Minie ball

Bobby Ironsights

Bobby Ironsights

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Hi, I'm liking the flintlock, but getting tired of fumbling with lubed patches in the cold. The lube gets gluey, and they stick together.

Now I'm thinking about the minie ball. I've read that they must be slightly smaller than the bore of the rifle. I shoot a .50 caliber,rifled; and use .490 balls which won't freely enter the barrel, even without patch.

Lee has minie ball molds available but they seem to be make .500 balls. Are these the ones I need? I'm confused because I thought they were supposed to be undersized?
 
I use "Traditions" brand Wonderlube for patches, it doesn't get gummy. The Lee mini molds are actually oversized slightly. The "R.E.A.L" molds means rifling engraved at loading. The lead of the mini will compress in the bore when it's pushed down and hold it in place. Your .490 round ball with a .015 patch will be very tight to start down the bore as well. You stated the ball alone is hard to get in. It sounds like you have either improper sized/labeled balls or you bore is actually a 45 caliber. A .490 round ball should fall freely into the barrel, providing the barrel is clean of powder fouling.
 
Billybob has the right idea. My cold weather lube is widshield washer, Ballistol, and a touch of Murphy's oil soap, and you could also try Hopps #9 plus for black powder. For hunting, I like to pre load speed loaders at home and that gives me 4 shots without messing around with patches and lube. I have tried the Lee Mini in my old Lyman Deerstalker with a twist of 1 in 48", but the only accuracy I could get was by paper patching them and wiping between shots.
 
The old style original mini balls with the hollow base are usually slightly under bore diameter. They were invented to make loading faster and easier without having to use a patch.

They almost drop right down the bore and then a good whack with the rod swells out the base against the bore to keep it in place. The gases from the burning powder expand it the rest of the way to engage the rifling and create a seal.

The solid base slugs are Maxi balls or "REAL" bullets.
 
M77 said:
I use "Traditions" brand Wonderlube for patches, it doesn't get gummy.
Click to expand...

Me too, but I live in Thunder Bay, and it's still kinda chilly here. The snow is off the ground in town, but there's still snowbanks handy, ten-fifteen minutes out down the highway, where me and my buddy go shooting.

Earlier this week, it was overcast and the nice and gelatinous wonderlube turned as solid as polishing compound in the tube, and stiff and sticky in the ziplock bag it was on the patches in.

Also, I don't know what was up with the ball I thought I tried, I just now tried a hornady .490 and it fell right in just fine. Maybe I tried with a squashed ball, or maybe I just hallucinated doing it when my GF bought it for me a year or so ago and what I really did was try a patched ball.

either way,

I also read the Lee website better, and it turns out the ITEM NUMBER is .500-something-something, for the .50 cal minie ball mold.

I guess I'll have to try picking up a mold, and report back.
 
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Lee Real bullet

I have used REAL bullets in my 50 cal and had good results. I had to use a fairly heavy powder charge to get accuracy out of them. I did not start to get decent groups until around 90 grains of 2F but of course every rifle is different. The rate of twist of a rifle will have a large influence on its ability to stabalize conicals (REAL bullets, minnies,...). I was using a rifle with a 1 in 48 twist which is a compromise twist. It is supposed to be good for round ball or conicals so your rifle may or may not like conicals.

Cheers. Steve (aka Bush Ratt)
 
Follow up on REAL bullets

I see you are using a flintlock? If you are your rate of twist might be too slow to stabalize a conical type projectile like a REAL bullet. Most "flichers" are a 1/66 twist that is meant to stabalize a round ball. I would give it a try to see but to tell you the truth a round ball up to 50 yards is just as effective. The conical starts to shine at the longer ranges but for close shooting the round ball is hard to beat unless you are after bears and need the greater mass. I will get some REALs to you as promised but you could also try Lyman Great Plains bullets and some of the sabot type projectiles. I tried them in a my rifle (1/48 twist) and found them to be very accurate, especially the sabots.

Cheers! Bush Ratt
 
I shoot a 50 cal flint longrifle with patched roundball - 55 gr 3F with 490 Hornady plus 15 patch, or 495 plus 10. The latter I find harder to get down the barrel and 490 seems more accurate. I have used prelubed wonder patches, or unlubed patches (from ToW) which I lube myself by just rubbing wonderlube into them. For accuracy in the 50 yd range, I don't think you can beat a roundball in a longrifle with that barrel twist. I would never consider using a Minie or other expanding bullet in my longrifle as it doesn't suit the twist, and is also not authentic for the late 18th c!

I usually lube the patches in the warmth the night before, then carefully put them in a sandwich bag overlapping so they don't gum up together in the cold and can easily be taken out one by one with frozen fingers.

Do you use a ball starter before ramming? That helps.

Hopefully it'll warm up soon for you!
 
patch lube

I stay away from wonder lube. I think its a "wonder" that you can load the rifle again with it. I use a liquid lube made by the following

winshield washer fluid
water soluble cutting oil
murphys oil soap

I take the widshield washer fluid and add water soluble cutting oil and then shake it well (not stirred....). I keep adding the oil until the washer fluid (I use the blue stuff) turns a mint green. Finally I add about 1 teaspoon to 4 litres ratio of murphys oil soap. Not only can you shoot all day with no gumming or crudding up of the bore but you can use it as an excellent bore cleaner. Keep the patches in a film container and you will not have to worry about spills.

Bush Ratt
 
Interesting recipe, stevejones!

I spit on a patch and swab the bore between rounds; maybe this is why I have never had any problem with wonderlube, even in winter.
 
Wonder(?) lube

I used to use wonderlube too and never had any problems until I got involved in rendevous. The average trail walk has around 25 to 30 targets. By the time I got to the 10th target I just about had to pound the end of the ramrod with a rock to get it to go down. The fouling is even more of a problem during the summer. With the recipe I gave there is no need to swab the bore which can cause problems due to the fact that each time you swab the bore you are pushing crud down into the breach.

Bush Ratt
 
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