Newbie with conical load question

[Leo Gigliotti]

Hi all! Newbie here and I have a ton of questions, but I'll start off with just one.
First off, My name is Leo and I'm in NW PA close to the Allegheny National Forest. Married with 3 children, and I'm self employed.
I hunt mainly with Longbows and Recurves and try to make most of my gear myself (got a serious case of DIY) as time allows.

Anyways, I received A Traditions PA Pellet for Christmas and would like to get some info on how to get it as accurate as possible. My main question is, If I cast my own conicals with a Lee REAL Mold, can I get away with ordinary Bees wax to lube them? Or do they need to be lubed at all?
Thanks in advanced.
Leo

 

[Stubert]

Yes they have to be lubed, it keeps the fouling soft,try using crisco, it's worked for me for 35 yrs.

 

[Skylinewatcher]

Yepper, I'd agree with stubert there. Lube with crisco and if you don't cotton to that, I've used the T/C Bore Butter it works well and comes in a nice tube. Another thing you may like is Burts bees products, they can be salty but the lip balm tube makes it mighty nice to tote. When you get ready to stuff a pill down your barrel just take that lip balm tube out and paint it up. Its all natural and made out of bees wax. My wife thought I was getting too fat so she done throwed out my lard. Therefore, she had to sacrifice some of her Burts bees.

 

[Leo Gigliotti]

Thanks a heap guys. That's what I was hoping to hear.
Leo

 

[BrownBear]

Welcome aboard! You're getting good advice, and I'll add to it.

A couple of "tricks" are worth passing along. The REALS are REAL hard to get started and don't shoot well unless you use pure lead. And they often shoot their best with a lubed felt wad between them and the powder.

Oh heck, one more. Long as you're going to have both Crisco and beeswax hanging around, try blends of the two for a lube. Beeswax or sticky can be too hard for hand application, and Crisco is real soft and gooey, a heck of a mess in fact, in warmish weather. Adding something on the order of 1 part beeswax to 6 parts of Crisco produces a lube about the same texture as the tubed Bore Butter. Works great and is easy to apply by hand, either at home or in the field.

 

[nkbj]

And you can cut out thin paste board wads with nothing more than a circle template and a sharp pair of scissors just to try them out. The wads help keep a gooshy lube out of your powder too.

Sometimes when hunting with a conical it works good for follow on shots to seat the wad over the powder and then clean the barrel. No moisture in the ignition area, the wad protecting your powder charge.

For what it's worth in cutting wads, I've found slightly oversized on thin cardboard is a good thing, so trying to achieve a super precise diameter fit does not seem to be of importance.

 

[Skylinewatcher]

Ha, never thought of mixing'em. I'm gonna give that a try. Make my biscuts taste better and get some good lube to boot.