Big Lube Bullet

[L Ross]

I have always battled black powder fouling and decided that I would order one of Dick Dastardly's Big Lube bullet moulds in 44 caliber, primarily to use in my Uberti 44 w.c.f. and Richard Mason conversion replica in .44 Colt.
I ordered the mould online Sunday and it arrived yesterday. The mould is based on the new Lee 6 cavity blocks and handle. I prepped the mould, set it on a hotplate, fired up the RCBS pot and cast about 200 excellent quality bullets in no time.
This is one of the easiest moulds I have ever had the pleasure to work with. After 10 cycles I was dropping 6 perfect bullets at a time. Minimal hang up in the mould with only very minor tapping to getting the last bullet to fall free, and often they all fall when the mould is opened.
I used wheel weights with about 4 oz. of tin to the 20 lbs . of WW. The bullets are a RNFP configuration, with a crimp groove, drop at .433", weigh an average of 200.8 grains, have a meplat of .340" . They hold a full 2 grains of lube. I get the feeling these are going to get shot in a lot of my .44's even with smokeless.

 

[KeithB]

Pictures!

 

[L Ross]

Pictures!

Every time I try to post photos I get a message saying my file is too big or something. Frustrating, because a couple of times they went right through.

 

[Ian]

Import the picture file into some kind of editing program, reduce the file size, and upload it. Most of the ones I upload are around 250-400 Kilobytes.

I use either MS Paint or Pixlr from my "fone" to resize photos because the programs are free and simple enough I can use them without much trouble.

 

[L Ross]

Import the picture file into some kind of editing program, reduce the file size, and upload it. Most of the ones I upload are around 250-400 Kilobytes.

I use either MS Paint or Pixlr from my "fone" to resize photos because the programs are free and simple enough I can use them without much trouble.

Just reading that makes my azz tired. I remember trilobytes are some kind of a fossil, right?

 

[RicinYakima]

If you have a PC that runs windows, just open the picture in the default "office picture manager". One the top tool bar on the very right it says "edit picture" click on it. On the verbiage on the right the bottom says "change picture size" click on it. the bottom option is "change percentage size". I click on it and reduce it to about 25% and works almost always, as in 99% of the time. then save it. HTH

 

[Intheshop]

Nice write up.

You can email pics to yourself,good chance there's a built in pixel reduction. Or,take pic....then take a screenshot of it. That reduces it as well.

 

[CZ93X62]

I did a bit of Google-fu and found Dick Dastardly's Big Lube website. His designs are unique and I have zero doubt that they will work as advertised.

Some years back, I got it into my head to try The Holy Black in some firearms I own that were appropriate for that ancient fuel. I am no BPCR maven, and the mixed results detailed herein will bear that out. I should add that Rick Tunell (AKA "Buckshot" in other realms) was very helpful in these ventures, and once I REALLY started paying attention to what he related my satisfaction level increased markedly.

The correct alloy--somewhere between pure lead and 25/1 Pb/Sn--is important. I used 30/1 alloy throughout, in 45/70--44/40--and 32/20 calibers. I also used Steve Garbe's SPG lube for all loads, flood-lubed and sized in Lyman 450/H&I dies after the flooded bullets were cookie-cuttered from the congealed and cooled puddle-in-can-lid I used to apply the stuff. Was it messy? Nah, not much worse than sizing/lubing with a 450 usually gets. And SPG smells nice.

What matters--POWDER QUALITY. I have zero doubt that DD's Big Lube Bullets were designed to address the cagao black powders that most BPCR shooters are saddled with, at least when they start. This was (at the time of these experiments, about 20 years ago) almost always Goex, AKA "Flaming Dirt". Proper BP-specific lube is a big help, also. So too is sufficent amounts of lube for each shot. Hence the SPG, which was coin-of-the-realm back then. Sizing was spec'ed the same as that used in smokeless loads--throat specs.

45/70--Lee 405 grain bullets--there was enough lube capacity in the 4 shallow Lee grooves to enable uninterrupted shooting and CONSIDERABLE accuracy, even with Goex 2F. 100 yard results were many 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" 5-shot groups (55.0 grains, 1/16" compression, no wads). The substitution of Swiss 2F (60.0 grains, same compression) yielded the best grouping I ever got from that rifle (Ruger #1), 1-1/8" to 1-1/4" at 100 yards/5 shots.

