58 Hawken lube test

[frontier gander]

Had to dirty her up! With the 50cal Hawken doing so good with the Mr flintlock patch lube, it was only natural for me to feel that itch and then load up everything and go outside to scratch

50 yards

90gr 2f goex
.562" round ball
.020" patches lubed with mr flintlocks patch lube

First shot out of the group of course was on a bore that had a light coating of bore butter as i was doing a rust test. Its bore butters fault! Not mine.

This honestly has been my best rifle PERIOD. I know its nothing fancy made but I did add that 58cal barrel and relocate the tenon myself to get it to mount into the Hawken stock. Along with bedding the tang and trigger so it could keep up with those 110-120 grain 1 1/2 fg hunting loads.

[Candle Snuffer]

Good looking rifle.  Looks like the patches held just fine.  Good looking group as well, how far did you shoot from?  Rifles don't need to be fancy to be functional, I think it looks fine.

[TradT]

Again, some good shooting there! Gonna order up some of that lube!

[Daryl]

Looks pretty good, but note the brown scorch marks running outwards from the middle in a few spots.

That is blow-by, while not hurting things yet at the lower pressures of the 90gr. charge, your .020" patch material might not hold up with heavier hunting loads.  The .562" ball is really quite small for a .58. 

I use a .562" in my .574" Musketoon with a 10 ounce denim patch - somewhat thicker than the .020" you noted.  As well, my .580 SXS Kodiak with it's .008" rifling, did best with a .574" (over sized .570" mould) and the same 10 ounce denim patch.  They showed absolutely no scorch marks and the patches would hold up for numerous shots - each!

[frontier gander]

Agree'd, thanks for the PM as well daryl.

The rifle loves the 570 balls but i only cast the 562's as the only 570 molds available are either from TOW which is not really user friendly with the steel handles that heat up, and then the lyman which is a bit pricy.
 
I certainly will  purchase the 570 ball mold before hunting season though.

[Daryl]

There is a black powder outfit in Oregon or Washington State that sell moulds. I bought my .570 mould from them - as-used for something like $30.00.  It was like-new and cast a perfectly useable .573" X .574" ball. Unfortunately I let that mould go with my .58 Kodiak at the gun show last Spring. Sorry, I do not remember the name of the shop. Maybe someone else here knows of it.

[rudyc]

Here you go Daryl,

http://www.thegunworks.com/

You gave me the name of the shop a few years ago. Good folks.

rudyc

[TradT]

Just got my bottle of lube in on Monday. Can't wait to get a day to go shooting and give it a try.

The Gun Works is a great place and the folks there are some of the best. Just down the interstate from me and I go visit them time to time. In fact, I just picked up a Traditions Kentucky kit from them last week.

[jamesthomas]

 Looks good!! the ball imprint on those patches sure do look close to the frayed edge, I would have to go to a slightly bigger patch if it was me, it might take care of those brown blowby streaks. But you can't argue about the group though. I might be able to get out tomorrow myself to finish of checking some Olde Ensford I have. Monday I'll probably get around and order some of that lube and then I'll be hitting the range again. Any excuse to do some more shooting you know!.

[frontier gander]

I picked up some .575" balls today and with the .020" patch they take a good couple wacks on the short starter to pop them into the bore. I will give them a try for accuracy and see what the recovered patches look like. I'd prefer to stick with the thicker patch as the heavier 110-120 gr loads I for hunting most likely will shred the thinner .015 patches.

[whitebear]

Would be a good Idea to go to the next largest size of patches (45-50, 50-54) with as small a patch as you are using if it is just a little bit off center you might have a flyer and when that 10 point buck is in your sights is no time to have a flyer.

[ramrod]

where do you get this lube?

[frontier gander]

look in the classifieds, you may have to go back a few pages.

I tried the .020" patch with the new .575" ball and theres no way I could use that for hunting, I had to use a small hammer and tap my short starter to get the ball into the muzzle and then push it down.

It loves 90gr goex 2f with a .015" patch and 575 ball, but again, loading was horribly tight at the muzzle.

The big hole was 6 shots total with the .015" patch. A few other holes in that bigger hole were from Schuetzen 2f which I havent made up my mind on yet. It seemed a good deal dirtier than goex.


.015" patches,

[moleeyes36]

where do you get this lube?

Here is the link to that topic http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=28490.0  Just email Centershot off line and ask him the price per bottle with shipping to your location.   

[oneshot52]

just wondering how you lube your patches how much lube do tou use

[Candle Snuffer]

I just lube a thin layer of TOW Mink Oil (top and bottom) then stick the patch & ball in one of my many bullet blocks.  Spit patch, well when it feels wet enough is the best I can tell you.  After a while you just seem to know what feels consistent to you with both a lube and spit.  There's really no measuring device for this other then to say don't over lube as to foul the charge.