Which model?

[ssb73q]

Hi, the Minie Balls cast this morning have been tumble lubed with 50% Lee Alox Bullet Lube and 50% paint thinner. The Minie balls are now drying on a sheet of aluminum foil. After 24 hours the lube will be mostly dry and the Minie balls can be stored.

Regards,
Richard

[Gray Fox]

Richard:

Have you used this lube combo with BP before?  All I have read says that it will produce leading and hard fouling.  I lube my .45-70 bullets for BP loads with dipped 50/50 beeswax and olive oil or Crisco.  GF

[Hawg]

Richard:

  I lube my .45-70 bullets for BP loads with dipped 50/50 beeswax and olive oil or Crisco.  GF

That's what I use on my 58 minies and what I use on all my cartridge bullets including smokeless.

[ssb73q]

Richard:

Have you used this lube combo with BP before?  All I have read says that it will produce leading and hard fouling.  I lube my .45-70 bullets for BP loads with dipped 50/50 beeswax and olive oil or Crisco.  GF

Hi Gray, you are probably right. I used liquid alox with heeled bullets, but the powder was smokeless. I will wash off the alox with paint thinner and go with 50/50 beeswax and olive oil. Thanks for the heads up.

Regards,
Richard

[mazo kid]

I got an original P53 many years ago from a much older friend. It was in a trailer roll-over when he was moving and the gun was badly damaged. The stock was broken and the barrel bent. I don't have the forearm. I still have those parts. I think if I parted-out the gun it would bring many times what I gave for it. Richard, if you can use it, I will send you some walnut dust for filling in that dent

[Hawg]

I got an original P53 many years ago from a much older friend. It was in a trailer roll-over when he was moving and the gun was badly damaged. The stock was broken and the barrel bent. I don't have the forearm. I still have those parts. I think if I parted-out the gun it would bring many times what I gave for it. Richard, if you can use it, I will send you some walnut dust for filling in that dent

I've got an original P53 made in 1861 and an original bayonet that actually fits it and my repro tho it fits the repro better.

[ssb73q]

Hi Emery, thanks for the offer of walnut dust, but I have a walnut colored wood filler coming:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086D4TLE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did the wet towel and hot iron dent removal and raised a lot of the dent, but the gouge will still need some filler.

Regards,
Richard

[Hawg]

Hi Emery, thanks for the offer of walnut dust, but I have a walnut colored wood filler coming:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086D4TLE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did the wet towel and hot iron dent removal and raised a lot of the dent, but the gouge will still need some filler.

Regards,
Richard

Man that sucks on a rifle that expensive.

[Dellbert]

Glad you went with the Enfield Richard. Hope you get everything all worked out with the stock.

[ssb73q]

Hi, a lube mixture of 50/50 beeswax and olive oil was prepared in a saucepan. Minie balls were put in a fry pan with the bullets standing up. The hot mixture of lube was poured into the fry pan so as to cover the grease groves. The fry pan was then put on a hotplate to where all the lube was totally melted in the bullet loaded fry pan. Each of the Minie balls was then lifted out of the melted lube with needle-nose pliers and put standing up on a sheet of aluminum foil to cool. This leaves a nice thin coat of lube on the lube groves of the bullets.

Making lube for ball used with Black Mz powder could just be doing monkey motions. The makers of Black Mz maintain that no lube is required when using Black Mz powder, the combustion products produce moisture without crud buildup. However, the 50/50 beeswax and olive oil lube will help keep the loose fitting Minie ball firmly against the powder when loaded and the lube on firing can't hurt.

Regards,
Richard

[Hawg]

I use that lube on my minies with both Pyrodex and black. The weight of the ramrod will push them down the bore to the last three inches or so no matter how many shots have been fired. You would not believe the destruction they cause. We had an old chicken coop made out of 2 x 6's and 3/4 plywood we kept hay in for the horses and one of the horses got in and kicked the ever lovin hell out of it and almost brought it down. One day I was shooting and said what the hell lets see what it does. Huge exit holes with 2 foot splinters in some places where they went through the 2 x 6's. This is one of my Lyman minies



This is one I recovered after it went through a metal five gallon bucket at 300 yards. It left a hole in the soft dirt of a pond bank 9 inches deep and four inches across.

[Gray Fox]

Can you imagine the effect of that bullet hitting your leg squarely?  Fifty years ago in 'Nam I took a piece of NVA/Soviet 122 mm rocket about that size in my lower back in a through and through wound.  Two days later the entire back of my body was black and blue from the nape of my neck to both of my heels.  The one doctor told me it had something to do with the effects caused by such sized pieces of relatively slow flying metal.  It may be related to what the legendary African white hunters often said about the effectiveness of large caliber bullets in a certain BP velocity range when used against large game animals.  GF

[mazo kid]

Not only the wound itself, but maybe hydraulic shock to the body?

[ssb73q]

Hi, I did the best I could to fill in the dent on the Traditions 1853 Enfield stock forend. The last coat of Tru-Oil is now drying. A final buff with #0000 steel wool will finish the repair. Photos of before and after with Tru-Oil drying:

Regards,
Richard

[ShotgunDave]

Nice repair Richard. You can barely see it. I bet if you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't even notice it.