Lubing Minnies??

[Old Hawkeye]

Just got a 58 cal with shallow 48 twist rifling & was thinking about trying some Minnies. I've never shot them so was looking for advice on lubing them. TOTW says on their site to just put lube in the rear hollow cavity. What about the grooves? Does a felt wad make any difference? Any help is appreciated!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You need a pan deep enough for the sides of the bullets if doing a lot of conicals. IF you have skirted conicals [classic minnies] then you will need to fill the cavity if you shoot them that way.

Pour in the lube to the right depth, stick the pan in the freezer. When solidified, if your lube mixture is stiff enough you invert the pan and the lubed conicals drop from the pan. Some folks like to pick the conicals from the an instead, especially with a softer lube. Collect up the remaining lube and save for another day.


LD

 

[Old Hawkeye]

My Minies have the hollow cavity in the base. So you're saying just fill that & not worry about the grooves? I use the pan method on my Maxi-Balls. but just filling the cavity seems like a whole lot less work. Thanks!

 

[dave951]

My Minies have the hollow cavity in the base. So you're saying just fill that & not worry about the grooves? I use the pan method on my Maxi-Balls. but just filling the cavity seems like a whole lot less work. Thanks!

NO, NO, NO, and just for emphasis NO! Let's be clear here, I like the guys at Track, but they're round ball guys. I hold pretty much anything from them on the subject of minies to be suspect

I shoot minies in competition and if you want to destroy accuracy, filling the base is one of the best ways to do it. I just melt the lube and dip the part of the minie with the grooves into the lube. Done. At most, and if and only if I'm having a fouling issue, do I ever put lube in the base. When I do that, it's just a very light smear to keep the fouling soft so I can keep shooting without wiping nor losing accuracy. Some bullet/powder/lube combos will require it, you'll only know from experimentation and it has to be rigorous experimentation controlling all variables to the greatest extent possible. But what do I know..............

And here's 5 shots fired in a 2 minute rapid fire offhand at 50yds

 

[jcs266]

I was taught that you dip them like Dave951 described above. I dip them just to the grooves in a tunafish can - just the grooved lower half of the Minie into the hot lube, then I set them on a plate to cool.

 

[TFoley]

NO wad of any kind with a Minié, please.

The earlier iterations, used by the French in the Crimea, had, at first, a clay plug in the cavity, then a wooden plug, and then nothing. When the British ceased using the Pritchett/Metford bullet for their .602cal Enfield rifle and went over to the Minié, they did the same thing, and then reduced the calibre to .577, getting a longer and more stable bullet as a by-blow of the calibre reduction.

 

[mooman76]

I don't shoot them that much so I just smear lube on the grooves before loading. I did prelube some before but by the time I used them, they were attracting dirt and the lube was getting dried out.

 

[jcs266]

One other thing I forgot to mention, I tried setting a bunch of the Minies into a pan of hot lube and then letting the pan cool. When I tried to pluck the bullets out of the lube pan it was very messy and a huge pain in the neck. I then tried dipping the bullet individually in the hot liquid lube and setting them aside to cool. This was vastly easier and more efficient. The lube sticks in the grooves better this way also.

 

[dave951]

I don't shoot them that much so I just smear lube on the grooves before loading. I did prelube some before but by the time I used them, they were attracting dirt and the lube was getting dried out.

Mine don't lay around long enough to dry out

 

[Erwan]

I won't say that this manner is the best about greasing the Minié bullets, but here what is mostly do in France by target shooters and so what I'm doing...
After casting all the bullets are stricktly weighed (larger the caliber, the greater the risk of air bubbles or inclusions) and calibrated and greased by hand only before use (personal I use a Pedersoli tool to lubricate).
To have grease in the skirt is not good, only powder (or eventualy semolina but ) and like have said TFoley and this is important : never any wad with Minié...

That's our way to do it as target shooters and not an obligation or the only good one method...

 

[hawkeye2]

I have dies for a Lyman lubrisizer and use that. If I need an odd size minie or a different one to try I just melt lube in a sauce pan and dip them to above the grooves. I use needle nose pliers with a rubber band around the handles to pick up the bullet, dip and set on wax paper on a cookie sheet to solidify. The rubber band holds the pliers closed and I spread them open with a couple of fingers on the hand holding them.

