Got some 9mm 124 LRN bullets while reloading I have found 2 bullets that were unlubed in the box. Don’t know how that happens and gets in the box with the others. I didn’t load them but I’m starting to wonder if there were more and I missed them. I don’t think I would of missed it since I’m reloading on a single stage and I touch and look at everyone. If a couple got through would it do anything? Always heard leading would be really bad with unlubed bullets but would a few getting shot do much?
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Shooting unlubed bullets
- Thread starter ECM4
- Start date
Kevin Rohrer
New member
The world will not stop rotating because you shoot unlubed bullets. Neither you nor your gun will notice the difference. Load and shoot them and move-on.
Don Fischer
New member
I wouldn't shoot them! I had to clean out severe leading in a 41mag from factory ammo one time. Do it once and I think I can guarantee you'll never shoot an unlubed bullet again. I had abox of factory bullet's my son gave me. Might have been lubed but you couldn't prove it by me. I never shot them. Melted them down and recast them. Thinking back I should have simply lubed them and shot them. Lubing bullet's is not a chore, cleaning a leaded barrel is!
There's a chance the bullets will key hole. That's what happened during the Great BP Cartridge Rifle Experiment, long ago. The .45-70 TD Carbine with a cast 405 and 70 grains of BP(everybody knows it's a .458" bullet with 70 grains of BP. No Internet or books in those days to tell me the TD Carbine load was 55 grains of BP) key holed perfectly at 25 yards.
"...how that happens..." Lube can literally fall off during transport.
Leading caused more by excessive velocity with a cast bullet. I seriously doubt even a Max load at around 1,055 FPS will cause leading. There's no definite velocity for that.
"...how that happens..." Lube can literally fall off during transport.
Leading caused more by excessive velocity with a cast bullet. I seriously doubt even a Max load at around 1,055 FPS will cause leading. There's no definite velocity for that.
J.G. Terry
New member
Many unlubed bullets
What's the point of shooting two unlubed bullets?
I recall years ago the commander of the local SWAT team to help with a leading problem. The barrel looked like he had been shooting something grossly wrong. Lead came out of the barrel in flakes. He had shot a number of these gift rounds.The end of the story was we pulled a bullet to find no lube. These rounds were given to him by another officer who was going into the bullet business.
What's the point of shooting two unlubed bullets?
I recall years ago the commander of the local SWAT team to help with a leading problem. The barrel looked like he had been shooting something grossly wrong. Lead came out of the barrel in flakes. He had shot a number of these gift rounds.The end of the story was we pulled a bullet to find no lube. These rounds were given to him by another officer who was going into the bullet business.
I certainly would not want to shoot a dozen unlubed bullets in a 9mm, but two or three fired along with others lubed may not be noticeable. Leading in a barrel is not impossible to remove and a few unlubed will not be unsafe...
Yeah, this ^^
When I run across lead bullets that the lube has come out of the groove, I just load them and move on. Shoot as normal.
When shooting lead, I also run an oiled patch through the barrel frequently. Seems to help reduce the leading.
Like mentioned a couple of unlubed in amongst a days outing would probably never be noticed.
The bigger issue is if they were sized and just missed catching lube or weren't sized at all. I would check for that.
I've had some that just caught an air pocket and missed getting fully lubed or any at all. It happens sometimes. They were however sized and got loaded with the rest.
I've loaded up a couple of barrels but the bullets that did it were lubes. It was me pushing them that got me into the fix.
The bigger issue is if they were sized and just missed catching lube or weren't sized at all. I would check for that.
I've had some that just caught an air pocket and missed getting fully lubed or any at all. It happens sometimes. They were however sized and got loaded with the rest.
I've loaded up a couple of barrels but the bullets that did it were lubes. It was me pushing them that got me into the fix.
FWIW; I bought a box of 100 cast 358" SWC from a "not to be named" commercial caster The arrived loose in a box, but about a half dozen has less than half of the lube groove filled and several had about a quarter missing. I got my handy dandy tube of ChapStick out of my pocket and stuffed some in the gaps. I loaded a few and could tell no difference. No excess leading, no less accuracy...
A number of folks shoot unlubed bullets at target velocities on purpose and find the leading no worse than with lube. Lead alloys are pretty slippery against steel. If you don't push them very hard and your bore is smooth, it seems to work OK.
If you have one or two unlubed bullets, there will be enough residual lube in the bore from the lubed ones that went before it that they should have plenty of lube. The concern that they may have missed sizing, too, is the larger one. It won't do a lot to pressure to fire an unsized bullet (many find they shoot more accurately than sized bullets do from some molds), but the fatter bullet can bulge a case enough to cause a feed failure in some chambers, so you want to plunk test the rounds to see if you run into a problem.
If you were shooting cast bullets toward jacketed rifle bullet velocities, that's another issue, and I would want every bullet carefully lubed with the best lube I had. For handgun loads, even magnum ones, if you are really concerned, just rub the sides of the bullet against some paraffin wax (a candle will work). For just one shot fired between lubed shots, you don't need the perfect lube to be present.
If you have one or two unlubed bullets, there will be enough residual lube in the bore from the lubed ones that went before it that they should have plenty of lube. The concern that they may have missed sizing, too, is the larger one. It won't do a lot to pressure to fire an unsized bullet (many find they shoot more accurately than sized bullets do from some molds), but the fatter bullet can bulge a case enough to cause a feed failure in some chambers, so you want to plunk test the rounds to see if you run into a problem.
If you were shooting cast bullets toward jacketed rifle bullet velocities, that's another issue, and I would want every bullet carefully lubed with the best lube I had. For handgun loads, even magnum ones, if you are really concerned, just rub the sides of the bullet against some paraffin wax (a candle will work). For just one shot fired between lubed shots, you don't need the perfect lube to be present.
Thanks for info guys. Never ran into that problem and haven’t loaded anything other than lead bullets for awhile and never got any unlubed ones before. I will just measure the bullets to make sure of the size and load them. It’s only 2 bullets that I found so far I was just going to toss since I’m not out more than a few cents. I feel better about shooting them now.
Well many years back my brother and I were reloading (Lee hammer loaders so we were a couple of hicks at it)
He got a box of lead bullets and compalined abut the lube on them. He is kind of a neat and tidy sort. He said he was going to clean it off, I told him that while I did not know why, there was a reason they went to the trouble to lube them. Leave it on.
Nope, he wiped it off and reloaded em.
6 rounds latter he had a musket. Pretty funny scraping lead out of a revolver barrel with a screwdriver. Good old days before the Internet.
You thunked that lube was there for a reason? Ummmmmm
He got a box of lead bullets and compalined abut the lube on them. He is kind of a neat and tidy sort. He said he was going to clean it off, I told him that while I did not know why, there was a reason they went to the trouble to lube them. Leave it on.
Nope, he wiped it off and reloaded em.
6 rounds latter he had a musket. Pretty funny scraping lead out of a revolver barrel with a screwdriver. Good old days before the Internet.
You thunked that lube was there for a reason? Ummmmmm