View Full Version : BP fillers and homebrew lubes
Gator Weiss
May 3, 2013, 05:51 PM
Cards and wads and fillers. I am finding a real variety of techniques among BP shooters and BP cartridge shooters. Are any dangerously wrong? And what might be the most correct or safest? To hell with puf and Dacron. What did they really use back in the old days before they had that sort of thing? I like rolled oats because they seem to fill the airspace and they seem to tolerate light compression and their texture seems somewhere close to wadding. Just powder, rolled oats and bullets. Oats stay in place while corn meal migrates into the powder. Others seem to like corn meal or grits along with cards or wads. What is best? What is safest and what might be most authentic in 45-70 trapdoor loads?
Gator Weiss
May 3, 2013, 05:55 PM
Beeswax and canola oil with a hint of alcohol is one recipe. Another is a hint of lard with beeswax and a hint of lamp oil. What is everyone using here?
springfield 720
May 3, 2013, 06:02 PM
the Dad-inlaw always said,, if you think you need a filler in a rifle, just use a little more powder. :eek: . OR-- find the right sized ball that will go a little deeper.. that's what the old timers would tell you..
Grandpa never used a wad of any sort. Just powder-- ball-- pull the trigger..:D
Hawg
May 3, 2013, 06:03 PM
A full case of powder in most cases.
Roshi
May 3, 2013, 06:37 PM
IMHO chambers were made for powder not cereal.
Doc Hoy
May 4, 2013, 07:47 AM
A case full is about .35 grains. This is too much. Recoil is excessive. Beats the heck out of my hand.
I backed off to .28 with a card then cornmeal filler. Now it is more controllable.
Hawg
May 4, 2013, 09:32 AM
A case full is about .35 grains. This is too much. Recoil is excessive.
Should be 37. There is no such thing as excessive recoil, yer just a wuss.:D:D:D
freedom475
May 4, 2013, 10:01 AM
The original trapdoor load was the 405g over 70gr BP.
The cavalry was issued lighter carbines and all complained that the recoil was to much...so a second "cavalry load" was developed. Now the 405 was offered over 55gr BP with a cardboard tube filling the space.
Later, (I think it was 1881?), more testing showed the 500gr bullet was much more effective at longer ranges, so the 500gr over 70gr BP was added to the 45Govt' ammunition options.
Cream of Wheat is good filler for most pistol loads...most will tell you that 25gr is the best load(most accurate) from the 44cal cap&ball (even w/conical)...so it stands to reason that the 45colt will be most accurate w/ around 25gr BP. I used the compression die once and got around 40gr into the 45colt...accuracy was TERRIBLE!!! fouling bound the gun solid in two shots. More is not better....and the filler proved to be the answer.
I pulled down some commercial "Black Dawg" Goex 45colt loads and they had 25gr BP with Cream of Wheat as there filler. (I didn't taste it..but it sure looked exactly like Cream of Wheat:D)
Poindexter
May 4, 2013, 12:12 PM
I haven't doen thsi yet, btu i am fixing too. What I have is a .45Colt Redhawk that I open carry in the field during hunting season - I like to use the same gun to shoot steel target leading up to hunting season.
For steel target I need a 230gr bullet right at or near 750fps. I got the brass and bullets, and I have some 777 I want to burn off. I also have some cornmeal up in the kitchen that is getting older, too old really to use cooking.
So I got some cloth patches. Just from reading about it, but my plan is to load powder (probably about 25gr by volume), cloth patch, corn meal filler, lube cookie then bullet to about 10% compression on the powder.
I will have to load up a few at some different charge volumes to get my chrono numbers. Rolled oats sound intuitively OK to me, though I hadn't heard of such a thing before. I can't hardly keep oatmeal in the cupboard what with the kids and all, but if I come up with some old oatmeal someday I'll dig this thread up to see what happened.
brazosdave
May 4, 2013, 01:57 PM
I don't use fillers. I don't like to think about shooting perfectly good breakfast cereals out of my smokewagons. Ifn I use a wad, it's usually homemade felt with olive oil as the lubricant
bedbugbilly
May 4, 2013, 04:01 PM
Is that where the phrase "toasted oats" comes from? :D
Doc Hoy
May 4, 2013, 04:54 PM
Heavy loads do have an impact.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt259/Dochoy/Oneshortarm_zps7ed8a931.jpg (http://s617.photobucket.com/user/Dochoy/media/Oneshortarm_zps7ed8a931.jpg.html)
;o)
Hawg
May 4, 2013, 05:59 PM
Whacha tryin ta say Doc?:D
DD4lifeusmc
May 6, 2013, 08:46 AM
Never used a filler in any load.
I just pour in the powder (pre measured) seat the ball
down tight.
I shoot 44 Remingtons and Colts. Find my loading lever
will seat the ball on any load of 15 grains and more.
Cards / wads.
Have used the wads in past- dry and dry lubed.
But not as a spacer.
Used under the ball instead of "crisco" etc over the ball to help prevent chain fires
and to help with the fouling issues.
My biggest fouling issue is the the cylinder getting stiff after a few rounds, not the inaccuracy of the barrel, as each ball going down the barrel will wipe the fouling
of the previous shot.
I now shoot conicals almost exclusively and no wads.
I mix my own lube and as in all other things to each his own.
I mix regular melted hog lard from grocery store with melted real Beeswax,
to the consistency that works best for me.
What did the Mountainman , average shooter use in the early to mid 1800"
beats me.
But he most likely had ready access to beef, sheep and hog tallow, and whatever he or
his wife made from game he shot.
There were a lot of bee keepers in the colonies and early states, as most frmers kept some hives, as honey was used as both a sweetner and as medicinal purposes, so beeswax was
readily available too.
I pan dip my conicals in a melted mix to fill the grease grooves.
Load a Paper Cartridge filled with the powder, seat the bullet, cap the nipple and shoot.
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