Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR Beeswax Wads and Grease Cookies

I'm brand new at loading black powder cartridges. In my first foray I discovered that the grease grooves in my bullets won't hold enough SPG Lube to keep the powder foulong soft.
I've read that a beeswax wad is needed to keep the "grease cookie" from contaminating the powder so I bought some beeswax, melted it in a double boiler and poured it into a thin layer in a cookie sheet. Trouble is, it stuck to the cookie sheet.
So how does one get the beeswax into a thin sheet to make wads? I'm trying pouring it onto wax paper on the cookie sheet, that seems to work but is somewhat of a pain.
Any better ideas?
How big a glob of lube do I put between the beeswax wad and the card wad?
Thanks.

Pete, what caliber and bullet? Grease cookies are normally useful in a very narrow range of cases and situations. Mostly the long cases 45-90, 100 and 110 and almost exclusively with paper patch bullets.

SS

Pete,

I use grease cookie loads in my .45-90 for a form of buffalo silhouette that requires 25 fairly rapid shots, with little time for using a blow tube or wiping. I use a two-layer cookie, about .10 to 1/8" of beeswax over the powder, then a layer of lube like SPG of the same thickness, then a .030 or .060 card wad under the bullet. I find that the beeswax doesn't need anything under it to keep it from migrating into the powder. This combo works for me. There are several ways of making lube cookies. One of the most common is to place a couple of paint stirring sticks parallel for thickness spacers on a flat surface and use a roller like a rolling pin to flatten the lube. The trick is to use waxed paper to keep the lube from sticking. Beeswax is another matter. Here's what I do for both the beeswax and lube. I weigh it out, about 1.3-1.5 oz. (actually about 560 grs.), then I fill a one liter glass measuring cup almost full of water and melt it in a microwave. The wax or lube will form a uniform sheet on top of the water, about the right thickness. Once it cools its easy to take out the sheet. Actually I have two such cups, so while one is cooling I can be working with the other, and I'm thinking of getting a third to improve my productivity. I store the sheets in a round Tupperware-type container, with waxed paper between them. Each disk makes 50-60 .45 cookies. You can remelt the remaining perforated disk, so there's no waste. It is a bit of a PITA, but then a lot of BPCR is a PITA. Those of us who love the old rifles feel it's worth it. I have heard that you can buy beeswax sheets from beekeeping supply outfits, but I've never checked it out. Here's another tip: don't screw around with raw beeswax even if it's cheap, buy refined beeswax. The trouble and mess to melt and strain the raw caps isn't worth it, either in terms of time or peace and tranquility on the domestic front. Good shooting!

Paul

Pete,

Considering what SharpsShooter said, I'm assuming that you know about using a blow tube between shots to keep the fouling soft. Like I said, I use grease cookies only for a fairly specialized form of shooting. Also, fouling depends on a lot of factors, one being the heat and humidity where you live and shoot. High heat and low humidity make for a real challenge in managing fouling.

Paul

The Sharps Rile Co. made lube "discs" out of 1 pt sperm oil and 2 parts beeswax. Their recommended loading procedure was card wad over powder, lube disc, bullet. I got some synthetic sperm oil from dixie and made a lube mold. 8 holes per mold, 1/8" thick. I lay it on an alumnum plate and cast the discs. works pretty good and the discs keep the fouling soft. For range shooting Sharps Co also recommended pushing a tight fitting cork thought the bore between shots. Those old boys did some pretty fair shooting both on the rifle range and the buffalo range so they must've had something.

Thanks, gents.
What's happening is that I'm trying to teach myself loading for the Traditional Class in Cowboy Action. So I loaded up some Black, and Pyrodex, loads for my .45 Colt. After a gun full, the cylinder quit turning.
Since there isn't a Cowboy Action Forum, I asked here.
I loaded fifty Pyro and fifty real Black loads , they're still a work in progress but I managed 100 rounds without losing function. My next tribulation will be the attempt for some sort of consistancy. I suspect that some lube is leaking past the beeswax in a few cartridges because I'd get a series of BOOM! BOOM! pop. BOOM!. Oddly, the pop rounds hit in the same general vicinity as the BOOM! rounds. The 'pop' rounds all had a big ol' glob o' beeswax stuck to the inside casewall. I suspect that I'm somehow getting the wad column sideways during pushing everything down.
I know I'm using too much lube in the grease cookie. The fouling stays good and soft but there was stuff dripping from my shootin' iron. Of course, one hundred rounds in one session, there would be.
So, I'm part way there, thanks for the help.

I, like you, have some "special applications" where I have the need for grease cookies for one of my BPCRs.

Go here

http://www.castingstuff.com/cabinetree_loading_products.htm

and scroll down towards the bottom of the page. You'll find the "mother of all grease cookie dispensers" here! This thing is fantastic!

Howdy fellers!! Ol Bentflint here. Hope ya don't mind if I sit a bit and listen!!
Now I'm just now learnin about BP cartridge shootin with a Trapdoor rifle in 45-70.
I am going to ask some dumb questions, but if I'm a gonna shoot this thing I'm gonna do it right.
Dumb question 1. Do I need to use a blow tube on this rifle? It's a original 1873 in great condition!!
I done got me some cowboy action ammo and they're made with the same charge and bullet as the military specs for this rifle were.
I done been told that the carbine version of this Springfield rifle would kick the snot out of ya with a 405gr. bullet.
This rifle I am told is very accurate and fun to shoot.
I'm gonna find out if it's as much fun as my muzzleloaders and Ol Flinty, my weird old flintlock!
Thank ye all!!