44/40--Lee 200 grain round flatnose with 2 shallow grooves--2 words, twice--unmitigated disaster. Epic fail. Insufficient SPG and Goex 3F @ 35.0 grains combined to create very hard fouling within 6 shots that resulted in bullets tumbling downrange. Mining the bore's encrustation was a PROJECT, though a MacGyvered system using fishing line, a small bell sinker, and cotton patches did keep most of the corrosive fouling out of the action. Those Win '73 removable sideplates are a Godsend for BP cleanout, too. Maybe better powder and/or more lube might have altered the outcome. A look today at Dick's 200 grain "Mav Dutchman" 44 caliber bullet design brought back not-so-fond memories of garden hose/sprayer into my '73's action. I am sure it saw worse things during its service as a ranch gun in the early 20th Century, but given his historical gravitas such processes are a mite scary to conduct.

32/20--Lyman #311008, a borrowed tool that cast BIG......315". No, the owner won't part with it. Drat him, anyway. "008" carried enough SPG to keep things running well and smoothly for 50 shots in my Colt Bisley x 4-3/4". Again, its historic provenance gives me the fantods when I use the water sprayer/blow dryer/oil routine after firing BP in the thing, but it has survived my care sequences in good order so far.

The Marlin 1894CL (The One That Got Away) in 32/20 did OK with the BP loads for about 15-17 shots before accuracy went south. Hard fouling at the muzzle-end of the barrel was easily removed--a spit-soaked cotton patch or 2 on a 30 caliber rod jag, and we were back in business. One fouler, and the grouping returned to "reasonable". A "Big Lube" 32 caliber bullet would very likely keep a 32/20 levergun shooting all day, if you were so-minded.

Black powder shooting is NOT for those of us who tend toward laziness at the end of a day's shooting. You gotta clean those guns most ricky-tick when the sun slides toward the western horizon. Same story with the cartridge brass--gotta be washed out. I liken it to my boat's upkeep after a day or a week in salt water--you need some fresh water to get the evil chemicals away from your metal and wood, or BAD THINGS will happen.

Is black powder enjoyable? Oh, absolutely! The boomy reports, the clouds of smoke, and sulphur odor--what's not to like? I think Dick Dastardly's line of Big Lube Bullets addresses a true problem faced by BPCR and revolver shooters brought on by cruddy black powders that the trade forces upon recreational shooters. There are still good BPs available in this country, most are imports. I have not tried any of the Goex "Old Eynsford" line of fuels yet. One of my front-loaders will be the first victim to test-drive this fuel, when I get around to it. Don't hold your breath, though.

 

[Spindrift]

@CZ93X62 ; nice write up, interesting stories! No BP in my reloading room. Maybe it should be? Love the smell of that smoke.

 

[L Ross]

If you have a PC that runs windows, just open the picture in the default "office picture manager". One the top tool bar on the very right it says "edit picture" click on it. On the verbiage on the right the bottom says "change picture size" click on it. the bottom option is "change percentage size". I click on it and reduce it to about 25% and works almost always, as in 99% of the time. then save it. HTH

Thanks, all Apple devices. I can try the send to the phone, then back to my MacBook Air some time when it is really important.

 

[L Ross]

Now back to the black powder issue. Yup, good powder, i.e. Swiss and Olde Eynsford really helps, even KIK isn't bad, but when I was loading several hundred rounds for a weekend cowboy match I had a case of cheap GOEX. My wife and I shot straight black in everything, even pocket pistol. NAPA water soluble cutting oil and water or Ballsitol and water was our friend. Shot open tops, 66s, 73s, and a Rossi 92, a couple of double barrel shotguns and some old nickeled pocket guns, no rust ever, none. I save my Swiss or Eynsford for BPCR shooting in my Sharps and C. Sharps Hi-Wall.
Shot this weekend in Northern MN, and there was no fouling problems at all. On the other hand, 44 degrees, rain, and wind in your muzzle makes for soft fouling.

 

[CZ93X62]

Good to hear that Old Eynsford is The Good Stuff. That makes me happy.

Totally opposite problem where I live and hunt--very dry air much of the year, and fouling forms hard and nasty in short timeframes. That is part of the reason that I am largely a PRB shooter with my front-loaders--that wetted patch clears a lot of the fouling out as it gets seated atop the powder. Kind of a "steady-state" bore condition after the first fouler.

 

[L Ross]

Good to hear that Old Eynsford is The Good Stuff. That makes me happy.

Totally opposite problem where I live and hunt--very dry air much of the year, and fouling forms hard and nasty in short timeframes. That is part of the reason that I am largely a PRB shooter with my front-loaders--that wetted patch clears a lot of the fouling out as it gets seated atop the powder. Kind of a "steady-state" bore condition after the first fouler.

