from a member here. NIB from 1973. I've been looking for one in 45 cal for about 3 months, but they seem harder to find.
You might have problems with minies because of twist rates and rifling depth. The minie was part of a system. You may be better off with a conical or PRB.
Uhmmm.... NO, gobs of crisco in the base not needed. In fact, it's a great way to destroy accuracy in a minie gun. If you don't shoot immediately, that lube will contaminate the charge. It's like loading with a widely varying charge cause you can't control the amount of contamination. In our competition, you won't find ONE person anywhere near the 50% mark in scores who does this, much less above the 50% mark.
I've shot in excess of 60 straight without cleaning, wiping, swabbing, etc and no loss of accuracy. The minie is part of a system. Get the system in balance and there is no need to contaminate your charge with the base of a minie stuffed with lube. The minies were properly sized and just the base dip lubed in beeswax/lard/lanolin
Make sure you size them 2/thousands under bore size after lubing. Northeast trading company sells nice sizing dies. Also, What style mine are you using? I found that 1:72, 1:66 likes the Hodgdon. And 1:48 likes the minie wadcutter. I use 50/50 beeswax and crisco.
Minie's are more stable in shallow rifling
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I was not at a match and the load was never in the rifle for more then a few minutes. I was getting rid of old powder. I have no desire to go to a match and go insane trying different combos for best accuracy. I had good results just fooling around. I shoot to relax not to get anal had enough of that at work. It was a Zouave musket
APG
45 Cal.
I use a simple push through sizer with a tent peg cut in half to do the pushing.I'm way too poor to afford one of Signore Pedersoli's spiffy sizers - maybe when I win the lottery, eh? I've 'liked' every recipe above, and why not? They all work for the person who uses them. Having a saddler in our village means that I get as much Neat's foot oil as I could ever need, same goes for our half a dozen beekeepers. So bee's wax and NFO - 70/30, or whatever.
Works for me, and not having your huge range of temperatures helps, too, of course...
Glad to see you made that distinction. There are lots of folks who say their gun is accurate but when you get into their definition of accuracy, things go off the rails fast. In your case, you were just able to fire a bunch of shots. I'd bet good money that your gun is capable of far better accuracy.
FWIW- "Zouave" is a misnomer for 1863 Remington as the musket was never widely issued, especially to the "Zouave" units in Federal service. Even so, the originals and even most of the repops are known to be great shooters with a bit of load development.
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Nice sizer.
North East Trading Co. are in Pennsylvania. Check.
I am in Eastern England. Check.
It would likely cost around my air fare to get them to send me one, the way we are being rooked by our former suppliers. not just in the US of A [IF they deal with us at all after BREXIT], but the part of Europe that we are no longer in.
Erwan
45 Cal.
Try this : Calibreur long pour balles minié
It's what I have, and it's not really expensive...
Ask Mathieu or Maëva before and ask them for to know if you can get only the calibration rings as accessories Pedersoli (those accessories exist) : Contactez-nous
Way back when the earth was young, and so was I, my Dad "apprenticed" me to a professor of history at U. Maryland. First thing he did was to take me up to his attic, where he had uniforms, rifles, pistols, and accouterments. Fixed me up with a US Navy uniform designating me as a crewman off the USS Constellation, then berthed in Baltimore Harbor. The Prof lived in D.C., we lived in Falls Church, VA.
Then he selected an 1863 Springfield rifle, and all the goodies that went with it.
The next Friday evening, we (the "landing party") met at another fella's home. Cast a whole bunch of .577 Minie "balls", then lubed them. I was told that the mix was beef tallow and bee's wax, 50/50. just dip the base of the Minie till all 3 rings were covered, then set them on some newsprint to cool.
When everything was cool, he brought out a big box of small cardboard tubes, red in color. We would put 100 gr of powder - do not know the granulation - in the cardboard tube, then invert the Minie and put the nose into the tube. That was our "cartridges".
Seems like we had at least one target shoot a month. Camp A.P. Hill, Ft. Meade, various other venues. Our squad seemed to be among the top ones, as we got lots of trophies. We helped with a re-enactment of Bulls Run on the 100th Anniversary. I was told that it was filmed, and was being made into a movie, but never heard which one.
