doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com black powder wads do the need lube?

does one have to lube fibre wads for black powder use?
if so what is the best thing to use?

You do not HAVE to, but I recommend that you do. It helps keep the fouling soft and, I believe, from building up as quickly. Many commercial lubes will work well, but I use "moose milk". It is a 50/50 mixture of water and water soluble machining oil. Turns milky white when mixed, thus the name. Just use enough to barely soften the cushion fibre wad a little. Too much and the wad comes to pieces when left for awhile before use.

I suspect it helps seal the bore from the hot gases behind it as well, thus improving patterns. Many times when hunting I just put it in my mouth and moisten it. Good luck.

Stan

We talk'n Black powder cartridge or muzzleloader ?

black powder cartridges loaded into plastic (my bad!!!!)
so far I have a can of Wano PPP some circle fly over powder and fibre wads working on using 80grs of powder (weight) and anywhere from 1oz 1 1/8oz of shot what ever it works best with for getting a fold crimp
the loads are only for a bit of a giggle at my local sporting range I want to turn up with my Lefever and go bang!!! just to see what sort of response I get

I would not add any lube to the wads in BP cartridges. Lube added in an amount that might affect the fouling might also contaminate or kill some powder. Most of us who shoot BP cartridges carry a spray bottle of moose milk or plain water. Spray this down the bores after every few shots. It will keep the fouling softer and some of it will shoot out, as you go. Moose milk is just water with soluble oil added in the ratio of about 1 part oil to 7 or 8 parts water. The oil will help prevent rust from forming, during the day. Shooting a round or two of skeet, after the black, using low pressure smokeless will clean out most of the fouling.
The above advice is assuming you're shooting skeet or trap. For just hunting, where you might shoot a half-dozen shots all day, I
wouldn't bother with carrying the spray bottle. I've been happy with 60 grs. GOEX 3f and 7/8 oz. shot, 68-70 grs. 3f and 1 oz. I haven't used 1-1/8 oz. for years, but with it, I'd use 75-80 grs. 3f.

I use a mix of vegetable oil and beeswax and drop the wads in to a hot vat of same.Hold wads in a sieve and once they've been doused let them strain and cool / dry then they're good to go.

Salopian, Do you use those wads in cartridges or a muzzel loader?

I use no lube on the wads and if I did it would only be on the edge.
I believe that it just adds to the weight of the ejecta with little benefit. I've shot well over a hundred rounds without cleaning, a lot may be do to the dry air here and the use of Goex "Cartridge" power which I bought for rifles but works real good in my shotguns.

Have nearly always used lubed fiber (cushion) wad, 0,50 inches, make by OxYoke. It is essential to have a nitro card wad between these lubed wads and the powder to keep the lube out of powder. Recently, I opened some that had been loaded for 3-4 years. The nitro card wad was moistened clear through its thickness by the lube but there was no apparent contamination of the powder immediately under the nitro wad. Actually, the moistening of the nitro card wad may have happened when the wads were compressed on the powder. Did not fire any that had been stored for 3-4 years, but, such ammo stored for at least 2 years fired "normally" (no velocity tests done).

One round of trap, no squirting of water, Windex, etc. down the bore, was quite OK with these loads but, two rounds left me with much more of cleaning task than normal. These fiber wads are quite soft, so little or no scraping of powder fouling. An additional nitro wad over the soft fiber wad did keep the barrel cleaner.

Niklas

When I first got interested in loading BP cartridges, several years ago, I tried using Ox-Yoke Wonder Wads between the filler wad and the OP wad. It did nothing that I could see eacept adding a great deal to the cost. As Michael said above, any lube you add will add ejecta weight and recoil. IMO, it will do zero about the normal fouling. If you want to keep the fouling softer, carry a spray bottle and leave the wads alone.