General discussion > Black Powder Shooting
Lube and shot loads when where and how
Brokennock:
For the Skychief load I let my thick fiber "cushion" wads soak in olive oil or melted coconut oil (depending on time of year and expected temperatures) until they don't seem to be gaining any more weight. As per Skychief's original instruction one of these is loaded last and is the only lubed component.
For my squirrel and pheasant loads I use a lubed felt or tow/faux-tow wad. Loaded 3rd.
1. Powder
2. Thin card
3. Lubed felt wad or ball size wad of lubed tow/faux-tow.
4. Projectile/s
5. Two thin cards.
I usually use some iteration of my olive or coconut oil and beeswax lube melted to soft then wads added to the container and mushed around. Probably going to switch to just mink or neatsfoot oil though, maybe lanolin, just enough to get the felt greasy.
There is a gentleman from the other side of the pond that does an awful lot of hunting and pest control shooting with smoothbore muzzleloaders of various gauges and only uses various numbers of thin cards between powder and shot and over shot. He does occasionally use a dollop of lube, usually some type of animal grease/tallow, added directly into the bore between a couple of the thin cards that separate his powder and shot.
Prairie dog shooter:
Something else I have picked up is spraying a squirt or two of moose milk down the muzzle after the gun is loaded. Doing that I can shoot an all day clays match or shoot doves all day and never wipe the bore until I clean the gun at the end of the day.
It may not be P/C, but I have read that some of the old shooters would spit down the muzzle for the same results. Well sir, I'm not going to put my face in front of the muzzle of a loaded gun! Therefore, I cheat on the P/C when hunting or competing in a match with many targets.
While I enjoy being in period, I would never let safety take a backseat to being period correct.
JBJ:
Spitting down the bore was what V.M. Starr, the old time shotgun gunsmith and shooter, suggested in his little pamphlet. I share Prairie dog shooter's reluctance to place any part of my anatomy in front of any "live" firearm. Mr. Starr had a lot of wisdom in his little pamphlet which may be read/printed from http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/starr.html. However, I would ignore the bit about spitting down the bore. Prairie dog's idea of spritzing a moisturizer down the bore has merit in my opinion for prolonged shooting. Never encountered the situation while hunting that required even spritzing.
J.B.
Tim Ault:
Thanks all a seems like it’s another on of them gotta try it and see things . I see a trend forming with shot loads “gotta try it and see” is all encompassing! Lol
martin9:
Yep, "try and see" is a BIG part of these smoothbores. I've just started keeping a notebook about what loads work best in mine. Wish I'd started that sooner. One example I can think of is the Skychief load patterns better with #6 shot than any other load. with #8 shot just 2 thin overshot cards over powder/one over shot patterns better....go figure
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