Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Lube & Size Or Not?

I have recently started reloading and am working on .38 Spl. I have a quantity of .357 diameter lead SWC bullets that are lubed I have been loading successfully. They weigh on average about 160 gr., lube included. My question is: I have another batch of about 100 .358 diameter SWC cast bullets that are not lubed and seem to be of some sort of alloy that is harder than the other batch. These bullets came from different sources. These bullets weigh 140 gr. and measure .358 diameter. Do I need to lube and size these bullets or can they be loaded as is? Thanks for your advice.

Yes, they need to be be lubed, and no they don't need to be resized. .358" is typically the proper size for lead bullets in the .38 Special and .357 Magnum.

Don

Henry, if they are bare lead they certainly need some sort of lube. They may have a coating on them though; powder coating is obvious because of the colors, but some manufacturers sell bullets with a light or dark grey color coating that does not need additional lube. They'll look a little different than plain lead, but it may not be immediately obvious if you don't know what you're looking at. They'll feel slicker in the hand, and color is usually a bit darker.

If they fit the throats and have little distortion in the barrel for a single gun, they might run fine without any lube or coating.

I have a recipe for one gun that does this.

But for multiple guns, odds are they will need some lube or coating.

just tumble lube them in 45-450-10 and you'll be fine

I always lube and size to cut the lead build up in the barrels and I use this recipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkQInQcY8LM