[Ohioan]

Is it absolutely necessary to lube bullets you mold your own? I'm reloading for .38/.357 and I noticed that all the Lee molds are .358

[LHB1]

You are mixing two different points: diameter and lube. Both can be taken care of simultaneously by using a sizer/lubricator. First, the diameter of bullets from a given mold can vary depending on alloy used and cast bullets are not always perfectly round. I like to size my cast bullets to get uniform roundness and also produce exactly the diameter desired. Second, I think lubing cast bullets is ABSOLUTELY necessary and prefer to use the NRA Alox formula. Best sizer/lubricator by far IMO is the STAR. Comments based on 44 years experience in casting, sizing, lubing, and shooting lead bullets in pistols. YMMV

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

[Firehand]

Unless you want to spend a lot of time cleaning fouling out of the bore, lube is required for cast bullets.

As LHB1 says, you don't have to size them. I've got loads for two pistols that need unsized, as-cast bullets. One's a .455 Webley, I use a 230-grain bullet for .45acp. The other's a Enfield .380/200, also known as .38 S&W, using a 200-grain round-nose .38 bullet. Both are lubed with Lee Liquid Alox and shoot beautifully in the pistols I have. Both those cartridges use a bullet larger in diameter than the .45acp or .38 Spl., and the as-cast bullets work perfectly.

Personally, on sized/lubed bullets I like Rooster Red; you have to heat the sizer because it's a hard lube, but the lubed bullets aren't sticky.

[snuffy]

is it absolutely necessary to lube bullets you mold your own? I'm reloading for .38/.357 and I noticed that all the Lee molds are .358

is it absolutely necessary to size bullets you mold your own? I'm reloading for .38/.357 and I noticed that all the Lee molds are .358

If the second copy of your post is the way you meant it to read, then no. Sometimes, as the others have said it is not neccessary to size some bullets. They can be loaded and shot as is, except they HAVE to be lubed.

Since you aluded to lee molds, they have what is called a tumble lubed bullet. It uses the lee liquid alox lube. Basically you simply put the bullets in a bowl or other container, pour some of the liquid alox over them, then agitate them to coat them with the alox. They can then be loaded without being sized.

You can also do the same with a standard boolit, tumble lube them, then size. The cheapest, but not worst way to size is with a lee push through die. It screws into a single stage press, then uses a pusher rod that take the place of a shell holder on top of the ram. The red plastic die box serves as a resivoir for the finished boolits, you park it on top of the die, the boolits fall out of the die into the box.

Depending on the alloy, the boolits will not always be .358. The more anitomy you have in the mix, the larger the boolit will be. If it's too big, you won't be able to load it into a case, or get it to chamber WITHOUT sizeing first.

Go here to learn more about cast boolits;
http://cast_boolits.aimoo.com/

[Vern Humphrey]

Casting and shooting is always a bit of an adventure. I usually start with unsized bullets -- if they shoot well, leave well enough alone. If they don't then you can fiddle with sizing and other matters.

Yes, you must lube your bullets. I have reached the stage where I use Lee Liquid Alox for all bullets -- it's convenient and it works well in almost all applications.

[Ohioan]

yes, that was a brainfart on my account. I meant to say "size" instead of "lubricate" I know I have to lube all lead bullets...

[Cloudpeak]

I've cast using 3 different Lee 6 cavity molds and like them. A very good value. But, bullet diameters can vary cavity to cavity and can vary due to type of alloy and temp of alloy. Also, you could get a contaminated mold face that will cause bullet diameter to increase. For this reason, I like to size all my bullets (all I cast and shoot is pistol bullets) so I can make sure they are uniform. This will insure there are no pressure increases due to over size bullets and the uniformity should help with consistant performance, IMO. I like the LLA and the Lee push through dies, too.

Cloudpeak

[tasco 74]

i lubrisize my home cast bullets to ensure concentricity....i like mine as perfectly round as possible...... i even got a tool to size and round my .22 rimfire rounds...... it does make a difference in them.... i had some that shot terrible in my 1022 custom till i used the sizer tool on em and the groups shrank to half the size..................