Grease Cookies

[Mangled99]

I am new to black powder and have seen that some people make grease wads to put between the powder and ball. I have an Umberti .44 New Army and I was wondering if anybody on here makes them, what recipes and what do you use for cutting them out.

[tacfoley]

Well, I have to admit that I don't use them for a revolver, but I DO use them in a BP rifle - same deal, bigger cookie.

I use 1/4" thick felt soaked in 'TREX' and then cut them out using a wad-cutter from Mr Krank.

tac

[Smokeless Coal]

greased wads you mean? felt disks impregnated with a lube. Comercial ones are often soaked in wonderlube.
Some use wads up to half inch thick to pack out the distance to get the ball near the front of the cylinder.

Avoid using petroleum based lubes. melted beeswax is a possible as it cools the felt goes hard an easy to cut with a wadcutter or tube ground to be sharp

[Mangled99]

Thanks for the replies, I wasn't thinking of using a felt wad as I have seen on American forums that you can make a grease cookie that fits between the powder and the ball that doesn't involve a felt wad. Just wondered if anyone in the UK does the same and recipe's as most of the ones I have seen involve tallow or Crisco which I don't think you can get over here. I was also wondering what I could cut it with as the one I have seen recommends a 45 ACP case and I don't think I could get my hands on one of them as most people at the club shoot 22, 357 or 44.

[DJS]

I've used grease cookies in my .36 revolver. My wife renders down animal fats to make tallow for me. Lamb tallow and deer tallow are good, lamb tallow is slightly softer .
You can add beeswax to the tallow to make it firmer for the cookies or add a vegatable oil (I use castrol R) to soften it up for using over the ball.
Trex is the same as Crisco, this is very soft and you will need to add beeswax to make it firmer.
I'm sure you would be able to get a .45 acp case with a wanted thread in the reloading section.

Daz

[Mangled99]

I've used grease cookies in my .36 revolver. My wife renders down animal fats to make tallow for me. Lamb tallow and deer tallow are good, lamb tallow is slightly softer .
You can add beeswax to the tallow to make it firmer for the cookies or add a vegatable oil (I use castrol R) to soften it up for using over the ball.
Trex is the same as Crisco, this is very soft and you will need to add beeswax to make it firmer.
I'm sure you would be able to get a .45 acp case with a wanted thread in the reloading section.

Daz

I go deer stalking from time to time so that is a good idea of making my own tallow, not sure if her indoors would be too keen on me doing that on the cooker though. I also like the idea of adding Castrol R to the mix, as I was brought up on that smell and I think for guys of a certain age like myself it doesn't come much better, does it smell like an old RD350 when you are shooting as that would be great.

Did you find putting a grease cookie between the powder and the ball any better or is it not worth messing around and just put grease over the ball.

I'm off to put a wanted thread in the reloading section, thanks for the advice.

[lilguy43uk]

I buy semi greased felt wads for my Ruger. Saves a lot of mucking about.

[clueless]

I buy semi greased felt wads for my Ruger. Saves a lot of mucking about.

Here here, makes it nice and easy and relatively clean rather than blatting chip fat or half the kitchen cupboards down range. Chap at our club uses cous cous and trex as a filler/seal and the resulting aftermath is like a incenderary device had just blown up a north African market stall.

Takes an hour to clear the carnage after he's gone

Andy

[tacfoley]

Here here, makes it nice and easy and relatively clean rather than blatting chip fat or half the kitchen cupboards down range. Chap at our club uses cous cous and trex as a filler/seal and the resulting aftermath is like a incenderary device had just blown up a north African market stall.

Takes an hour to clear the carnage after he's gone

Andy

On the bright side, it also smells like a Lebanese restaurant....

tac

[tacfoley]

I buy semi greased felt wads for my Ruger. Saves a lot of mucking about.

One of those downside words again. If you mean Wonderwads, I just 'wonder' how you guys can afford to buy them.

Many folks get into BP because it's relatively inexpensive - buying Wonderwads at the UK price takes a lot of the shine out of shooting BP.

tac

[tacfoley]

Thanks for the replies, I wasn't thinking of using a felt wad as I have seen on American forums that you can make a grease cookie that fits between the powder and the ball that doesn't involve a felt wad. Just wondered if anyone in the UK does the same and recipe's as most of the ones I have seen involve tallow or Crisco which I don't think you can get over here. I was also wondering what I could cut it with as the one I have seen recommends a 45 ACP case and I don't think I could get my hands on one of them as most people at the club shoot 22, 357 or 44.

Uh, if YOU can tell the difference between the diameter of a floppy lump of material impregnated with Trex or Crisco that has been cut out using a .44 case rather than a .45 case,then you are a shoo-in for CSI.

tac

[Augustus McCrae]

add a vegatable oil (I use castrol R)

Do you get that wonderful smell when it goes off?

[DJS]

You get the occasional hint of that wonderfull aroma but not as much as I had hoped!
The grease cookies worked well but were tricky to make in a consistent thickness.
I put the lube over the balls at the moment with polenta as a filler.
I'll make some more grease cookies soon to try in my .44, all part of the fun of muzzle loaders
Daz

[enfield2band]

I never use wads or cookies in my revolver. Pressing the lead ball in seals the chamber.
I know a lot of people do it to stop flash-over, but does it?

I was once stood next to a friend who had his gun flash-over. It went round the back of the cylinder through the caps and took about a second for each chamber to fire. He had no choice but to keep the gun pointed downrange, and thankfully, for both of us, the gun did not blow up. The balls not in-line with the barrel forced themselves out through the gaps at the side and bent the cylinder pin, which forced the barrel away from the cylinder.

I think securely fitting caps are more use than greased wads.

Nor do I put grease in the front of the cylinder. When you fire the first shot most of it gets blown out of the chamber that is adjacent to it.
The next time you grease your chambers just prime one chamber with a cap and fire it and look at the front of the cylinder and you will see how much grease has blown out.

[Mangled99]

I never use wads or cookies in my revolver. Pressing the lead ball in seals the chamber.
I know a lot of people do it to stop flash-over, but does it?

I was once stood next to a friend who had his gun flash-over. It went round the back of the cylinder through the caps and took about a second for each chamber to fire. He had no choice but to keep the gun pointed downrange, and thankfully, for both of us, the gun did not blow up. The balls not in-line with the barrel forced themselves out through the gaps at the side and bent the cylinder pin, which forced the barrel away from the cylinder.

I think securely fitting caps are more use than greased wads.

Nor do I put grease in the front of the cylinder. When you fire the first shot most of it gets blown out of the chamber that is adjacent to it.
The next time you grease your chambers just prime one chamber with a cap and fire it and look at the front of the cylinder and you will see how much grease has blown out.

I understand what your saying but isn't the idea of the grease to keep the fouling soft which means you can take more shots and it is easier to clean.