Reeder Custom Guns - LUBRICATING JACKETED BULLETS

All bullets need lubrication, some more than others. I know it is commonly taken that jacketed bullets do not need lube. If that were the case however we would not use oil in the bearings on our cars. Fire a few thousand jacketed bullets through your barrel and watch it turn copper-colored in the rifling and then tell me jacketed bullets don't need lube. They do, however, need it far less than lead bullets.

Some years ago I ran a test - lubricating jacketed bullets. I did this after I pulled some early Winchester .45 Silver Tip bullets and found that they had a grease groove in the jacket!! Hmm....does Winchester know something I don't? I thought. So I gave it try.

Fired in a Ruger .45 Colt Blackhawk 7 1/2" - using WW cases with CCI LP primers - 22 gr. H-110 and the Speer 300 gr. PSP bullet. The bullet was seated out of the case as far as possible, crimping into the bottom crimp groove.
NO LUBE
Load #1 - 974 fps
Load #2 - 815 fps
Load #3 - 1003 fps
Load #4 - 993 fps
Load #5 - 987 fps
Load #6 - 896 fps
Average of all shots - 944 fps

SAME LOAD AS ABOVE EXCEPT THE BULLETS WERE LUBED WITH LEE LIQUID ALOX AND ALLOWED TO DRY 24 HRS. BEFORE LOADING AND FIRING THEM.
Load #1 - 1027 fps
Load #2 - 1075 fps
Load #3 - 1063 fps
Load #4 - 1062 fps
Load #5 - 1055 fps
Load #6 - 1000 fps
Average of all shots - 1046 fps

Next I fired the 7 1/2" .454 Casull with the same bullet loaded over 30 gr. H-110, using CCI #400 Small Rifle Primers.
NO LUBE - average velocity 1698 fps
LUBED WITH LEE LIQUID ALOX (dried 24 hrs. before loading and firing) - average velocity 1775 fps

FIRED FOR ACCURACY AT 25 YARDS FROM A REST
Bullets without Lube - 2" average
Bullets with Lube - 1.75" average

What did it prove? Bullets going down a bore have friction. Something we all know. Often we do not think about jacketed bullets and barrel friction though. What little testing I have done leads me to believe that you can have too much of a good thing. Accuracy is not always enhanced by better lubrication. Bullets apparently need some "drag". But this is a subject that could use more testing. I just have never followed through with it because accuracy with jacketed bullets has always been more than “good enough.”

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site. Don't think for a second I could come up with this.

This one single sentence pretty much says it all that a lube needs to do, and I think you are seeing it with your jacketed bullets experiments.

An effective cast bullet (or in your trials jacketed) lubricant provides a fluid film barrier between bullet and the barrel during the firing event, leaves the surface of the bore the same condition shot to shot, (maybe what you are seeing in your tests) and completely departs the bullet at the muzzle to prevent balance disturbances farther down range.

I think your Alox lube is probably helping to stabilized the conditions of the barrel.

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It seems like it would work, in theory, but flyers for several rounds has been my experience.

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until the conditions in the barrel have settled down and are repeatable. I've seen a lube or powder change do the same thing with fliers for several shots.

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ever produced were (likely) paper patched! It would be interesting to see if modern bullets could squash this idea. I think the mechanical firearms are more of a limiting factor, all things not equal.

I once made some special paper patched bullets bumping up from .416" to .430" and lubed with LEE Alox. They worked fantastic in the Encore handgun at close to 2000 fps! My 50 yd. groups were as good as my 325 gr. jacketed .430" as I had a pretty good flinch going. Even with a brake the recoil is getting close to the limits of skin and bone. It kicked straight back into the web of the hand. I had to interlock both thumbs to keep hold of it. My lighter bullets were running 2300+ fps. The .416 solid slugs were to be emergency stoppers for Bear in case the lighter constructed bullets expanded too quickly.

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NEVER shoot sabot projectiles from a braked gun. I read JD Jones even dinked a Mag-na-ported gun with some specialty ammo that expanded into the ports near the muzzle.

However....in my case, after some serious calculations and testing, considering the limited use, I decided the shredding paper would not harm MY barrel. It's something to think about. I've also shot dacron stuffed rounds that scatter spider web looking material all over. The synthetic blanket stuffing does not melt, or burn, or alight the landscape (like paper), at firing. It's quite handy at filling up a case to keep powder in place for more consistent ignition in specialty loading.

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a case when the powder load was a bit lower than would be good and could cause hang fires. I have used a quarter sheet of TP rolled up into a ball and shoved down tight against the powder. This keeps the powder close to the primer and keeps the ignition perfect and never has it caused any problem with a muzzle brake. TP burns extremely fast and leaves no clogging of the ports. But this is totally different from the paper used in paper patching bullets. I have never used paper patched bullets so I have no info on that.

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but I have not messed with this stuff in a long time now. Drop me your email address and I will send you some interesting stuff.

Use this one - allen.lbim2@passinbox.com It's a temporary that I will delete later ... saves on spam ..

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They are coated with "Lubealox". I noticed that if I used them interchangeably with standard copper jacket bullets that accuracy was mediocre. But if I thoroughly cleaned the barrel and only used those with no other bullets, accuracy was excellent. I never put them through the chronometer though.

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LUBRICATING JACKETED BULLETS

Jim, I have stolen this from another

Hope nobody gets the idea to leave oil in the bore

Yeah I can see that happening

Likley some of the most accurate bullets

BTW the brake was a serious consideration

I have never had any problem using toilet tissue to fill up

I got some good explanations from an engineer also ..

I shot a bunch of Combined Technology bullets