If I were to “slug a bore”, so as to find correct bullet diameter . I would lubricate the bore “before” pushing the slug through.

It makes good sense to me to have lubrication ahead of that slug to ease its travel down the bore.

Lube grooves on most bullets that I know are behind the leading edge of the bearing surface of the bullet.

My head has conflict right there!

I would be real proud to have Shooters Forum members set me straight on that!

I hope I have asked my question well? Most of you know that I don’t get along well with a keyboard.

Cheezywan

You just need a light coating of oil on the barrel. Running a patch with light oil through a clean barrel is all that's needed. Filling the lube grooves on the bullet with gooey sticky lube is unnecessary. I've done most of my slugging with 00 Buck or muzzleloader round balls. No lube grooves on them. ;)

Bye
Jack

Same as Jack, muzzle loader round balls work great. If they aren't quite big enough, a couple of whacks with a hammer "embiggens" them :D

Even WD-40 will work for lube when slugging. Doesn't take much.

I did not ask my question very well.

I'm asking about the mechanics of shooting cast bullets with lubrication behind the leading edge of the bullet.

I am not having any trouble with my cast loads. Just wondering WHY it works.

I know how to slug a bore. Should have left that out of the thread to avoid confusion.

Cheezywan

Lead or mixtures of lead/tin/antimony are naturally "slick". That is after all what the bearings in a reciprocating engine are made out of. Now a bullet going down a barrel is sorta different, but not really. The lands of the barrel are the bearing surfaces the bullet rides on, so the lube in the grooves on a bullet (my theory only) does the same thing as oil on a crankshaft journal, it gets "pressed" out in front on the bullet the same way the oil is forced out in front of the rotating parts in an engine.

Also the bullet before "lubes" the path for the next bullet to a certain extent in my way of thinking.

Maybe I just muddied the waters, I hope not.

RJ

Well, that is a good question, how does the leading edge of the bullet get lubricated? Unless you have a lube that completely covers the bullet, it doesn't.

Keep in mind that friction between the side of the bullet and the bore is highest at the base, and least at the nose (due to the force on the bullet base from the powder vs. the inertia of the bullet). So if there is one part of the bullet that can stand to be without lubrication it is the nose. It is explained in Veral Smith's book, with some pictures to show.

Anyway - subsequent shots deposit some amount of bullet lube in the bore, and if the bore has the least bit of oil in it f rom cleaning then you don't have to really worry about the first shot, either. Plus, with a gas checked bullet, the check scrapes out what fouling accumulates. In fact many times I have "cleaned" a leaded bore by firing some gas-checked loads through it. Presto, lead is gone.....

Now you do have to consider if the first round goes through a perfectly dry bore, and especially one with some copper fouling, then that is a real recipe for accumulating lead.

Hope that helps....

The "waters" are already "muddy" RJ. Is why I was wondering. Pondering some on your theory(and will continue to do so)?

Your explanation sorta works too MikeG.

I got to shoot and reload some this weekend. The "question" occured to me while inspecting my handloads. They work fine. Is the WHY part?

Cheezywan