Never put anything in the hollow base. I can tell you from experience that even a stiff lube can melt enough, even when shooting fast, to contaminate the powder and destroy accuracy. Adding anything to the base will not help the minie to expand either. Disclaimer: What Dave951 says about base lube being needed sometimes is true but that's a very rare exception. Do as he says in his post and that 5 shot group in the rapid fire wallboard is excellent, wish I could do it. A lot of skirmishers do base lube but I've always felt they could shoot as well without it. I've used a lot of range lead over the years and have found countless minies in the backstop that still have lube in the cavity. Obviously that didn't do much good.

 

[Old Hawkeye]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll try dipping them in the 3 different lubes I have & see what results I get. I'll also try just smearing some lube in the grooves like I sometimes do with the Maxi's.

 

[dave951]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll try dipping them in the 3 different lubes I have & see what results I get. I'll also try just smearing some lube in the grooves like I sometimes do with the Maxi's.

You haven't mentioned WHAT you're using for lube. Ask 5 different competitive minie shooters and get 12 different recipes. When using the holy black, a couple things are operative. First, use nothing petroleum based. The resulting fouling can be extremely hard and difficult to deal with and remove. Second, stick with natural based ingredients. Third, ambient conditions at the range can change how a lube will perform. And a word on the old standby-Crisco. In head to head tests in various lube recipes I've experimented with, Crisco, while it works as a lube, is never in running as far as accuracy is concerned but YMMV.

Here's a couple recipes that I've found to work very well. All are beeswax based and the proportions vary depending on temperature at the range.
Beeswax/lard/lanolin (my main goto)
Beeswax/coconut oil (used in 1858 Smith)
Beeswax/tallow (works great in 1863 Sharps)

 

[griffiga]

I don't shoot them that much so I just smear lube on the grooves before loading. I did prelube some before but by the time I used them, they were attracting dirt and the lube was getting dried out.

I go about it the same way. Finger lube, but you don't want to pick you nose! As far as Crisco, I've heard they put some degree of salt in it - doesn't sound too good for the bore, besides, it melts out in warm weather. I used to use it in my percussion revolvers when I first got started. I also like the Beeswax/lard/lanolin receipt that Dave951 uses.

 

[APG]

I am by no means an authority on lubing minieballs. But what works for me is a 50/50 blend of lamb tallow and beeswax. I rub it into the grooves and push it through a sizer that removes the excess lube. I cast my own using a Lymans 575213 mold.

 

[TFoley]

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...

 

[ohio ramrod]

I use a 50/50 lard and beeswax lube in the grooves and a leather wad over the powder.

 

[Griz44Mag]

My Minies have the hollow cavity in the base. So you're saying just fill that & not worry about the grooves? I use the pan method on my Maxi-Balls. but just filling the cavity seems like a whole lot less work. Thanks!

If you don't fill the grooves you will like be cleaning the lead out of your rifles grooves.
I pan lube mine and push them through a sizer.

 

[Old Hawkeye]

Shot three PRB's into a 1 1/2" group @ 50 yards, then shot 4 Minies. Finger lubed the grooves, one with SPG, one with Ox-Yoke Natural Lube, one with Wonder Lube 1000, & one with Mink Oil. They all landed inside a 2" circle. Didn't swab or clean at all. No fouling issues. The SPG seem to stay in the grooves better & didn't melt in the 90 degree heat. No leading. Barrel cleaned up fast & easy. Recoil was a little more noticeable with the 425 grain Minies, but at 55 grains FFG very manageable. POI was about 4" vertical difference. I think this rifle is a keeper. Almost anything I put through it shoots fairly well. I'll keep experimenting & settle on a load for pig hunting. 58's are more fun than I thought they would be. Lots easier to see the holes in the targets!! Thanks to everyone that responded!

 

[kh54]

Old Hawkeye, it’s late and I’m tired, so maybe I just missed it, but did you tell us what rifle you’re shooting?