Bee droppings?

[Tonk Thimblerig]

I've shot my "as is from the factory" Uberti '73 in 3 matches, and today it got it's very first, stripped all the way down to the ittie bitties cleaning. While I was there, I found little patches of something similar to beeswax. Anyone seen this before? Lube? Preservative? Bee droppings?

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Ok, so you found some waxy fouling in your '73.

 

Where? How much blowback does your load exhibit? Lots of black fouling on the case walls of fired cases?

 

Most likely you are getting some bullet lube from your rounds blown back into the action. If it is enough to find small blobs, you are probably getting a LOT of blowback. Like a .45 Colt, light bullet, light crimp, light powder load type of blowback.

 

And this is after only 3 matches? You may want to shoot a cleaner, lower blowback load.

 

(You did strip and clean the action before you shot it "as is from factory", right? Otherwise, it could be the preservative that Uberti put in it. That is supposed to be cleaned out before you shoot the first time.)

 

Good luck, GJ

[Tonk Thimblerig]

Ah, that makes perfect sense. I had all my handloading gear from years ago, but no components, as in cases, when I started, so I bought 500 rounds from the Mercantile to get started. They are accurate and reliable, but they leave a black scoring over nearly half the case. I've been reloading the cases using 158 grn. bullets instead of the 115's they came with because my other rifle, the '92, just didn't like their length, and I can load the 158's to 1.50" OAL. My loads haven't shown hardly any of that same fouling. I may have already solved my issue before I found out I had an issue.

 

Thanks Garrison Joe.