Hollow Based Bullets in .45 Schofield Brass

[Grapeshot]

I made up some hollow based bullets for my .45 Colt and Schofield Brass to be used in my SAA's.  I got to thinking, dangerous thing for me to do, that since I used to put crisco or bore butter in the hollow based minnie balls I used to shoot out of my Civil War Muskets, why can't I do the same out of these that I load in a Cartridge Case.

I then proceded to charge up a hundred cases of .45 Schofield with BP and a wax paper diskthat would keep the powder safe from the Black Powder Lube I was using.  I also pluged up the bullet cavity with BP Lube and loaded them into the cases.

I took the loaded rounds out to the range and fired them at my Shoot-n-See targets and did not see any adverse efffects while at the range shooting.  The bore was easy to clean as was the cylinder.  All brass was put into a jug filled with Soapy water.

When i got home I drained the jug into a plastic collender I have for just that purpose.  As I pulled out the brass to by placed on the paper towels to dry, I noticed that there was something in the casing.  The inner surface was coated with remnants of the lubricant.  Not just a film, but big globs of it that had been pushed out of the cavity as the hot gasses pushed against it upon firing.

I spent the next hour or so using a number of Q-Tips to scrape out that lube from all of the brass so affected.  Needless to say, I won't do that again.

[DJ]

Try this:  after you drain the cases in your colander, dump them into an old saucepan and full of water and boil them for awhile.  You'll probably want to do it outside unless you are (or want to be) a bachelor.  I let it boil for 20 minutes or so--sometimes longer.  Then drain, dry, and tumble until shiny.  I use a lot of lube under the bullets in my loads but have not had a problem getting them clean this way.