That Prof, and several of his mates, always insisted that the Minie went in vertically, base first, into the lube. He didn't want very much, if any, of the lube getting inside the base.
Always regret Dad retiring from the Navy in '62, and moving us to Jupiter, FL. No BP shooters, no re-enactors. Nuffin! I did get a popular unmentionable small rifle to fill the gap.
Then he selected an 1863 Springfield rifle, and all the goodies that went with it.
The next Friday evening, we (the "landing party") met at another fella's home. Cast a whole bunch of .577 Minie "balls", then lubed them. I was told that the mix was beef tallow and bee's wax, 50/50. just dip the base of the Minie till all 3 rings were covered, then set them on some newsprint to cool.
When everything was cool, he brought out a big box of small cardboard tubes, red in color. We would put 100 gr of powder - do not know the granulation - in the cardboard tube, then invert the Minie and put the nose into the tube. That was our "cartridges".
Seems like we had at least one target shoot a month. Camp A.P. Hill, Ft. Meade, various other venues. Our squad seemed to be among the top ones, as we got lots of trophies. We helped with a re-enactment of Bulls Run on the 100th Anniversary. I was told that it was filmed, and was being made into a movie, but never heard which one.
That Prof, and several of his mates, always insisted that the Minie went in vertically, base first, into the lube. He didn't want very much, if any, of the lube getting inside the base.
Always regret Dad retiring from the Navy in '62, and moving us to Jupiter, FL. No BP shooters, no re-enactors. Nuffin! I did get a popular unmentionable small rifle to fill the gap.
Griz44Mag
70 Cal.
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I found that a bit of white vinegar in water does a pretty good job too. And I can still tell the temperature when I am done cleaning.Wahoo ! .... The pleasure of cleaning the barrel with mercury, some guys like it...
Erwan
45 Cal.
That can be, and I learn something more, the Ed's Red without acetone do also the job by removing the lead scales by under (by peeling off the scales between lead and steel) if not too much plumbed, that's right...
Hélas, when the leading is important, the only way is the night passed with mercury inside...
We always have a little bottle of mercury available for this purpose, I did it only twice in a bit more than sixty years, but the best choice stays to prevent to plumbing the barrel by greasing and avoid too high speeds...
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That 100gr load - 40 more that the service load - must have rattled your brain a bit?
- Joined
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Try this : Calibreur long pour balles minié It's what I have, and it's not really expensive...
Ask Mathieu or Maëva before and ask them for to know if you can get only the calibration rings as accessories Pedersoli (those accessories exist) : Contactez-nous
Many thanks for that useful information!
I use a baby food jar about 2/3 full of lube (beeswax and tallow, the original Minie lube). I melt it by putting the jar in a small pot of water and heating it on the stove, making an improvised double boiler.
Then I use needle nosed pliers to dip each Minie, holding them by the nose. Put them on a sheet of foil to cool.
Size later if needed (mostly to get excess lube off so as to speed loading, because my most used molds don't need sizing; your mileage will vary depending on your gun.)
This has worked since 1992. I suspect it;''s a lot less trouble than using a pan.
Griz44Mag
70 Cal.
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Agreed - prevention is much more effective and important than reacting after the evil deed is done.
I also shoot some much higher pressure firearms (not black powder) that has a greater tendency for barrel deposits.
I adhere strictly to the Lee Second Edition pressure vs lead hardness chart and have had great success limiting lead fouling using cast projectiles on modern pistols and long guns.
I mix my own simplified version of Ed's famous concoction, using equal parts Mineral Spirits (NEVER use the Eco-friendly green version) Marvel Mystery Oil and White gas (Colemans camp fuel.)
I have been using that mix for 50 years - as shown to me by my grandfather on the farm.
Buy the raw materials in gallon sizes and it's a very economical all purpose cleaner and metal protector.
kh54
45 Cal.
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I have dipped my Miniés cold and fussed with a lot of excess lube that makes a mess when I size them. I’ve also warmed them first then dipped them but I was never sure if there was enough lube left after doing so. I’ve also been thinking about using a small utility brush to just “paint” on the lube, as I do for conicals for my 1859 Sharps and Smith carbine. I’m just getting ready for a few days of bullet and cartridge making and I can always use advice. Thoughts anyone?
