Lube recipe [09] Tallow:Olive Oil 1:6

Started off Saturday's practise with a modified setup (indicated in red):

Mortimer pistol in .36
0.015 patch [from JT Tanner]
6:1 olive oil:tallow lube [homemade - recipe 09]
0.350 lead balls [from Hornady]
11 grains Swiss Number 1 [from Starley]
1075 percussion caps [from Dynamit Nobel]

The patches were 'wetted' with less lube than last time, so as to help reduce the 'splatter' when loading. I did this by adding more and more dry patches to the lube in the tin, until the new patches stayed dry. This lube recipe is slightly stiffer than the previous one, and loading is a little harder.

The powder load was upped from 10 grains to 11 grains of Swiss No.1. I also made an accurate check on the powder dispenser used. After setting it up for '11 grains', the phials were loaded. I then weighed all the phials and grouped them according to weight. Once I had 13 filled phials of the same weight (accurate to 0.01 of a gram), they were batched together for a card. 

Went back to using the Dynamit Nobel 1075 caps as I have a lot of them available. Of the 26 shots fired today, I had one misfire. The hammer fell but the cap failed to go off. After recocking, the cap went off on the second firing.

The first practise card had several flyers that I believe were down to the patches. While loading I noticed several were taken from the edge of the material. These had 'edging seams' on them, making them slight thicker on one side. For the second card, any patches like this were discarded.

Stats
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Detail score: 81.0
Running average: 79.84

The shots all appeared to be slightly to the right, so I might need to drift the foresight to the right, to bring the shots to the left. I will confirm this after the second practise card.

A fantastic second practise card. Almost equalled by PB of 90.1 A good group horizontally, with some vertical drifting (inconsistent sight picture due to outdated spectacles prescription!). I will drift the foresight to the right.

Stats
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Detail score: 90.0
Running average: 80.06
Barrel count: 613
Std. Dev.: 7.03
Cards: 47

Managed to get the running average back up over 80 ex 100. Also managed to get 12 of the 13 shots in the black. The wayward shot was a 5 o'clock magpie, straddling the 6/7 line.



  

Lubes for next session

If the weather is good next Saturday, I'll try a practise session using lube recipe 09 [Tallow:Olive Oil 1:6]. The 0.015" Jeff Tanner patches have been pre-wetted in the minimum amount of lube possible. This should help reduce the 'splatter' previously experienced.

 

I keep the patches stored in an old air pistol pellet tin. On the left of the picture above, is the phial of premixed recipe 17 [Ballistol:water 1:2]. This is what I'm currently using, but might be one of the causes of the loose groups, hence the retry of recipe 09.

I'll also be looking to try slightly larger powder loads. Google weight conversion has given me the following to try:

0.60g = 9.2594gr
0.65g = 10.031gr
0.70g = 10.803gr
0.75g = 11.574gr
0.80g = 12.346gr
0.85g = 13.118gr
0.90g = 13.889gr
1.00g = 15.432gr

Currently I use around 10.5gr of Swiss No.1 powder. I'll probably try some 12gr loads.

First air pistol practise of 2014

Allowing me to practise at home, and resulting in less kit needing to be carried up to the Club, I bought a late Christmas present for myself of a Steyr LP10 air pistol. Other than a slight change to the elevation setting on the rearsight, I have not made any changes to the factory set-up.

My best card of the three shot so far this year has been the above 77.0 After this card I dropped the elevation down three clicks. Hopefully the left/right spread will decrease with practise. 

Shot using H&N Target Finale Match pellets at 4.49mm diameter. Cylinder charged at 170. Shooting glasses fitted with 'old' intermediate prescription, adjustable aperture and several blinders.

Stats

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Running average: 76.0

2014 average: 73.0

BC: 80

PB: 85.2



Lubricants to date

01 Henry Krank's oiled patches - good datum - good quality material, but expensive.

02 Ox-Yoke oiled patches - very oily!

10 Ox-Yoke Wonderlube 1000+ - loading was slightly harder, swabs not cleaning thoroughly. Will retry using different 'wetting' procedure.
 03 Ballistol:water 1:1 - seems to work well, expensive though, hard to get Ballistol [only on eBay].

17 Ballistol:water 1:2 - works better, easy loading.

13 Ballistol:water 1:3 - loading still very easy but group seemed to open up.
 04 Tallow:Olive Oil 2:1 - far too stiff for pistol patches, group opened up.

05 Tallow:Olive Oil 1:2 - stiffens up too much after time BUT easy to clean afterwards! Perhaps a summer lube?

08 Tallow:Olive Oil 1:4 - much softer than [05] and melts by body heat. Will try wetter mix [09]

09 Tallow:Olive Oil 1:6 - liquid even when colder weather, splatters when loading [don't overwet patches], very dirty swabs so cleaning easily, good scores/grouping though. (March 2014) Less wetting produces much better results and a tighter group. Recommended.06 Beeswax:Olive Oil 1:2 - too stiff for pistol patches. Try more olive oil [19].

19 Beeswax:Olive Oil 1:4 - TBA.
 07 Beeswax:Lanolin:Neatsfoot Oil 2:1:2 - too stiff, needs more oil to loosen it up [18].

18 Beeswax:Lanolin:Neatsfoot Oil 2:1:3 - TBA.

11 Aqueous cream:Water 1:1 - loading was very easy, patches were not being completely lubed though - try wetter mix [12].

12 Aqueous cream:Water 2:3 - wetter version of [11]. TBA.

15 Tallow:Beeswax 1:2 - far too stiff for pistol patches, less beeswax needed.

20 Tallow:Beeswax 1:1 - TBA.

21 Tallow:Beeswax 3:1 - TBA. [Rifle lube? Massachusetts Arms Co.].

22 Tallow:Beeswax 4:1 - TBA. [Rifle lube? Marlin Firearms Co.].

16 Tallow:Beeswax:Olive Oil 1:1:1 - TBA [NZ Pistol lube].

24 Tallow:Beeswax:Olive Oil:Ballistol - 5:10:tablespoon:teaspoon - TBA.
14 Tallow:Beeswax:Paraffin 2:1:2 by weight - TBA.

23 Olive Oil - Too wet. Needs tallow, lanolin or beeswax to stiffen it up.

25
26
27
28
29
30

Score graph

Here's my score and Std. Dev. graph to date. After 45 cards and 587 shots, my running average sits at 79.82

Mortimer .36 percussion pistol - shot single handed from a target stance at 25yds.

 

The 'aim' from 2014 is to get my average above 80.0, and keep it there!

Winter season ends

Ending the winter season of the Kent Black Powder league with a whimper rather than a bang! Round 10 was a disappointing 77.1 with no good grouping.

 

Again the usual setup was in place, along with CCI percussion caps. Average still below 80, and Std. Dev. has worsened to almost 2.

Stats
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Detail score: 77.1
Running average: 79.82
Barrel count: 587
Std. Dev.: 1.99
Cards: 45

As prep work for the next season, I'm looking to try a thinner patch (0.010") as well as going back to two of my original lubes: [12] Aqueous cream:Water 1:2 and [09] Tallow:Olive Oil 1:6. I'm looking to see the groups tighten up.