Too Much Lube

[Hoyt]

How do you know when you got too much lube on the patch to where it will saturate the powder and not ignite? Besides when you don't hear a loud noise after pulling trigger.

 

[Black Hand]

I like to have the patch saturated but still be able to see the weave. Of course if it looks like cold butter on bread, it might be too much. Seriously, I have never had the lube saturate the powder.
Black Hand

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I cut the lube with the likes bore cleaner. Then soak the patches and put them in a wooden round snuf box.

Ive used the falls, for spring shooting, with nay a clod nor clump of lube.

 

[Hoyt]

I was kinda wondering about leaving it loaded for a few days while on a hunt and if the lube would gradually saturate the powder.

 

I make patch strips, lube them, roll'em up, put'em in a medicine bottle and set them on the dash of our Jeep. The sun bakes the lube through the entire material and any excess drains off. Or, the messy way is to pull the material between two pieces of wood dowel and squeeze it out.

Just :m2c:

 

[roundball]

".....the messy way is to pull the material between two pieces of wood dowel and squeeze it out....."

Reminds me of the old washing machine we had when I was a kid...had the two squeezing rollers mounted up on the washing machine to feed the wet clothes through...but hey, we had a modern one, the rollers were motor driven with a hand crank back-up
:crackup:

 

[Birddog6]

I can't imagine having that much lube in ther to contaminate the powder where it will not ignite. :hmm:

Think on it a bit. You have a .50 cal. ball for example....... OK against the powder you have 1/2" diameter f patch touching the powder, right ? None of the rest of the patch or lube is touching it because it is squeezed tight & sealing it off...... No way even if you slob it on there will that contaminate the powder to where it will not go off.

No possibly if it is a lil .25 cao & you are shooting 10 grains of 3 F ? Well maybe then it could. But not a normal load in a rifle.

But a good test is to take a piece of wax paper & roll it into a 1/2" tube & tape it up good. Now twist the end shut & tap it. Now pour 50 grains of 3F in it. Now press a greased patch on a ball down into the tube & let it sit for 2-3 days. Now lay out a newspaper & carefully cut your tape & unroll the wax paper & see what is contaminated. That will sorta simulate the barrel & effect except you won't have as tight a seal, but may give you an idea of contamination.

:imo:

 

[bulletman]

I never had a wet powder problem, but I ended up going to dry lube, after realizing ,the less lube the better, using moose milk, then dry out, then use. the more lube I used of any wet kind made groups open the wetter it was.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I never had a wet powder problem, but I ended up going to dry lube, after realizing ,the less lube the better, using moose milk, then dry out, then use. the more lube I used of any wet kind made groups open the wetter it was.

Interesting. I've been using Moose Snot as a lube for dry patches that I cut at the muzzle. Basically rub the ticking material in the MS until its pretty well coated. Works great and I don't have to clean between shots. Last shot seats as easily as the first load does. If I don't use enough, then the fouling starts to make it tough to load. Use enough and I can just keep on shooting.

 

[Ridge]

I find that when I load any excess lube is left on the muzzle of the rifle.

 

[bulletman]

My case is with a very tight fit ball and patch,(dont know if this makes a difference ) 535 ball and probly.020 patch. this was what i came up with after about a year of experimenting, was a fun year though. started with thin patches and 530 ball, with every combination imaginable.
I am getting a 50 yard clover leaf now, and 100 yard is up to 3 inches. I also noticed that once I found this combination, it doesnt seem to matter how much powder, it shoots really tite with almost any amount., where as with the others, the amount of powder made a big difference for a small group. and that wasnt even as small as possible.

 

Reminds me of the old washing machine we had when I was a kid...had the two squeezing rollers mounted up on the washing machine to feed the wet clothes through...but hey, we had a modern one, the rollers were motor driven with a hand crank back-up
:crackup:

Aah-yup, my Irish Grandmother had a Westinghouse with a mangler.

Just :m2c:

 

Howdy
I have never had a "too much lube problem", however I have had a problem with letting natural lard sit too long down the barrel. This happened only once, it was during a long hot summer day. The gun was sitting out in the direct sun. I had it sitting there for 4 hours while I was waiting on a ground hog. he finally did, I went to take the shot and the load miss fired (twice). However latter when I pulled the ball, I took a look at the powder. It went like cat litter... I had to assume the hot barrel, and the lard melted and contaminated the powder. I found some historical refferences said that some of our fore fathers placed wasp nest paper down the barrel if they were going to leave the muzzle loader loaded for long durations. I now place a piece of wasps nest over the powder,and before the patch & ball if it's wet or hot out. I have not had this happen since. :hatsoff: Best regards Loyalist Dawg