can cast be shot with NO lube?

[Throckmorton]

A friend just got a great buy on 500 .38 boolits,but they are not lubed,and the seller..who seemed to know a LOT about reloading,says they are hard enough to run at .38 special velocities.
I doubt what he says is true,but I'll bow to the collective wisdom here on this one.
thanks all

No,I don't know how 'hard' they are,or have a tester find out.

[wiljen]

You could shoot em with no lube, as long as you have a good plan for removing the leading from the bore when you are done. Unless it has a jacket, it needs lube.
I'd get some Alox and tumble lube em.

[felix]

Maybe true. Keep velocity under 850 for sure. ... felix

[R.M.]

I'd think you'd have to stay in the 650 neighborhood, but gee, you could wipe just about anything on them like floor wax or a beeswax candle or something. Wouldn't take much at a low velocity. Or like has been suggested, get a bottle of Lee liquid Alox. That'd be the best.

[oksmle]

Been doing it for years. But there are restrictions. Search the archives for more info.... oksmle

[bushka]

I bought like 500 of some "dusted" bullets for 45acp,no leading.
May have been that Neco stuff.

local yokel claims he just sprays his cast with lyman supermoly and gets no leading.


What we need is an "eraser" wad

[jhrosier]

...
What we need is an "eraser" wad

Not as funny as it sounds,
When I usta shoot cast in my .357 Contender at sillywets, I would fire a half dozen .38Spl, loaded light with Hornady swaged full wadcutters after each match.
It removed the leading and left the bore shiny clean.

BTW Throckmorton, I would blow 4 bucks on a bottle of LLA to coat the nekkid boolits.

Jack

[Down South]

I'd lube em with something. LLA comes to mind.

[georgewxxx]

I hate to say your wrong to Felix, but in case you are. A few years ago I run some tests and published the findings in the fouling shot during the years when I belonged to the only group where cast info was available. Later when we started putting the articles together that are now on CASTPICS, in my loading for the 257 Roberts, this is in there....

A number of years ago I was working on an old idea of shooting sized but un-lubed cast bullets. The idea was, that the lube was causing fliers, and just to see if it can be done. The first trials I did years ago were with 6.5 Swede bullets shooting at two different targets with both lubed and un-lubed bullets. In my 257 Roberts trial, I loaded up 50 rounds of 257325 sized and lubed and 20 grain BLc2, plus 50 rounds of the same load, but with un-lubed bullets. First I’d alternate shooting at two different targets, one lubed then one un-lubed. Then up to one lubed then two un-lubed. Once the barrel was fouled, I didn’t even want to run a brush through it. I continued to increase shooting the un-lubed bullets up to 25 at a time. Going at a fairly fast pace, the barrel was so hot, I couldn’t keep my hand on it. The muzzle was dry of course, and the bore was a light gray color. Groups of the un-lubed bullets where 2 1/4”, just a shade smaller than the lubed ones 2 ½”. With the residue from power and primer ash plus whatever lube is left in the bore from the previous shots, the barrel is coated enough so it doesn’t lead. I didn’t have a chronograph at the time, but I do now. After running that same load over the screens, a 1600 FPS came up

I'll just say one more thing, don't knock it and say it won't work if you haven't tried it yourself....Geo

[Throckmorton]

"BTW Throckmorton, I would blow 4 bucks on a bottle of LLA to coat the nekkid boolits."

Yep,I do believe we will do that.

just how do ya use that stuff?

[Jon K]

Yep, LLA would be the way to go, but is this something you have use for?
If you don't have a regular diet of these, I'd say melt um down, and make something you use regular............

Jon

[ben1025]

"BTW Throckmorton, I would blow 4 bucks on a bottle of LLA to coat the nekkid boolits."

Yep,I do believe we will do that.

just how do ya use that stuff?

I mix it around 50/50 with odorless paint thinner. Swish it around in a plastic container. If you don't think there's enough on the bullet do it again. Don't take much. ben1025 AKA ben.

[Lloyd Smale]

if a perfect world you might get away with it but i wouldnt bet the farm on it. it would take a perfect gun and a very knowlegable loader to insure everything was just right. Lubes were put on bullets many years ago and put on for a reason. they help!

[randyrat]

Johnson paste wax (JPW) will work just fine in this case. Just melt a little in a metal bowl and swirl your bullets in there cool for 2 minutes and load, the smell will go away when all the other stuff evaporates in the JPW. Thats if you don't want to wait for a bottle of LLA... I use Beeswax and JPW in 45 acp,sometimes just JPW,sometimes LLA...I mix and match and play around with it to find a nice accuracy load. I think ear wax(not enough to go around), oil of olay,facial cream(not economical to steal ity from the wife) will work in our applications 38s & 45s.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

This thread makes me wonder. What did the old buffalo hunters use for lube, if anything, when they dug the bullets out of the critters, and re melted them? Don't remember this being addressed in any literature on the subject.
Morgan

[imashooter2]

This thread makes me wonder. What did the old buffalo hunters use for lube, if anything, when they dug the bullets out of the critters, and re melted them? Don't remember this being addressed in any literature on the subject.
Morgan

No doubt tallow, with maybe some wax if they had it.

[mooman76]

According to "Lee" who did allot of tests on cast bullets you could without lube at low speeds.

[georgewxxx]

I think 1600 fps is close to max on those I've done. You guys speculating that it can't be done are just guessing. You ask what are the grooves there for? More than likely because back in the old days of shooting only black powder you had no option but to fill them with something that'll soften up the hard BP fouling. The grooves carried over to smokeless because that's the way it's always been done, unless a heeled boolit was used. Heeled boolits rarely go over 1700 fps. There lies your answer as to why you can shoot with minimal or no lubrication. A bit of powder & primer ash along with whatever is left from the previous shot. I've just tried it yesterday again on a 50-70 Springfield. I might sound like some crackpot to you, but I've shot everything from 218 Bee to the 50-70 without any lube and it can be done. In some cases like any load development you'll do better but most likely not. The better ones are almost always sized only and shot without anything in the grooves.

If your any kind of experimenter, you'll try it your self. None of you will load any cartridge from a book and know without targeting the gun that it's a keeper load. ...or do you?....Geo

[felix]

Geo, I have done it at various speeds, but not as a go-to load. No-lube boolits will clean barrels when lead is fairly soft and used as low-speed chaser rounds. If the boolit is composed of a tough alloy, you can easily increase speed if so desired. The major problem with lubed boolits is getting the lube/alloy (or no-lube versions) correct for the application. I agree, 1600 fps would not be out of the question for some bore/boolit flavors. ... felix

[joeb33050]

Norm Johnson has been shooting revolver bullets for years with no lube.
I had pretty good luck loading unlubed bullets in a M29 with cream of wheat over the powder, and have shot many rifles with COW and unlubed bullets.
All with bullets that are big enough.
Never dared to shoot unlubed bullets without that filler, yet. George has got me interested.
joe b.