I've always heard and read about the problems the Western shooters have with low humidity and wind. The only time I have fouling problems with shoots here is when the organizers want too many shots fired in too few minutes. Thereby not allowing enough time to properly blow tube much less wipe with a damp followed by a dry patch. I picked up a delrin rod which allows me to be much less cautious pushing a patch as far as hitting the tang sight, or scraping the bore, still, in the match I shot on Friday in the rain, I only got off 22 rounds in the 30 shot match, using the 12 minutes allowed.
Between trying to keep a bore condition, and making sight changes, and trying not to rush the trigger pull too badly, I ran out of time. Worse yet are my friends that have to wear one pair of glasses to see to adjust their sights, and a different pair to see their sights. The gyrations they go through can be amusing for spectators, but frustrating for them.

 

[CZ93X62]

Delrin ramrods are a Godsend. Traditionalists get all bent outta shape about those, I guess they would prefer that someone get a busted wooden rod's jagged end shoved through a palm. And they would pitch a bitch about the shooter so injured using modern antibiotics to prevent infection. Those kinds of people live in abject fear that someone--somewhere--might be having fun, and BY GOD they are going to do something about that! My Delrin ramrod is brown in color, and might pass for "wooden-appearing" to a casual onlooker. The aluminum rod, though--no mistaking THAT critter for something from the Fur Trade Era.

Yeah, dry air can make BP shooting *interesting*. Wind, on the other hand--is an Equal Opportunity Victimizer. It besets both BP and smokeless shooters alike. Gotta love it, when the Washoe Zephyr builds up a fine head of steam around Carson City and continues blowing bullets around clear out to Eureka County or Ely. Ridgecrest was the same way--if you are shooting after lunch, you will be dealing with cross-winds, often full-value right-to-left. Most people use wind speed to calculate wind deflection--out West, we use deflection for wind speed estimations.

 

[L Ross]

I can be as rigid about tradition as the next guy. That being said, since I wasn't around for the commercial hide hunt, I really don't know how fast those guys shot. I do know that 25 targets in 10 minutes or 30 targets in 12 minutes, even here in the moist Midwest, can cause my rifles to foul out even with greasers and a blow tube. Paper patched bullets can't be much better and I would have thought even more susceptible to fouling.
So if shoot organizers are going to insist on too many rounds fired in too few minutes, I guess I'll have to deal with the fouling the best way I know how. As of right now, the delrin rod helps. As for my 1873 replica, I made a pull though cleaner with 400# test monofilament with a melted knot on one end and a drilled out .32 acp cartridge slid down over the knot to serve as a jag. The other end I cut off at a sharp slant to pierce the patch. One damp patch and one dry patch will keep me going for another stage.
Now with this new Big Lube bullet I need to set down and shoot until I see accuracy degradation. With my N.Dakota duck hunting looming on the near horizon, that testing probably won't happen for awhile.

 

[fiver]

I like the look of those big lube bullets.
I pondered buying one some time back, not really to shoot black powder with, but to do some lube testing with smokeless.
I kind of figured I could use a 98% beeswax and 2% oil of any sort mix, and probably have good luck with them.

the black powder I have been using is Schuetzen brand.
it leaves a fine grey ash behind at most but hasn't ever given me any black hard fouling, and it also had minimal smoke.
I thought the M/Loader might give me grief but the patch and ball went down from no-1 to no-50 no problems the first time out.
it also washed out of the barrel with minimal effort with just hot soapy water.
which was a relief seein as how I had no experience with the black stuff before and was expecting all kinds of trouble.

 

[CZ93X62]

Even the hardest of Goex Flaming Dirt black fouling can't defeat water. Fouling removal is not difficult at all, it's just inconvenient and cumbersome when compared to smokeless shooting's relative simplicity.

Good to know about Schuetzen brand BP. The science of BP making reached its zenith about the 1890s, and with the onset of smokeless fuels it seems like the industry largely forgot that people still have uses for the stuff--and for refined versions of BP, not the Goex Flaming Filth. Isn't that what the 2F designation stands for? And 3F--Faster Flaming Filth?

 

[RBHarter]

I've made a little screen powder , I have a pucking tool and grinder but never got to it . Even with all the fillers in mine it wasn't hard scale but very sooty in revolvers . Olive oil wetted felt wads kept me going for 100 rounds on a marathon day once . I've not done any super endurance tests in rifles but I have run 10 or so rounds in a string with no cleaning but after #5 it got really hard to get a ball home . 3 rounds and a wet patch followed by 3-5 dry keeps me going depending on how much accuracy I'm after . Mine are "just hunting" rifles with patch balls so 4" at 100 for 3 sets of 2 shots keeps me happy .