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Old December 18, 2014, 03:15 PM   #1
salvadore
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Liquid alox

I took my new Uberti '58 Navy out to the range last week and shot up some Lee conicals lubed with Lee liquid alox. Some folds in here didn't like the liq. alox for BP, and I was just wondering why.
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Old December 18, 2014, 03:26 PM   #2
maillemaker
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I know folks use Alox on round balls in smooth bores, basically to take up windage in the barrel.

But as a lubricant, I think Alox primarily serves to lubricate the bullet and prevent leading of the barrel. It is not a good black powder lubricant in that it does not help keep black powder fouling soft.

That said, period lubes such as the 1:3 tallow:beeswax recipe from the ordnance manual, were much more waxy than the 50:50 Crisco:beeswax many shooters use today.

Steve
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Old December 18, 2014, 03:37 PM   #3
DD4lifeusmc
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lube

Crisco is a vegetable oil in paste form.
Not the same properties as animal fat / tallow.

Petroleum based products tend to cause the BP fouling to be tougher to remove
from more tar like to an actual hard baked crud.
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Old December 19, 2014, 07:40 AM   #4
salvadore
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I was curious, it seemed like a good sealer for the chambers little ring of lead and lube after seating. After shooting 18 rds to see where the poi was I pulled the cylinder and ran a nylon brush thru the barrel and it seem to clean up pretty good.

And that was folks...
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Old December 20, 2014, 08:59 AM   #5
bedbugbilly
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ABP lube is needed to keep BP fouling soft - if not, over extended firing it will harden and crud up the works. The combination you are using may work fin smaller quantities of rounds - you said you shot 18 which is only three cylinders full. I'm betting that if you run a larger quantity through, you're going to notice fouling problems. I shoot .36 Navies - RB - and only use BP lube that Iv'e used for years - 50% Crisco/50% toilet bowl ring wax (the old rings - real beeswax). I often shoot 75 to 100 rounds at a range session - sometimes more, sometimes less - but keeping the fouling soft keeps things working and I never have had a problem with cylinder bind,,etc.

I tumble lube all of my cast slugs for smokeless loading (modern cartridge) in Alox / paste wax and it works fine for that - 38, 357, 9mm and cat sneeze 8 X 57 Mauser loads - never have a problem with leading. When I load my BP cartridges - I do TL them in Alox/Paste Wax but the live grooves are filled with the above BP lube that I use. It keeps the fouling soft and I can fire many rounds out of a New Vaquero or Uberti Bisley with no problems.

I'm not "high tech" when it comes to casting - I normally use "range lead" for smokeless cartridges but I've gone to using soft lead for the BP cartridges - it just seems to work better for my revolvers that i use them in.

You shouldn't have a "leading problem" with your BP revolver - you aren't pushing them that fast and your bullet to bore fit should be fine (not undersize). Nothing wrong with using the Alox - you aren't going to hurt anything but I think over a larger quantity of rouds, you'll see fouling issues? Maybe yes - maybe no. You might want to experiment - do a quantity (say 5,75 or 100 rounds) with Alox from a clean gun - then the same only using BP lube only with a clean gun and then the same amount of Alox/BP lube starting with a clean gun. Who knows? You might find a combination that really works well in your revolver that proves that the Alox is a help?

As far as using it on round ball - I really don't see where you'd get that much advantage from it. In a rifle, the patch surrounds the ball and the patch is what "grips" the rifling. In a BP revolver - when the ball is serrated in the cylinder chamber, it "cuts" the ring for a tight fit - when fired, the bare lead from the ring being cut is what engages the rifling and only a very minimum of the Alox covered ball will be engaging the rifling as the ball is pushed in to the rifling. Could be wrong but I don't see where it would add much to the combination. It would help to cover the balls in storage though for those that don't like the "gray" aging look!

Good luck and I hope you'll keep posting on your experimenting and results - we can all learn from it. I've tried conicals several times over the years but never had much luck with them out of my Navies - I always kept going back to the RB. The fun thing is that you have lots of things you can play with - RB versus Conical, lube and lube combinations, powder charges . . . and all of it "addicting"!
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If a pair of '51 Navies were good enough for Billy Hickok, then a single Navy on my right hip is good enough for me . . . besides . . . I'm probably only half as good as he was anyways. Hiram's Rangers Badge #63
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