Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Dumb question

Let me preface this by saying that I don't know squat about casting bullets.

I bought .38 cal cast bullets so that I could be "one of the cool kids" and try my hand at powder coating.

Bought the powder from Smoke on cast boolits, stole the toaster from my wife and tried the shake & bake method. It works pretty dang good. Even my wife said the purple ones were pretty.... What does she know, she married me..lol

My question is : Since I added PC to the previously sized bullets, do I need a sizer to get everything back in spec?

If so, what type?

Thanks,
Burt2506

Get one of these and carry on!

https://leeprecision.com/new-lube-size-kit-.358.html

Ed

It depends...generally speaking, for best cast bullet performance, bigger is better.

Most over-the-counter cast bullets are sized too small to work well, so as long as the rounds chamber ok they should be fine, and larger bullets will tend to be more accurate.

.38 cal cast bullets covers a large spectrum. In a 38 revolver, .359 is about minimum, and .360 is better.

In 9mm, you will be limited by what will feed and chamber, so for an auto pistol, the diameter is more of a concern. I run those .357 or .358 depending on the chamber.

I often shoot coated bullets out of the mold with no sizing, because the mold casts them a little undersized by my standards, and the time savings is appreciated with possibly better performance on target.

But if you do want to size them, the Lee press mounted sizing kit works well for coated bullets...fast, easy and cheap.

Yup, bigger is generally better. I'd seat one as a dummy and see if it chambers in your gun. Some guns have very tight throats in the cylinder and won't accept a bullet over 0.357", many will accept bullets sized 0.359" or 0.360".

If they chamber fine w/o sizing then I'd load some up and see how well they shoot.

never a dumb question unless you don't ask it. I learned a bit here myself.

I prefer to size all of my powder coated bullets to make sure they are uniform. Defects and irregularities in the coating (from where it touched another bullet or the pan) can sometimes cause a bullet to seat off center in the case once loaded.

Sizing with a polished Lee push-through die is easy and quick, and it's no problem to size down as much as you want.

Thank you, guys

I will check out and probably give the LEE sizer a try.

My SWC bullets all fit nicely in the range pickup brass & shot as good as anything else I can load.

The problem is with the wad cutters. I suppose they are a bit on the pudgy side, and I think they would benefit from the sizer.

Again, thank you very much.

Burt2506